“You have five seconds to back the fuck up and stay as far away from me as humanly possible or I will make sure that you can’t get close to anyone ever again.”
“I said they hacked me!” Her voice booms off the walls, the smile that coated her face earlier the farthest thing from her current expression. The tears are gone from her eyes, but the color of her contact lens has shifted from a deep red to sparkly turquoise color that puts me into a trance just from one glance.
“They did that to me,” she says, her voice much softer. I have to strain just to hear the words as they calmly roll off her lips. “They must have implanted a bug or some sort of virus into the microchip in my brain. That wasn’t me. I promise you, that wasn’t me.”
“I barely trusted you before. If you expect me to believe you now, then you are out of your fucking mind.” I press my hand firmly onto the top of the cube, the exterior glowing underneath my touch.
“Don’t make me rip that cube from you again.” She shakes her head as she steps towards me. I’d be lying if I said that I’m not terrified as her fiery eyes and turquoise hair close in on me.
“Back up!” I hold up my hand in protest and use my other arm to shield her flying fingers from grabbing the cube from me.
“You can’t kill me. My brain moves a thousand times faster than yours. By the time your brain commands your mouth to say something, that cube will be out of your hands and in mine for good.” She backs me into the wall, her hot breath swathing my face as the explosions pick up intensity outside.
“We have a war to fight right now. The Syndicate is either about to control the world forever or we have a shot at stopping them.” Her fingers wrap around my wrists, their cold metallic exterior sending chills down my spine. “You can’t do this alone, and I can’t do this alone either. So c’mon, get yourself together and let’s get out there and save some people who deserved to be freed years ago.”
“You said they hacked you.” I remain firm in my position, refusing to follow her out into the main cabin of the aircraft. “If that’s true, then what will stop that from happening again? What happens if we are a second away from shutting down Maga X and your stupid cyborg parts decide to go apeshit on me?”
“These parts aren’t stupid.” Spit flies off her plump, dry lips and lands on my face. “They are the only reason you are still alive, and the only chance you have at living even a few more minutes into the future.”
“I don’t need you.” I chuckle. “I don’t need anyone. Do you see what I have in my hands? Do you even know what this thing is capable of? If you didn’t have me here, you’d be dead, the explosives long ago would have torn this plane and your puny legs to pieces.”
“That’s it.” She exhales.
I already know her next move.
She is going to try and rip the cube out of my hands with her mechanical fingers. Well, that thought was nice in my head. But my brief flash of genius turns out to be nothing more than a false prophet screaming in my head.
She doesn’t try and rip the cube out of my hands.
She shoots me instead.
I don’t even bother screaming in pain as my body collides with the ground. The moment of impact happened so fast that it is impossible for me to tell whether a laser or a bullet connects with my chest.
After the burning sensation spreads from my chest to the rest of my body, I can confirm that she shot me with a laser. The ray of photons burns through my flesh and sends a series of shockwaves throughout my entire body.
I don’t even bother trying to fight the pain.
The cube has already fallen out of my hands, every nerve in my body short circuited with the rush of heat. I suspect this is the moment where Anika finally kills me, the creepy chuckle of Drew echoing in my ears sending me off into a sea of blackness.
Instead she stands above me, the outline of her toned arms and scowling face keeping me glued to the floor. She holds the cube in her bionic hands, the exterior flashing on and off as she taps it.
“Don’t ever underestimate someone whose story you don’t know.” She holds the cube in one hand and outstretches the other just above my head. It takes me a moment to realize that she is offering to help me up, and seeing that I have no way to get away from her, I accept it.
Within a second, I am back on my feet, the initial shock from the blast of the laser fading as she commands the Chimera Cube to heal the gaping wound in my chest that is gushing out blood and pus. The familiar tingling sensation of the nanobots operating on my body causes the pain to melt away into a layer of heat.
“I didn’t choose these legs.” She grips the cube in her metallic fingers, their exterior colored in the same tone as her dark skin. I don’t even try and rip the cube away from her. I know that one wrong movement and the cavity in her chest will open up to reveal a lethal laser.
“A virus did this to me. A virus nearly killed me, and these bionics were the only way to bring me back to life. These bionics were the only way to keep them from destroying the world. I didn’t choose this, any of this. But I’m a lot more powerful than you think, and you better watch what you say.” She finally takes a breath of air, the tension in her face dissipating as she hands the cube back to me.
“We have one shot at this. One fucking shot. And after watching this same thing happen to the world over a decade ago, I will not allow this shot to go to waste. So, follow me. I know exactly where we need to go to shut this thing down. Your only job is to kill everyone in our path.”
I stand motionless in response, my brain at first not sure how to process everything. It’s quite obvious that we are at Moosehorn. If the dozens of explosives pounding against the force field every minute weren’t a dead giveaway, then the emergency alarms blaring outside the aircraft certainly are.
The longer we stay here, the more we risk them exploding the entire section of the building that the aircraft is parked on top of, which would send us into a deadly collision course with the force field and rubble.
I know every second we aren’t running out into the open gunfire and killing as many of the soldiers as possible, we are risking our one chance at saving the world. But something about it all feels too surreal to be reality.
I want to destroy the Syndicate more than anything.
I want to save Riva, Ai, and my mom more than life itself.
But after months of being lied to and tricked by everyone in this world, I find it impossible to trust Anika. I find it impossible to believe anyone or anything in this world that has the promise of making my life better.
It’s not supposed to be this way.
I’m supposed to be dead.
But when I connect with the red orbs glowing in Anika’s eyes that change color with her emotions, a surge of hope courses through me. She’s right. Even if I wanted to run away from her, I can’t. She figuratively has her torturous fingers around my throat and can decide to make that literal at any moment she desires.
I have to step up to the plate.
I have to try and save this world from the Syndicate.
If they kill me, at least this hell will be over.
“Are you gonna respond or just stand there?” She rolls her eyes, the flames on her contact lens dancing in her eyeballs.
“Yeah, sorry, just got caught up in my thoughts.” I smile as the euphoria of competing hits me. The moments I love most in life are the ones where I am forced to put everything on the line to win.
The risk is terrifying, frightening enough to make me want to shit my pants, but that is exactly what is fun about it.
“Get us some weapons,” she barks at me as she rushes out into the main area of the aircraft. I follow her, not realizing the true force of our enemy until I glance out the wide skylights lining the ceiling.
We are inside the mouth of the monster.
Dozens of airplanes are flying in the sky above us with thousands upon thousands of humanoids and drones in formation around the compound. The compound itself is massive j
ust from looking at it on the roof. It is a network of structures built into the earth. Each area of the compound is covered in rocks and dirt, dozens of pine trees surrounding the mounds to make it look as if it is nothing more than an ancient burial site. Connecting the network of large mounds that stretch on for miles in each direction is what looks to be a network of small tunnels running through the ground, which is evident in the grooves formed in the earth between the earthen structures.
They took careful consideration to ensure that this place would appear to be as harmless as possible to any spying drones or hikers that stumbled on this place. But even with their extra precautions to camouflage the compound into the surrounding landscape, the location is so remote that it would take someone weeks of venturing through the wilderness to reach here. In all directions there are thousands and thousands of pine trees forming an unbroken dark-green blanket above the thin blades of grass that coat the ground.
But the idyllic trees that sway back and forth in the breeze are all just meant to distract from the death machine that this place is. As I continue to glance around, somewhat surprised by the minimalist architecture on the exterior of the compound, I notice that the explosions have stopped.
No longer are the planes dropping bombs on us or the humanoids smashing into the exterior of the force field in organized waves. Instead, the entire army of drones, humanoids, and soldiers positioned to defend Maga X have collected into a deadly formation.
The earthen tunnels that span between each area of the compound have opened up to reveal a network of lasers and missile launchers. Each laser is in turn surrounded by dozens of humanoids, their robot bodies and tall, strong figures forming an indestructible wall.
Amidst the thousands of deadly weapons that are pointed directly at out ship, it is impossible to see where the entrance is to the compound.
But that doesn’t matter anymore.
Even Anika, who was confident we could both take on the world together just a few moments ago, looks defeated. The color of her eyes shift from a hot red to a light purple as the energy in her shoulders deflates.
“This is not good,” she says, her mechanical fingers hovering above the latch that will allow us both to exit the ship and enter the hell that awaits us. The main area of the ship is messier than I expected. Clothes and empty wrappers of food line the ground, blocking the intricate patterns on the bright-colored carpets. The walls are full of paintings and other fine art, this ship easily mistaken for an art gallery instead of a private aircraft if someone stepped in without knowing.
“They knew this whole time what we were up to.” I shake my head, the ugliness of reality rearing its head.
Part of me feels a bit relieved. For a moment, the world was way too nice. This is how it’s supposed to be. The entire world against me with only a sliver of a chance that I’ll actually survive.
There’s a bit of comfort to be found in the chaos.
With the black aircrafts circling above, the humanoids and soldiers decked out in bullet-proof armor and assault rifles, and the dozens of drones and missiles launchers aimed directly at us, we have no way to escape.
Our only way out is to kill them all.
“We can’t go out there,” Anika says, her eyes wide. The color in her contacts has shifted from a deep purple to black pits. “They are only waiting because they want us to fall right into their trap. They probably have something that can destroy this force field.”
“Then what the hell do we do?” I press.
“Let’s cut through the bottom of this aircraft and tunnel directly into this compound. We are only going to have a few minutes to run to the area where the main experiments are being performed.”
“How are we going to destroy Maga X?”
“That’s the easiest part.” Anika grins, the silence between her words deafening. All the humanoids and soldiers outside are completely silent, but it is only a matter of time until they launch a deadly offensive. “We are going to explode this entire compound, that way whatever is inside of it is gone forever. That way Maga X will never be brought to the surface of the world. It will be a good thing that the world never finds out what this program is capable of.”
“We can’t blow this place up!” I yell in her face, the vexation bubbling to the surface as all my paranoid thoughts roar back to life. “My family is in here. There are innocent people in here!”
“Calm down, geez.” She sighs, blowing the strands of hair in front of her mouth away from her face. “We are going to them first. Then you will give them the cube.”
I stare at her for a moment, not knowing exactly what to say in return. She is already walking to the center of the aircraft, where there is a circular latch that opens up to the ground below. Just watching her rod-like metal legs move through the air in a surprisingly limber manner sends shivers down my spine.
“Get us some weapons that will make anyone think twice before shooting us,” she snaps as she opens the hatch, the moment surprisingly anticlimactic. I suppose I expected each of the humanoids standing on the exterior to unload their rifles on us the second we moved, but instead they all remain frozen in place, the notion of time itself feeling like a distant memory amidst the madness.
“There’s one thing I didn’t tell you about this.” She pauses, the color of her eyes shifting from black back to red as her face tightens into a determined expression. “We aren’t going to make it out of this alive.
“Riva and Ai are going to be put in charge of the cube.” She eyes the planes circling our position, hundreds of tons of bombs ready to be dropped on us at any moment. “Once we hand it off to them, we are going to run to the center of this compound and destroy the entire thing. Everyone inside here is going to die. And that includes us too.”
“No, we have to come up with another plan,” I say, my mind racing so fast that my words slur together into one long, drawn-out syllable akin to the ramblings of toddler.
I grip the cube, its glowing exterior always the trusty security blanket for me.
“We aren’t here for fun. We are here to do a job. There’s only one way to take these guys down, and if we succeed, we can consider ourselves lucky.”
“I don’t wanna die,” I spit out, almost surprised that I said it myself. If you had asked me whether I wanted to die a few hours ago, my answer would have likely been a lot different. But with Riva, my mom, and Ai so close, I finally have something to live for again besides my desire for revenge.
I don’t want to just save them.
I want to hug them, tell them a bunch of crazy stories, and live a life with them.
But none of that is going to happen.
When I look out at the thousands of humanoids and the ever-growing fleet of drones circling around the force field, I know that she is right. The future of the entire world is at stake.
We will die either way.
We just have to make sure the world doesn’t perish with us.
“Two bullet-proof vests,” I say to the cube as I nod to Anika. She is already shifting her legs into the hole in the floor, preparing to drop a dozen feet onto the cement roof below.
Right as I grab the two vests from the air, my mind settling back into the zone where the only thing it thinks about is killing and winning, the movements of the drones and planes encircling our position stops. They all enter a formation that resembles the wings of a bird in a beautiful yet ominous way.
For a moment, I stare up at the sky, wondering if they are just going to stay in that position forever. Then my eyes notice the warhead-shaped objects falling by the dozens from the sky. They are still thousands of feet above our position, but with every second they come hundreds of feet closer to connect with the force field.
We are already too late.
When I connect with Anika, her eyes turn from red to dark black pits again that suck all the hope right from me. Even if we try and run away, we won’t be able to escape the force of the blasts.
There are hundreds
of bombs falling to the ground.
Our life and the world are about to explode for good.
Chapter 25
“I told you we should have moved faster,” Anika says, jumping upward and slamming the latch to the outside shut. I can’t help but be impressed by the springy nature to her legs that allows her to vault through the air to the control center of the aircraft in one smooth motion.
In the same instant, the thousands of missiles launchers and rifles directed at the force field unload.
I scramble to put on the bullet-proof vest, although there’s not much a few millimeters of fabric can do to protect me now. When all the projectiles connect with the force field, I am convinced that everything is going to explode into a ball of fire.
I’m convinced I’m going to die.
The wave of sound forces me onto the floor, the light from the explosions burning my corneas. I’m unable to tell whether I’m dead or about to die, because the ringing in my ears has numbed my nerves to all incoming sensory input.
Then my body is thrown into the wall as a deep rumbling vibrates the floor beneath me. I don’t even need to open my eyes to know what is happening. The explosives were too powerful for the force field. They successfully detonated a wave of energy powerful enough to destroy the force field and in turn destroy us.
Another second passes by and my body tumbles across the floor and slams into the center control panel, which is a set of glass panels that enables Anika to navigate this ship all over the world. The wave of force and blinding light from the explosions has subsided, but the deep ringing continues to shake my body to its core, the sharp sound tearing through all the neurons in my brain.
The sound makes death feel like a happy alternative.
But I’m not willing to give up.
I don’t care if my body is cut in half by thousands of shards of shrapnel. I still have my arms tightly wrapped around the cube. And even when I’m dead, I will refuse to let go.
The only person who will get to hold this is Riva.
The person who will be in charge of carrying on my father’s legacy will be the woman he loved the most in the world—my mom.
The Conspiracy Chronicles Boxset 2 Page 73