-” Vivar, can you shoot another Spear?”, asked Chirani, who was monitoring the other exits, waiting for the opportunity to target someone.
-” Two more at full power, but I would like to avoid using them, since I would be drained of energy. Anything on your end?”
-” The second drone stopped and went back in the corridor. I can’t hit it from here”.
They were on top of a stone pillar, facing the only remaining side of the compound with openings. The builders thought that if it was hidden inside a valley, surrounded by walls of stone, it would make it invisible to any intruders. What they never counted on was a coup d'état, and the years Priya's had to devise countermeasures against its defensive capabilities.
- “So, my boy, we are the last line. Hope you are ready for combat”.
The Commissary rarely got serious in his demeanor, even during missions, and anytime it happened, everyone understood how dire the situation was. Once they got close to the small, 4 by 4 meters exit, the Commissary ordered the two to plant explosives in specific positions in the room.
Chirani was still checking the exit until he got blinded by a bright light, and then a shock wave traveled across the entire valley. Before he could take any shoot through the veil of smoke, three of the drones exited rapidly through the improvised opening. Chirani wanted to hit one of them, but Vivar had to quickly put his shield in front of him and stop a projectile. The bullet almost pierced through the shield, with the man able to see the tip stretching the cover.
-” Let’s move”, yelled Vivar while running in a direction to attract attention, while Chirani tried to find another cover point.
M-Mother did the same and went looking for a vantage point to provide cover and also eliminate the enemy sniper. While in the clear, the Commissary and Marc also came out of the smoky exit, to assess the situation, but before he could even take a peek, something was gunning wildly towards him and the boy. A silver glint shined from the runner and it was gaining ground with every single step it made. A blink later, Angie’s pickaxe was clashing with the Commissary’s splinters, which transformed into a shield.
The drones tried to apprehend her, but they found themselves unable to move as if something pinned their legs to the ground. After a quick look behind them, they saw that three magnetic grenades stopped their movement. Before they could shoot them down, Billy drew their attention by holding them under his assault rifle's fire. The bullets didn’t damage them too much, but little by little it chipped at their armor.
Still, he had to move back after the three retaliated with the same type of gun. Vivar joined the fray as planned, and shielded the C.T.D, while the former soldier shot back from under cover. This allowed the two to take a stand, but not enough to move forward or counter.
-” Sovereign, target the one closest to use, on your left”, relayed Billy in a message to the hidden C.T.D. The person, like Vivar beforehand, lived for so long under that moniker and decided that they should keep it. However, using the same impersonal way of speaking with the rest, replying with an - “ Acknowledged” and activated a program Syna left for them.
It was a simple version of what she could do while connected to Sovereign, but now since their companion had another assignment, Sovereign had to use it on their own. Luckily, it was more than enough to buy some time. The targeted drone stopped in its tracks then fell to its knees; With one less rifle on them, Vivar and Billy rushed towards the other two drones. In return, the two enemies combined their firepower into a single point on the shield, puncturing and destroying it by the time they got close enough.
Billy tried to strike with a surprise shotgun shot, but his opponent managed to avoid it at the last second. The shield broke apart right in Vivar’s hand, but he grabbed tightly to the bottom part with the sharp edge and tried to cut into the drone with it: “ I have to stay close enough for it not to be able to use the shotgun”, he thought, but then it surprised him. The robot’s left arm transformed into a blade, deflecting the strike.
Stolen story; please report.
On the other side, Angie was holding on her own both the Commissary and Marc, fighting more like a wild beast than a human. She used every advantage her new body gave her, running in circles around them, trying to hit and grab them with her tail and the devastating strikes of her pickaxe were enough to send waves in her way. Craters as well.
The two, though, used every kind of trick they knew to keep the beast from actually splitting them up, which appeared to be her aim, and gave her a few hits of their own. For every single parry Marc did with his arm blades, his father then counter-attacked, driving her back. But so did Angie, which at some point had them on the run.
The boy jumped on his father's back while he ran from the miner, switching then to chasing Angie around, and the boy trying to shoot her down with a pistol.
During all the commotion, using Syna’s tech to keep them off any radars and scanners, Priya’s team used a smaller, levitating platform to approach the entrance from above. They had to wait a bit until Chirani made M-Mother switch position again, ignore the entrance, and soon found their opening. In a flash, they were in, undetected. Or so they hoped.
-” L-Father, Melina, you’ve got company. I didn’t catch a good image, but it looks like they were traveling using a floating platform. Apprehend or eliminate them!”, relayed the woman.
Melina tried to activate one of the interior platforms, but that system was down as well, so she shot hook lines from a device on her arms and used that to fastly slide along the hallways. L-Father activated a second set of limbs that came out of his back and grabbed from the brought equipment a riot shield and multiple weapons. The two were prepared for conflict.
-” Left, right…on, right again”. Syna tried to give Priya the correct directions using an old map they had of the facility, but even so, the place was labyrinthian by design. For even more bad luck, they quickly came face to face with Melina. At the sight of the intruders, the girl grabbed an extendable baton, and from her left wrist started to fire at them, which forced the group to use another route.
Priya gave Savan a weapon, which they fumbled with until the former CEO explained:” I already told you about it, now stun her!”. Syna also grabbed one, but she was just using it blindly behind her, as she was more preoccupied with finding a new route.
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M-Mother tried several times to provide support to either the drones or the Commissary, but Chirani managed to keep her on her toes with each of his snipes. Sovereign was still occupied with keeping one of the robots in locked status, and Vivar and Billy managed to force their opponents into a closeup battle. For now, the status of the fights was in stasis.
The only first win came from Priya’s group, who shot Melina with enough stuns to make her lose balance, but she also succeeded in hitting their platform a few times. And Priya as well, but every time she bit her lip and let her self-healing device repair the damage. The downside was that she was losing grip of her coordination little by little, and stamina as well.
At some point, Melina lost her concentration enough for her to trip and hit a wall at full speed. Savan fired a last stun, which hit her in the face but it wasn’t clear what exactly knocked her out at the end.
Marc and Commissary changed their tactics after a while and switched to close and mid-range positions, with his father using the shrapnels more efficiently; he split them into smaller groups, attacked from multiple positions to corner Angie, and gave Marc enough occasions to dig in a hit as well. The wild beast could only defend and dodge, but once in a while, she managed to smash a few of the pieces with her pickaxe, dwindling their numbers, but still taking some damage as well.
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Savan was now carrying Priya on their back, on foot, as Melina’s attacks destroyed their transport. As soon as they got closer, the hacker stopped them and told Savan to check the halfway rooms, using the different sights or hearing methods they had installed.
-” One. Armed and he seems to have…”, they got quiet for just a moment when they realized his armaments, but then went on- “ four arms, two on the back.”
They still got the stun guns, but both were almost out of energy and besides Syna’s hidden weapon from her right hand, nothing else in terms of firepower. The hacker then got an idea.
L-Father was waiting for the intruders to come by at any second. Instead, he received a stun gun thrown at him, who after being swatted by the riot shield, exploded in bright light. Syna ran in and pointed her hidden hand weapon at his head. “ Don’t move”, she warned him, and he listened as he was able to see the tip of the barrel. She then used one of her cables to connect to the closest port she could find on him, after which his arms, systems, and everything shut down. The last stun gun got him out of the picture as well.
All that was left was for them to gain control of the station.