A bearded man with a cybernetic appeared in the corner of my left eye. He had a scar running down his lip and an assault rifle at his hip.
His eyes drifted toward me and watched as his right widened from the shock. In a split second his assault rifle was pointed at me, but before he could squeeze the trigger, two holes appeared in his chest and blood slowly oozed as he grunted from the pain.
“INTRUDER! INTRUDER!” Someone shouted behind him. Fuck, this is not what I need right now! I hissed to myself.
I skipped back, firing at the door, suppressing who anyone from pushing their gun or head out and pulling a clip free from one of my side pockets, pushing myself up against the wall and firing as I finished reloading.
My eyes switched to X-Ray vision without thought and two skeleton frames were hunkered within the room. A square box which sat on the right side of the room caught my attention. The console, I thought, gotta make sure not to hit it.
The steel door slammed shut and I hunkered myself down. “Nova how many men are making their way towards us!”
“At least thirty Sir.”
“Fuck, how close is the closest?”
“Ten meters Sir”
“Shit.”
“I have an idea,” I said, sliding the usin cable back into the security panel. “Contact the Warchief, can you mimic my voice?”
“Yes sir, I can copy your voice pattern.”
“Good, Isolate the communication between the two of you. Direct him here, but cover his ass from the other hostiles.”
“Understood Sir,”
The security panel began blinking and I watched as soundwaves fluttered toward me through my Echo-Sight. I unclipped my submachine gun from my flack jacket and clipped the safety off. “How long before you can hack the door open?”
“Ten seconds.”
“I don’t have ten seconds, they’re right on my ass Nova!”
“I know Sir.”
I fire a wave of bullets the moment the soundwaves centered around the edge of the corner. I fired burst rounds, mixing up the timing and counting each shot as best as I could.
As two seconds passed, my nerves were as rattled as they’d ever been. In my mind, I wanted to toss a grenade, but because I was laying suppressive fire, this would’ve disconnected nova from the panel, forcing the AI to restart the hack, something I couldn’t afford to do. Fuck it!
I Yanked a grenade free, firing blindly at the corner hoping to keep the suppressive fire up. The moment I stopped to slide the grenade across the ground three bullets shot right past me as the bastard missed me.
The grenade clunked off the wall and stopped right by the edge of the corner of the hall. Sound waves fluttered like waves toward me rain but in the opposite direction. “GRENADE!” Someone shouted.
A loud reverberating explosion groaned through the corridor, sputtering shards of concrete around me, sounding like rain as it shook the floor.
I slide the usin cable back into the security panel and reloaded my magazine, and dabbed away a bead of sweat before it could fall into my eye. “NOVA HOW LONG!”
“Door Unlocked Sir.”
“Don’t open it fully! Just partially!” I snapped.
The door slid open partially, and bullets spluttered through as sparks flew from the ricocheted bullets that thankfully missed me. I pulled a flash-bang free, turned the crown and slid it into the console room.
“Sir, men are approaching your six!” Nova shouted.
“Shut the door!”
The door slashed shut and another explosion echoed from behind the door. I snapped backwards firing blindly at the corridor behind me. “Door!”
I Backed myself into the room, firing and turning. The room turned emerald from night vision. Smoke wafted around the room from the flash bang but the men on the ground were shrieking cries from the flashbang.
My bullets struck both of them in the head and they sagged to the ground like a bag of potatoes. I slid the usin cable back into the panel within the room and watched the door slash shut instantly.
“How close’s the Warchief?” I grunted
“Twenty meters Sir, but he’s in a firefight.”
“How many comms surround him?”
“Fifteen comms, Sir, but they’re separated into five squads, including the two you just fought off.”
“Understood.”
I ran past the two dead bodies and slid my Usin cable into the console. The screen was black with yellow and red lines of code as if it was filtering through data.
The screen went white after two seconds and a download bar appeared on the screen.
Bullets began ricocheting off the door as the men outside were forcing their way in. I felt as though a rain of bullets was about to fill me with holes as I stood there watching the progression bar rise to 24%.
“I’m in sir, locating Ranton’s office within the network.”
“Download the updated schematics for the bunker. I want to be able to manoeuvre easier.”
A white light dot pulsed into existence within my cybernetic eye with the ‘schematics’ appearing next to it. I mentally selected it and my SMB clutched my brain for a second.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“I’m unable to mitigate the stress of your SMB and hack into the system accordingly, Sir.”
“Hack? I thought you gained access to everything by now.”
“Yes sir, I have, but I have been sending out spyware and malware packets through the view devices I can reach to help me break down the firewalls within the system.”
“Shit, How long?”
“I’m not sure, it depends on the level of encryption.”
“Fuck, that means Ranton’s office probably isn’t part of the local network.”
“That is correct Sir,”
“Fuck, have you found anything relating to the Doasian kids?”
“Yes Sir, I’ve located them. They are two hundred meters from our current location.”
“I see,”
“Are you planning to help Warchief Black Rock?”
“I am, but on my terms.”
“Sir?”
“I have a plan, but I’m going to need your help.”
“How--“
“You’ll know! How close is the Warchief?!”
“Not any better Sir, more men are heading towards his direction.”
“FUCK! This is not what I expected.”
The progression bar hit 87%, and my heart thumped again because the bullets that rattled the door were beginning to sound like sand splashing on a wooden fence. “Nova!”
“Sir, Sceleratus’ bunker has blast doors I’m trying to gain access to them and also cut off the RAK from it.”
“RAK?” I asked confused.
“Yes Sir, Remote Access Key. The RAK holder can retract and release the Blast Doors at any time.”
“How long?”
A loud explosion groans from behind me. I turned, watching as the door bent like a sardine can and a ball of far vomited from the opening.
My body shifted right and I squeezed the trigger of my submachine gun watching as sparks flew after the bullets bounced off the metal door. “Forget it, just get access to the blast doors. We’ll need them!”
“But Sir, If Lieutenant Ranton still has access to the Blast Doors he can undo whatever I’ve done.” Nova pleaded
“Let me worry about that shit is about to get crazy here, and we need to get asses out of here!”
“Understood Sir”
One of my bullets went through the skull of one of Ranton’s men as he tried to peep through the hole in the door.
A dong-like sound hit the wall, which sounded like a hollow bell. Shit, I huffed, then yanked the Usin cable free from the console and dove to the ground, right next to the dead body on the right. Then I grabbed the dead body and used it as cover and heard I was right, it was a fucking grenade!
An explosion filled the air with a thunderous boom, almost deafening me despite the earplugs I wore within my natural air. A jolt of pain shot down my spine, forcing my eyes shut for a few seconds.
When I opened my eyes, my vision blurred as I felt my brain begin to throb as though it shifted within my skull, shifting within my skull as the explosion slammed me into a wall unexpectedly. “Sir, are you there?” Nova asked frantically.
“Barely,” I croaked, tasting the sour taste of smoke filling my mouth.
“Ranton’s making a move Sir. He’s heading toward the Warchief with fifty men!”
“Shit, he can’t handle that force. Is he close?”
“Relatively, but he’s facing heavy resistance.”
“Understood,” I grunted.
Footsteps trampled in and I looked up, using my Night-Vision feeling as the commotion around me had died down. Four sets of footsteps, four people…a fifth set!
As I raised my pistol, squeezing the trigger three times. Three men dropped to the ground the second the bullets went through their skulls and neck, spilling blood as they fell.
The other two men hunted for my shots, by spraying their bullets around the room. The room was still misted from the grenade and shattered concrete but unlike them, I saw them clear as day.
My bullets went through their skulls like a seith and they sagged, not even realising what had happened. I kicked the corpse of my body and the blood that had been leaking on my left a faint metallic taste in the air. “Nova, send the Warchief’s location to my HUD and patch me through,”
A white line exploded into my cybernetic eye and I checked my corners and began sprinting down the corridor feeling my body screaming all over.
“You’re connected to the Warchief,” Nova said.
“Warchief!”
“You bastard! You set me up…Because of you one of my men are dead and two are injured.”
“You aren’t the only one who lost something!” I growled.
I slowed my run as I came to the end of the corridor and unclipped my submachine gun. I switched to X-Ray Vision, ensuring the corner was clear and sprinted down the corridor satisfied it was clear, but also hoping to reach the Warchief before Ranton’s reinforcements wouldn’t take him out.
“How close are Ranton’s reinforcements Nova.”
“Close enough Sir, but you’re closer.”
“How many hostiles do I have to clear out to make a path?”
“Eight Sir,”
“Light Work,” I said firmly.
As I rounded a corner, realising the lights within the corridor had gone dark. Ranton must’ve killed the lights within the section, I thought.
Bullet fire sparked from Assault Rifles as three men proned, knelt and stood firing at the Warchief’s group who were nestled into a maintenance room firing from both sides.
Eltessa’s blonde hair was unkempt from the sweat that had been pouring down her face, as she laid suppression fire on the opposite end of the corridor.
I darted across the room, firing at the three men, hitting each of them in the head, neck, back and chest. A man appeared to me right out of nowhere and I ducked immediately.
The world swirled around me as my hand went to my pistol as I skidded across the ground. A bullet hit me in my left arm, ricocheting into the wall as though it was nothing but a piece of rock.
Fright crept up into the man’s eyes as he watched his bullets ricochet off my cybernetic arm as he tried to bring his assault rifle to my face.
I raised my right hand, aiming it directly at the centre of his throat and squeezed.
My bullet went through his Adam’s apple whilst skidding across the ground. My right shoulder slammed into the wall, forcing my ribs to strain from the weight of my cybernetics.
“SVEKA! SVEKA!” Someone shouted further up the corridor. Sveka’s Dead! I thought, feeling my heart thump in my chest.
“Sir, men are flanking from the left. Ten seconds out.”
“Fuck. How many?”
“Six.”
“Damn it!”
“That’s not all Sir, seven more men are trying to flank from the right.”
“It can’t get any worst, can it?”
“Sir.”
“SAVE IT!” I snapped, “I’ll deal with them first, save the bad news for later.”
“No bad news Sir, I can use the blast doors to stall them.
“No! If Ranton’s here, then the likelihood of the Blast Doors stalling him won’t work. He’d have an override within him, just in case.”
“Understood Sir,”
I spun right, reloading my submachine gun as I did so. The waves of bullets flapped to my right and footsteps echoed toward me. “Isolate Communication from this squad, have em charge the corridor!”
“Yes Sir.”
I stepped forward, eyes trained on the corner. Two men peeped around the corner, and hand signalled. Three more men came around followed and darted down the corridor.
If there was one thing I’d be happy with, their lack of tech because none of them had a cybernetic eye or Night Vision goggles to see me stapling myself to the darkest part of the wall, thanks to my Furtiven Suit.
The moment the bastards came within eight meters of me, I sprayed them down, watching as their bodies drop like flies.
Not even giving myself a chance to think, I pulled a grenade from my bag and twisted a crown.
On the third click, I threw it against the wall and a loud ding groaned, followed by two more dings.
The grenade bounced off the wall like a pinball. After the bounce, it shot right around the corridor and the waves of footsteps that had been galloping towards him stopped.
A loud reverberating explosion flooded through the corridor sending a heat wave around the corner that made the hairs on my hand, stand as I hunkered down by watching as more bullets rummaged their way toward the Warchief.
I spied around the corner and zoomed in. At the top of the corridor, Ranton’s men were firing at intervals whilst the Warchief’s men were barely firing back. They’re low on ammo, I thought.
My left hand unconsciously slid into my ammo bag, only to find a void of bullets. Shit, I’m out too. I mused bitterly. I turned, darting toward the dead bodies of Ranton’s men and snatched up one of the many Assault Rifles that lay next to their newly rotted corpses.
“Sir, more men are coming.”
“Are you shitting me? How much more!”
“Twenty this time, ten on each side.”
“FUCK!”
I slid a magazine into the Assault Rifle and gritted my teeth, feeling hopeless. I don’t know what to do…we can’t fight off all these men, I mused bitterly.
“NOVA INITIATE STATIC SQUEAL!”