The way ahead was clear and had been paved in the lives of those giving themselves to protect a man who would have otherwise thrown them to the wolves regardless. Sergei could still hardly believe how off-track the original plan had gone.
“So this was always the plan, Archon?” he asked.
“In a roundabout way yes. Your Maxim friends were easy enough to fool but Black Knight were hesitant to even let Mortans onto the mission.”
“How did you even convince them?”
“Simple we stated that for things to go smoothly, they’d need Mortans to at least influence those turned.”
“And they bought it.”
“The results speak for themselves,” Archon said as they soon reached a long blood and gore-lined corridor.
From one of the rooms to their left, a door opened and a Deterrent stumbled out, riddled with bullet holes it soon collapsed as the one responsible emerged wielding a shotgun. They stopped dead upon seeing them. They pointed the shotgun at the group.
“Relax,” said Archon. “We just need to pay Lazarus a visit, at the end of this corridor is an elevator that will take us up close to his penthouse. You let us pass, I can promise you the way we came is mostly clear. The Deterrent is too busy focusing on those deeper within this facility.”
“I’d rather die than let you get through.”
“That can be arranged.”
The man cried out as a black claw dug into his leg. That was all the distraction Archon needed as he blasted the man with an aetherial blast. The energy ripped through the man and he fell to the ground in a growing pool of his own blood. The Mortan he had failed to kill rose to its feet and set to work feasting on the corpse. Archon gestured for those with him to pay it no mind. Once in the elevator, they took it up to Helios Administratum.
The ride there was a slow one but it soon came to a stop and dinged not long after with the doors opening.
“Weapons hot, that includes you, Sergei. No doubt Lazarus is well entrenched.”
The group emerged into the Administratum. It had a wooden decorum and Art Deco style that made it distinct from other places in the Lunar City. The other members of the group each formed blasters over their hands and arms. Unsurprisingly, Sergei’s symbiote soon followed. They followed a maze of corridors and cubicles until they began climbing a stairwell. They barely crescented the top when the first shots were fired. Archon signalled for them to keep low.
“Looks like we’re on the right track. Just need to deal with those up ahead.”
“How many are they?” asked one of the Mortans.
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“About four from what I saw, a blink rush should catch them off guard.”
Archon pointed to the two other Mortans and signalled for them to go first. They disappeared and soon emerged close to their targets. Before they could get any shots off an explosion occurred. Unable to shift or channel aether, the two Mortans fell under a hail of incendiary rounds that ignited their insides. Archon revealed himself and Sergei found himself compelled to follow. Outside the range of the Anti-Aether pulse, the two made short work of two of the guards. The remaining two took cover and tossed grenades their way. Archon and Sergei blinked together and travelled to the Other Side where they emerged close to the barricades hiding the two guards. Once they reemerged it was as simple as blasting aether through their skulls. Sergei looked back the way they came and noticed something.
“Those two are not getting back up.”
“Incendiary rounds do that. It doesn’t surprise me that Black Knight had those ready to go,” Archon said looking at the shoulder of one of the men they had killed. The patch had the unmistakable insignia of the Black Knights, a black knight’s helmet with white swords crossed behind it.
“You think they cut a deal with Lazarus?” Sergei asked.
“It would explain how he got here so quickly after communication broke down following the Masquerade lockdown.”
“Well not much else stands in our way.”
Archon approached the double sliding doors and made short work of them by using his aether blade to cut open a hole big enough for the two of them to step through. As the door pieces hit the floor he shifted his blade into the blaster and prepared to fire on any remaining defenders. Sergei followed behind and once in Lazarus’ office. They noticed it empty except for the man himself. He stood facing away from them staring out at his burning city.
“I have contingencies in place that could reduce this city to rubble. But that would be such a waste. I made her hoping to give humanity a future beyond its petty quarrels below but I should have anticipated you would ruin it, my child.”
He turned to face the two of them, hands behind his back. He was a small, stout-looking man with a bald and elongated head. “I know why you’re here. If you so much as get any closer to lay a finger on me. I will swallow a pill that destroys my nerves. The symbiote requires a functional nervous system does it not? Without it. I’d be a sack of flesh and thus utterly useless to you.”
“You underestimate the Deterrent if you think a measly pill can stop it,” Archon said beginning his approach.
Lazarus gritted his teeth and stepped back. “You know me like I know you, Nirimor. I spent my whole life running from the monsters it made. It haunted my every waking dream. The screams of those long past! You fight for someone else’s dream. You think it offers you peace. No, all you will know from this point forward is endless war. You know it won’t stop with Earth.”
“I dream of us all being united. It matters not what form it takes-”
His words were cut off as a rift above opened and a large alien vessel came through.
“You know what they say about the enemy of my enemy.”
“What?”
“They bring salvation.”
Archon allowed a long tendril to wrap around his arm as Lazarus swallowed his pill. “Humans are fodder to you. But them out there! My ancestors couldn’t hope to stop them! What makes you any different,” Lazarus cried out falling onto his table. He barely held himself up and glared at Sergei. “And you, you seek your father, right? if he saw you now and knew of the monster growing within. He would not-”
Archon grabbed the back of the man’s neck and pulled his head back before thrusting the tendril down his throat. “Enough of that, you will join us, Lazarus. The work is not yet done.”
Once done he released his hold and Lazarus fell to the ground, writhing around in agony. Sergei hurried to Archon’s side and the two of them watched the ship above the lunar city deploy both drop pods and transports.
“What did Lazarus mean, who are they?”
Archon stood quietly. “Bad news.”