Perimeter breach.
Verox glanced at the blinking light on her control panel, then to the handful of surviving cameras. She'd rearranged them to provide some semblance of security for now. With Ascension's destruction all but certain, she was in the process of consolidating the most important of her research and collecting what pieces of her existing or unfinished tech were most viable. She'd need to find a new place to set up shop if she wanted to continue with her research.
She wished her precious driver hadn’t been stolen. As much as she loved her current collection of tech, having someone that fully aligned with her creations, her vision, was something she couldn’t easily replace. She may not have agreed with James’s decision to demolish the entire compound in recompense, but she didn’t exactly disagree either.
There was no point in mourning what could have been. She continued moving from terminal to terminal, systematically transferring everything of importance to the core drive, then physically removing it from the rest of the tech. Every one of these represented a fortune in scientific advancement, each a piece of the glorious puzzle that was her life’s work.
Not all of it was necessary to her any more. A lot of it was duplicates, or simplified versions she’d intended for her successor, if she ever received a successor, but now her plans would have to be on a much longer timeline.
Rebuilding from the beginning would be easier as long as she had her core databases, regardless of where she ended up working from. Being at the bottom of an open hole in the middle of a high-traffic floor was the last thing she wanted for her research station.
Unfortunately, despite moving as quickly as she could, she’d been too slow. The group advancing down the hole were the last people she wanted to see.
Expansionists.
They’d take everything they could from her, then send it out into the rest of the world. They’d bastardize her grand vision, turning it into factories and vile machinery, tearing the soul from her creations and parceling it out to the highest bidder.
She stopped carefully packing away the drives and instead loaded everything she’d managed to collect so far into her personal suit. She couldn’t stop them from coming down, but she could give them quite a fight when they arrived.
She'd almost finished destroying the rest of the lab when the first of the invaders arrived.
If she’d been any less prideful, she could have taken the opportunity to turn and run. She’d demolished almost all of her data, everything but what she carried with her, but instead of sneaking out the back way she intended to send a message.
You did not mess with Verox Elara.
“Ignore them and let’s leave. We have the ELS. That’s all we need.” When she didn’t listen to him, James grabbed her forearm and halted her hurried movement. “Now.”
Guess when he said he'd be kidnapping her it wasn't an exaggeration.
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The heavy thud of mechs approaching a massive hole ground down Everin’s frayed nerves. He hadn’t sleep in a week, his outpost had been under raid for so long. He thought this would be a break where he might’ve been able to catch a cat nap here or there, but now that he stood near the edge of a hole leading straight to the hellish trainingscape he’d once survived through, he regretted not staying back on the 47th floor.
“What are the elders thinking? There’s no way anything down here is salvageable, and anybody who survived is long gone.” Everin nervously fidgeted with the mech-grade hilt he carried. Every movement caused his tired eyes to twitch away from the hole in front of him.
“We do as we’re asked by the elders.” While Everin’s mech was heavy artillery, good and slow, perfect for continuous barrages of fire, Demoslar was built for tanking anything and everything. As formidable as his will when surrounded on all sides, so too was his ironclad persistence to follow every command to the T.
“This doesn’t make sense though. Think about how many fronts are weakened at this very moment because of us all being down here,” Roxxy agreed with Everin, her mech taller and more slender than any of the others with retractable grappling hooks on her shoulders, balled feet great for maneuvering, and both arms loaded out to max capacity with short range munitions on the left and high caliber sniper rounds on the right. “It’s just a waste of time.”
Descending dramatically, Osprey kicked up a dust cloud. “I’ve finished scouting. There are a few curious onlookers lingering. No threats. Let’s get this over and done with so we can all go back to what we were doing.”
Last but not least, Ardor stood and looked Osprey up and down, grinning. “Who made you the boss?”
“Shut it,” Demoslar growled. “We go.”
“Lead the way.” Ardor playfully punched Osprey’s shoulder. “Looks like you’ve got hard competition for team leader, Osprey.” Ardor gestured toward the hole. “Which one of our fearless leaders would like to lead?”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Everin looked at the other four members. Whatever had caused this, there was no way any of them were properly equipped to handle. “Why don’t we send one or two people to relay the information. The rest of us can hold perimeter and make sure nothing follows us down.”
Ardor laughed, shaking his head. “If anybody or anything follows us down,” he said, holding up his blaster, “maybe try using this on them.” He pointed at a faraway target. “Pew, pew, pew!”
Roxxy scowled but remained quiet. The rest of the team shook their heads and moved to the edge of the hole.
Osprey asked, “Everyone’s boosters are prepped for rapid descent, right?”
Roxxy scoffed. “We’re all elites from the higher floors. Don’t patronize us. If we’re doing this, just—” Her patience appeared to have run dry, because she stepped off solid ground and opened her arms into a freefall dive with a brief, frustrated huff.
Everin watched as Demoslar and Osprey followed. Ardor gave him a friendly smack to the shoulder. “Whatever’s down there won’t be so bad. As you said, there’s probably nothing left for us to even look at, so let’s get this show on the road and get back to our stations.”
“I guess,” Everin said, though he couldn’t shake the bad feeling gnawing in his gut.
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“Heads up, they’re finally descending, boss,” Olor called as he came rushing down the path of destruction and carnage toward the lab Bron was admiring. “One team. All of them look far stronger than the average Ascender.”
Bron grinned maliciously. “Is everyone in waiting?”
“Yes, boss.” Olor looked giddy, his eyes glancing toward the still sealed door that had denied them access for the better part of an hour. “The tech we might gain access to…”
“Nobody holds greater anticipation than me, Olor. Now, get in place.” Bron began to turn back to watch the limited progress on the door, then thought of an idea. “And Olor, do bring one back to me alive.”
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Laril woke to Demron shaking him aggressively.
"Wha...?"
"You have to run." Demron was barely able to speak, he was so terrified. "I don't know what they'll do, but if you want to survive... go far, far away. Don't come back to the tower. They're..." He shook his head, still trembling.
"What... happened?" Laril sat up and looked around. They were in a medical safe house far from the base, one of several places that were set up for emergencies. He had no memory of the previous night, only a vague impression of happiness followed by terror. "What were we drinking?"
"The base was attacked. No, destroyed. That girl you had me send away, she was the sister of some high floor bigshot. He came down from the 60s and demolished the entire place. He killed just about everyone." Demron waved a hand at the small gathering of extraordinarily weak initiates and other low-level and low-power individuals. "We only got away because I think he doesn't consider us worth killing. But they wanted to know everyone's names in our group. They didn't... I didn't get the idea that we were top priority, but there's a very high chance that you'll have a very angry demigod coming after you."
Laril took a long minute to absorb all that. He still had an incredible headache and had no desire to face a demigod under any circumstances, but he especially didn't want to face an angry one.
"Then I guess we have no choice but to hide?"
Demron shook his head frantically. "No, run. We can't stay anywhere near here. He'll come after us. I just know it. He's probably tracking me now. You shouldn't be anywhere near me, but unless I warn you... Just, never use your name again. Change your face. I don't know. If you want to live..." He couldn't stop shaking his head.
Laril had never seen the man so flustered. He was all but petrified, stuck in a terror loop that he couldn't break out of.
Serves him right. "You really came up with a plan to exile someone to slavery without bothering to check who her relatives were?" Laril scoffed. "You really have failed at every level, haven't you?"
Demron bowed his head. "I'm sorry, I tried to tell them it was my fault, they weren't interested. They wanted all our names. Most of us are dead, just you and me left now, but... I know I won't be sticking around. If you've got any desire to survive, you'll be running too. He has a Legendary card. That's not something any of us can survive."
Laril shrugged. "Sure. I'll run. Thanks for the warning." He shooed the man away, then sat up and rubbed his forehead once the stupid lackey was gone.
Demron had really ruined things this time. And now Laril had to deal with the fallout? Ugh.
Well, it was pretty clear his family's gamble to get him into the advanced ELS program was going nowhere now. He would gain nothing by continuing to pretend to be an ordinary initiate. Their attempts to sabotage the competition and prove his rightful place at the top had come to nothing. So now he needed to recalculate.
His parents wouldn't be pleased that he'd failed to enter the advanced program, but there were plenty of other things they could do.
After all, an opponent with a Legendary card was a valuable resource. It took an average of ten epic decks to deal with someone who had a Legendary card, but his family had more influence than Demron could imagine. Laril didn't strut around as though he owned the place without good reason. He may not own it personally, but he had direct contact with enough people who may as well that there was hardly a difference.
If it were anything smaller, his family would argue against being dragged into a little argument like this. But with the potential to lure in a Legendary user? They wouldn't be able to resist.
He'd planned to wait another few years before claiming his inheritance, prove that he deserved his place on merit rather than relying on his bloodline, but things had changed. He didn't have the luxury of playing at being a peasant any longer.
Time for him to make his mark on this tower. That Legendary guy would be the perfect stepping-stone for his family's ascension.
Especially since it sounded like there was going to be a pretty significant power void in the near future. If Ascension was as scattered and damaged as Demron made it sound, there was a perfect opening for someone new to step in.
He'd liked the idea of Ascension, mainly because it provided an established power base to work from. If he had to start from nothing... What would be a good name for them?
He hadn't quite decided by the time he finished packing what few of his possessions had survived their flight and left the few other survivors to their own devices.
Retribution sounded pretty good, though. That could be a good place to start.
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