Jaclyn added, “I’m not pulling you all again—not unless we know what we’re running into.”
We didn’t. Due to limited fuel supplies, a limited number of bots, and any hints that the place existed, Hal hadn’t sent any down here.
“Everybody flies?” Haley asked.
It wasn’t a bad idea. Between camouflage and not touching anything, we’d avoid a lot of potential triggers.
A voice said, “I’m here to bring you to Magnus.” Continue reading Stage Three: Part 3
Then he started laughing. I’m pretty sure I even heard a “Mwha-ha-ha” somewhere in there. Then the communication ended, leaving me to hope that it was an ironic “Mwha-ha-ha,” because an unironic “Mwha-ha-ha” would be a cliche.
It called up mad scientist vibes at best and at the most horribly wrong end, it reminded me of how Artificer technology had been designed to destroy civilizations either through madness or temptation and runaway self-interest. Continue reading Stage Three: Part 2
Inside the room, we found the welcome committee. They were prepared for us, but there’s a difference between sending a bunch of guards to stand in the entrance in case someone gets through and executing a well-planned ambush.
This was not a well-planned ambush.
The guards here, and there were more than 20 of them, all of them with automatic weapons, weren’t in the best shape. Continue reading Stage Three: Part 1
The world around me blurred as Jaclyn began to move. I might have felt grateful that I’d already been floating, but I didn’t have time. Still, if I’d been tied behind Jaclyn without armor and pulled forward, I could have died simply from faceplanting, but more likely by being ripped in two by the rope around my waist.
Fortunately, I wore armor with an anti-gravity pack. The armor had inertial dampers and anti-collision protocols. Also, we’d staggered everyone so that nobody flew directly next to anyone.
We’d even used redundant cables for everyone because you never knew if one might break. Continue reading Stage Two: Part 10
Cassie looked down at the ground and then back down the hallway, “That’s what the muddy footprints were? That’s so gross.”
Then she said, “Who wants to get the door?”
Marcus shifted into a pile of goo that seeped in the door’s direction but stopped just in front, asking, “Is it booby trapped?”
Daniel frowned, “I can’t tell.” Continue reading Stage Two: Part 9
I wondered how much of a walk this would be, and a map Hal had created while using my bots as scouts appeared in my head. By taking out the Nine’s central command, we’d ended up on ground level. Magnus’ and the Nine’s leadership’s rooms were located on the top floor.
Well, unless they’d evacuated to the bunker below the main complex.
Knowing that the fight in the control center hadn’t been quiet in any way, I had to bet on the bunker. Either way, the stairway at the end of the hall went both up and down. Continue reading Stage Two: Part 8
Edward said, “I’m hoping the same. If Dr. Mind did survive, Brian’s advice to you guarantees that we’ll be executed by one or more of the Numbers. Though if Dr. Mind is gone, there’s an opening for Number 4, so they may be too busy killing rivals to care.”
Brian glared at him, “Thanks for telling them my name!”
Edward raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure they know already. The Heroes’ League appears to have done its homework. They attacked with overwhelming force while in disguise and went straight for our Control Center. Not only that, but they did it while we were distracted with a myriad of other concerns—which in retrospect, they may have engineered.” Continue reading Stage Two: Part 7
I checked Jaclyn’s, Tiger’s, and Izzy’s feeds. They’d been fighting the cadre of guards that appeared to be tasked with defending the teleportation systems.
Even better, they’d stepped inside Teleportation Operations. It said so on a black sign next to the door.
The first word that came to mind was “industrial.” Continue reading Stage Two: Part 6
Cassie muttered something that she didn’t bother to share and dropped her father’s sword.
As she did, the skull leveled out as the top half hit the floor, landing on a burning cubicle wall. Part of me marveled that any part of the skull was working, but I hadn’t gotten a good enough look after she’d cut it.
She’d cut it diagonally from one side of the bottom upward, revealing Dr. Mind, but not slicing into him—much. She’d cut into the outside that the brain’s tendrils extended into, but not the main body of it. While she’d cut into the ceramic container at the center of the skull, destroying Dr. Mind’s primary life support environment and many of the skull’s internal systems with it, Dr. Mind still lived. Continue reading Stage Two: Part 5
Cassie added, “I’m ready.”
She was. According to her suit’s stats, her leg had grown back.
“Now would work,” Tara said.
Still camouflaged, I poked my head up, pointing my arm at Dr. Mind, testing his shield. My sonics ran through various frequencies at a low volume, checking which were the most resonant.
Then I passed those frequencies to everyone’s PAs and even my spare sonic on Julie’s costume. I pushed up the volume to the maximum. Continue reading Stage Two: Part 4