Derrick fell backwards in a barely controlled tumble before scrambling painfully to his feet. He wiped the blood from his chin, noting that his health bar had been lowered by half with that single blow, and the Behemoth stood there dumbfounded. Derrick rolled his shoulders, set his fists, and went forward on the balls of his feet. This time the Behemoth wasted little time in charging Derrick. His head down and his left shoulder lead the way.
Stupid fuck.
Derrick jumped two meters straight up and timed it so that his heel was headed straight for the back of the T'lan Behemoth's neck. He Focused and his downward velocity actually seemed to increase. Derrick's boot-heel hit the back of the huge T'lan's neck with a sharp crack. The Behemoth, already off-balance, crashed head-first into the bridge hard enough to leave a white smear. Derrick rolled off the T'lan, came up in a defensive crouch and only relaxed when the body began to condense into a health-sphere. When Derrick absorbed the sphere it felt like his first time. The rush of energy left him quivering with vitality. He felt practically invincible as he approached the tall cargo container that formed a partial blockade.
A massive fist appeared out of nowhere as he rounded a container. Derrick blocked the blow by holding out both palms and it felt like both of his shoulders were nearly dislocated. Then he was tumbling through the chain-link fence on his right. A last minute grab, completely instinctive on his part, allowed Derrick a few more seconds of life. The Behemoth walked over to the railing and proceeded to lift Derrick by his wrist. It felt like the Behemoth would break his entire arm from just that casual grip. The Behemoth looked Derrick squarely in the eye and raised a gargantuan fist to end Derrick once and for all.
Derrick raised his own first and fired a low-intensity pulse-sphere into the T'lan's eyes. The Behemoth dropped Derrick and stumbled backwards. Derrick, utilizing agility he was quickly coming to depend on, landed at the very edge of the bridge. Derrick leaped forward and delivered a Focused sidekick to the T'lan's chest. The Behemoth crashed through the rail on the opposite side and disappeared into the lake below.
Heavy footsteps brought Derrick's attention to his right. He rolled to the side, jumped out of the roll, and back-kicked the Behemoth in its ass to send it into the side of a cargo container. The container actually moved slightly and the Behemoth started to straighten. Derrick darted in and unleashed a lightning-fast combination of hooks and jabs to the Behemoth's lower back. The Behemoth tried for a spinning back-fist with surprising finesse, but Derrick had it telegraphed. He ducked beneath the blow and rose upward with a Focused uppercut that rocked the Behemoth back against the cargo container. Derrick leaped and executed a textbook Focused jumping, spinning sidekick.
Derrick landed heavily, exhaustion flooding him as his T'langen gauge dipped into the red. The Behemoth was slumped against the cargo container quite dead. Fortunately it left behind a T'langen-sphere that revitalized Derrick. After taking several breaths to calm the bass throb of his heart, Derrick made his way past the flame-topped cargo containers. This side of the bridge terminated in a grassy clearing set flush against a cliff wall. There was an outpost to Derrick's right but he ignored it and headed straight towards the T'lan airlock in the cliff-face to the left. As he approached, up a gentle slope, the blue-green energy barrier shifted to red.
Derrick's brow lowered in consternation but he resolutely continued forward despite the pair of T'lan Behemoth's that were charging down the slope towards him. He charged a pulse-sphere and launched it at the lead Behemoth. The monster dipped a shoulder but gravely underestimated the power of a pulse-sphere. All of the chitin on that shoulder boiled away to reveal pulsating flesh. The Behemoth spun to the ground with the impact and Derrick leapt over his fallen foe as the trailing Behemoth slowed to avoid a collision. Derrick Focused as he flew through the air to plant the sole of his boot into the Behemoth's sternum. The Behemoth stumbled backwards and flopped gracelessly onto his ass. Derrick turned to the Behemoth behind him as it struggled to rise with one hand. A pulse-sphere swelled in Derrick's hand and he fired it point-blank into the T'lan's skull. The Behemoth's body slumped back onto its belly with a bubbling mass of flesh where its head had once been. Derrick turned just in time to duck a massive haymaker. He drove his elbow into the side of the Behemoth's knee. There was a nasty popping sound and the Behemoth folded like a cheap table. Derrick rolled out of the way and rose to his feet with a pulse-sphere in hand. Another headshot and the airlock barrier switched to blue-green.
Derrick waited for a few moments to see if either body revealed a replenishing energy sphere. Neither did and he took a deep breath to steady himself. His T'langen gauge was only at a third of capacity and fatigue was slowly sapping his will. He windmilled his arms as he passed through the first barrier. Once the light cleared, he found himself only a few meters from a drop. It was about three meters and was easily managed. Derrick emerged into a narrow ravine with walls so high the bottom was in perpetual twilight. A hundred meters down the twisting path and Derrick came upon the tell-tale ruby flash of T'lan lasers. Using stealth techniques that came as naturally as his combat skills, Derrick eventually hunkered down behind a slight rise in the canyon floor.
A pair of Assault T'lan was firing around a turn on Derrick's right. They were receiving SMG fire from three different weapons and then there was only one weapon returning fire. The nearest T'lan was only five meters from Derrick's position. Derrick rose and strode forward with feline grace to stand behind the Assault T'lan. He grabbed its neck, his arms flaring with golden light, and twisted. As the life left the T'lan, Derrick's T'langen gauge refilled nearly to capacity. The remaining T'lan, already walking forward to finish the remaining soldier, turned just in time to have his throat burned away by a pulse-sphere.
Derrick continued, walking past the dying soldier without a glance, and came to a straight path to open sky. It was partially barricaded by equipment crates but they would be easily navigated.
"Delta Two to Romeo One-One-Five. We're almost at the elevator. Over."
The sound of an approaching helicopter made Derrick instinctively duck for cover. The transport 'chopper passed over him and soared toward the blue tower that was also Derrick's destination.
"This is Romeo One-One-Five. You are authorized to neutralize the target if necessary but do not damage that disk. You got that. Over."
"Loud and clear, sir."
Derrick squeezed between the center barricades and stepped into a much wider space. He saw that the canyon floor rose in a series of small flats. On the very first was a stationary, .50-caliber, heavy machinegun. It began to fire at the same time that Derrick exploded into a furious sprint. He ran towards the sand-bagged emplacement along a sharp curve. Several stray rounds connected with his shield, nearly causing him to lose his balance, but the gunner couldn't turn fast enough to track him. Derrick drew his sidearm as he hopped over the low emplacement wall. There were two other soldiers that opened up on him with SMG's before his feet hit the ground.
Half a clip later, Derrick owned that piece of territory.
Derrick turned towards the ravine just in time to see the first soldier squeeze through the chokepoint. Derrick jumped on the heavy gun and turned it with superhuman quickness. He slid back the bolt, gave a quick grin at the sound when he released it, and let the lead fly. It was like mowing down grass. Grass that screamed and disappeared into misty, crimson clouds as Derrick swept them into the machinegun's sights. Derrick was at the end of a far left sweep when movement to his right drew his attention. A soldier was kneeling with an ominous tube hefted onto his shoulder. Derrick leaped backwards just as the solider fired his rocket.
The concussion tumbled Derrick in the air but he managed to regain his balance upon a rough landing on the slope behind the barricade. He scrambled to the cover of a boulder on all fours. Derrick drew his sidearm and removed a grenade from his harness. Derrick pulled the pin but held the clip down and then he waited.
"No fucking way he survived that, Sarge!" A jubilant voice practically shouted.
"Shut the fuck up and take Griffin and check for the body!"
"What do you think we'll find?! A goddamned fin- grenade!"
The sergeant, armed with the rocket launcher, disappeared in a cloud of flame and metal. Derrick used the rest of his clip on the remaining two. Derrick reloaded his sidearm and downed a quick ration bar to fill his T'langen guage.
"It's Cole!"
Every fucking time!
Derrick turned, unshipped his SMG, and began to kill. That was, in the simplest terms possible, what he did for the following ten minutes. He moved, fired his weapons, and he killed. There were moments of rest as he made his way toward the base of the tower. But they lasted only long enough for Derrick to reload his weapons or to eat a quick ration bar. Several times he was interrupted by overzealous sergeants ordering improvised "carpet-bombing" with rocket launchers, but he came through only slightly singed each time.
Finally, after cleaning out a machinegun emplacement with a well-thrown grenade, there were no more soldiers trying to kill him.
"Delta Two to Romeo One-One-Five. We have acquired the disk and the elevator has been activated. Over."
"Understood. Hold your position and… deal with the woman. Over."
"Yes, sir."
The base of the tower was rounded with two talon-like structures curving towards it from Derrick's vantage point. Strange cables, akin to spider silk, extended from the talons tips. They came from four directions so that meant the base was big. The real oddity was that the structure was made of a washed-out blue-white material and not the chitin Derrick had been seeing all day.
Derrick quickly found an airlock barrier, far wider than those he had previously used, and jogged through it. On the other side he found himself standing on a blue, translucent bridge of light. There was no ceiling, just two thick support beams under the talons to his left and right. Other airlock barriers to his right and left were red but there wasn't any way to get to them unless he suddenly learned how to fly. The base of the tower was ahead of him but there was no way to access it either. Resting to the left of the platform high above him was the transport 'chopper. Then Derrick's eyes focused on the white-coated figure standing at the edge of the platform. He jogged up to the bottom of the six meter high wall and watched.
"You will guarantee my safety, yes?" A familiar voice carried faintly to him.
Stefania.
The Eastern European woman was talking to someone out of Derrick's sight. There was a very faint click as someone prepped their SMG.
"What are you doing?"
"Walk over there, to the edge." Derrick couldn't be sure but it sounded like Delta Two.
"What are you going to do?" Stefania sounded panicked as she slowly complied. "I gave you the disk, didn't I?" She turned around and screamed. "No! Stop!"
Someone began to push her toward the edge.
"Please… stop this…! Please! No!"
Derrick ground his teeth together to keep from shouting as Stefania was pushed off the edge. There was another small ledge four meters below her and she hit it with the back of her head before rolling off into the six meters of space above Derrick. Derrick caught her as gently as he could and fell to the ground with her. Stefania coughed explosively, covering Derrick's chest in bright crimson globs, before settling back down with wet, laborious breaths.
"The subject is out of the picture. Over."
"Understood. You men get to the Silo area and seal that elevator."
There was a high-pitched whine that made Derrick look up to see rings of light racing up the elevator tower. Then Stefania sat up out of the growing pool of blood beneath them and rose smoothly to her feet.
"Fuck." Derrick whispered, backing up with his hands and feet.
"Oh, dear-," she slurred, "-my hair is all wet." Stefania reached back and then looked at her hand. "What?" Stefania recoiled in horror at her blood-stained hand. "No… I… I just wanted to continue my research."
Stefania reached out one hand to Derrick, he took it in both of his despite the blood covering it, while she put the other over her heart.
"I'm sorry…" She sobbed, her speech coming slightly more clearly. "Forgive me. Please… No… No."
Stefanis fell to her knees and then onto her back. She reached into her coat pocket.
"Take this." It was a level '3' keycard. "Use it. I don't want… to die."
Stefania lost consciousness and Derrick stayed with her until the end.
