Chapter 12
Hyperion Site: Project Odysseus, Storage Area
They proceeded back out through the main doors into the Central Hub and cautiously made their way across the outer edge till they came to another set of massive doors. After double checking that everyone was ready, they moved through and found themselves in a surprisingly small, but wide room. On either side were closed security booths, that at one time must have controlled the flow of supplies. The rest of the room was empty and ended in another set of doors.
They did a quick check of the booths and found exactly what they expected, lists of numbers that must have represented items, and columns of department abbreviations and initials signifying whom had requested it.
"Jack's Hyperion was nothing if not in love with its paperwork." Gaige muttered scanning the list. "You got anything?"
"Only that D.H.P. Requested something like twenty 207S-1 a day."
"Huh, wonder what that is."
"No idea, but nothing else seems to be of note, so we should move on."
"Right. Babe, lead the way."
"Uru"
As they proceeded across the room, the door they were headed for suddenly gave a loud clang and started to slide open. With no were to hide, they dashed for the walls and braced for a fight.
Seconds later the first person moved through, though they weren't what the girls were expecting. Rather than the black armor of the men they had seen earlier, these ones were wearing ash colored armor, broken up with fine lines of red and orange. They wore close fitting hoods painted like skulls and two of them were wearing helmets with a taller ridge running down the center. Most of them were carrying shields and all of them were well armed.
They spotted the girls almost immediately, but not quite quickly enough, as Artemis snapped a shot off into one of the helmeted one's heads, destroying it and bouncing the shot into one of the troops, wounding him, leaving him to a grateful Gaige to finish off and take the Anarchy stack.
"Give me that sweet sweet stack." She said as she continued firing, taking out another pair of them as Artemis finished off the other helmeted one before they troops could fully react.
The rest of them brought their shields together to form a solid wall with their guns firing between them. Without anywhere to run the girls had to dodge out of the way as the fire sprayed around them. Gaige hit the ground and fired low, most of the bullets tore into the legs and feet and a few bounced and hit them elsewhere, while Artemis paused and placed her shots in the narrow gaps between the shields, tearing into them with each shot, and Deathtrap flew as high as the ceiling would allow, launching scything across them with lasers of acid.
In next to no time the last of the troops collapsed into a pool of melted gore.
"Well that wasn't good." Artemis sighed while reloading.
"Why? We won, didn't we?"
"Yeah, this time. But if we hadn't gotten the drop on them this could have ended badly."
"Really? I think we're way better than that."
"Maybe, especially you two, but that doesn't change the fact that those shields are a pain, and it seemed that they were well used to using them together."
"Yeah, I guess you don't have a trick to deal with them, and for that matter, I am a bit low on Anarchy at the moment, so more of them could be a problem. I see what you mean."
"Well we should probably be careful from here on out, who knows who may have heard that commotion."
"You're right. Let's loot these guys and get outta here."
They quickly checked the dead guys' gear and effects.
"Here, take this." Gaige handed over one of the helmeted guys assault rifles.
"Why, what's wrong with the one I have? You said it was the second best one you had."
"It is. This one will suit you better though. I mean, it's also a Vladof, but if you open the bi-pod up it will give you significant increases in the accuracy and damage."
"What's the downside?"
"You move like high viscosity oil in winter."
"Right, good to know." She took the gun and looked it over.
"Just remember, this type of gun is completely different than how you're used to fighting. It's a crowd control tool. Just pop the bi-pod and spray them, don't aim, don't pick and choose your targets. It's about putting out as many bullets as possible."
"That sounds totally ridiculous."
"Yeah well, when you find yourself facing insane odds, just remember what I said."
"Right, sure, not like I haven't used one before you know, anyways you find anything else?"
"Nah, couple of bullets to top off, but the rest of their stuff was, well not junk, but not worth taking with."
"I donno, maybe we could take a couple of the shields and give them to Deathtrap."
"Uraru"
"I was joking, besides you're still making use of the last modification that I recommended, aren't you?"
"Urr"
"Right." She turned back to Gaige and continued in a more serious tone "So, do you recognize them?"
"No. Outfits don't ring any bells. You?"
"Nope."
"You think they're related to those guys in the central area?"
"Outfits are different."
"Really? No way it could have just been the lights? Or that they're part of a different unit?"
"No, the cut of the armor is different, not to mention the colors. Plus, these guys don't have that silver symbol on their chest, or anywhere else for that matter."
"Yeah, and they're tactics were significantly different. I mean the way these guys used their shields implies a lot of practice, and those other guys didn't even have one. But if they're not part of the same group, then what are they both doing here?"
"Hell, what are either of them doing here in the first place?"
"Just a guess, maybe they stumbled on the place, or someone who knew about this place put together a team to get something out. Oh, maybe they tried to put a team together and the first group rejected them and then set out to take whatever they were after and then the second team also arrived and they're competing to find it."
"Or maybe they're different divisions of the same thing."
"You mean like how the corporations have different units? Nah, these guys are too different from each other."
"A minute ago you couldn't even tell that they weren't wearing the same uniforms."
"Yeah but...fine you're right. But they seem quite a bit different from each other to be on the same side. And if they aren't part of a corporation, and I've never heard of them if they are, then who the heck are they?"
"Beats me. But I doubt we'll find out sitting here talking to these corpses."
"True. Let's get out of here. Babe? Is the way clear?"
"Urruar"
"Right, prepare for trouble then."
They proceeded through the door and found themselves in a massive warehouse. Shelving stretched up and over what would normally be two stories. Many of the shelves were bare, but a number of them still had pallets of stuff still on them. They could make out Hyperion storage boxes, barrels and crates of various sizes. And in the distance they could make out more shield baring soldiers.
Moving silently Artemis scouted ahead and observed them. She could make out at least two dozen of them, traveling in small groups. Taking one out wouldn't be that hard, the problem would be that there was no way to do so without alerting the rest of them. And even if they each hit a group simultaneously, they had no way of taking out enough in each group to finish before reinforcements arrived, and even if they did, they would still have to face at least three groups of troops, provided they didn't form one large unit and turtle up, which she suspected they would.
She was about to head back when a cry went up. She was positive that she hadn't been spotted, but still dove down behind cover, when the nearest group ran past her. It seemed that they had spotted something near the other end of the room. She sighed and rolled her eyes, undoubtedly it was Gaige and Deathtrap, so she waited until the last group had passed her and stealthily followed.
She heard gunfire erupting accompanied by the familiar sounds of a certain girl beginning to get intoxicated on Anarchy and muttered to herself "Sometimes I hate being right." While switching weapons, feeling that this would be a good time to get a feel for her newest gun.
She popped the bi-pod and moved glacially around the corner, spotting the backs of the rows of goons, whom had their shields together in an arc, two high and were firing between them. Artemis didn't know whether to be impressed with the coordination of the troops, or be disappointed by the sloppiness of leaving their backs exposed, not that she wasn't grateful.
She sighed, lined up her shot and remembered Gaige's advice. Resolving herself she held on and pulled the trigger. The bullets tore into the center of the group, and with judicious application of willpower, she held the trigger down and swept the gun to the right, laying waste to the troops as she turned their tight knit formation against them.
By the time the clip went dry she had killed more than half of them, and threw the other half into disarray. Gaige charged forward into the breach in the wall and started a point-blank dance of death, unloading clip after clip into them until they were all dead.
She stood taking deep gulps of air in before letting it all out in one big sigh and turned to the other girl. "I don't know whether to gripe about you taking your time, or compliment you on your sneak attack, so I think I'm gonna try both. Good job killing them slowly. No, wait, you can do better than that Gaige. How about"
"Urrar"
"Fine. Thanks. I was just messin with you about the being late thing anyway. But I see you were using your new gun, so tell me, what do you think?"
"It's not really me. I mean it's useful, don't get me wrong. Totally took them out in no time, but you weren't kidding about the speed thing. Woof. Overall, I'll keep it on hand, but I prefer the one shot one kill method for me."
"Fair enough. It's always fun to try out a new fighting style though. And I have to give it to you, you did try it. Now let's loot and scoot."
Artemis stopped and slowly turned to her without saying anything and just stared.
"What? OK, OK, it was something stupid I heard once, just thought it would be a fun diversion, no need to get bent about it."
"Didn't say anything."
"Didn't have to. Anyway, on to the looting."
They dove in and topped off their ammo, and after a quick look at the gear on the dead guys, decided that they already had better stuff and moved on.
They proceeded to search the area as they moved through the room, until they neared the end of the room and Gaige stopped and paused while looking back.
"What is it?"
"Just wondering, did you see, what was it 207S-uh one I think it was?"
"No, why?"
"Well, considering how much you said was being used a day, where was it being stored?"
"Huh, no idea? Why?"
"Just wondering. Kinda wanted to know what it was, you know, curiosity."
"Fair enough. What is it? One more room and then we're at the elevator room, right?"
"Yep, ready to go?"
"That depends."
"On what?"
"Do you think there's any chance that whoever is in there didn't hear that gunfire?"
"No. No I do not, so any ideas?"
Artemis looked at the open door and squinted slightly. "Well, they have to be aware that we must know that they've heard, so they should be expecting us to be aware of the ambush they've set up."
"So wait, they know that we know that they're aware that we know that, wait, I think I lost myself in there."
"All that matters is that they are waiting in ambush and are aware that we should be expecting it. And that we can use that against them."
"And how are we gonna do that?"
"One second, buddy? I need you to go back and grab, let's see, the largest one of the corpses back there and, let's go with two of the shields, I know you don't like them, but I've got an idea."
"Wait I thought you weren't a planner?"
"I'm not, but any hunter should be able to deal with prey that tries to ambush them. Now help me get the rest of this ready."
A Short While Later
Deathtrap had returned with what he had been asked for and after the girls had prepped as best they could, they were ready to move forward.
The body floated inches above the ground, suspended by a cable running through his armpits and being held by Deathtrap, who floated as close to the ceiling as he could, holding the shields to guard against any enemy fire that would be directed his way.
Artemis watched all this from the closest piece of cover she could find, her rifle out, and she waited for the prey to take the bait.
And then they did, a small number of them opened fire on the corpse. They had undoubtedly been waiting for something, and without knowing that Deathtrap was part of the group, would probably assume that one of the group had disguised themselves in their armor, or that someone was walking it forward in front of themselves, but since they could only see one set of legs they figured it must be the other. Still they were semi-professional, and only a single unit of them opened fire.
The bullets tore into the dead guy causing his body to dance and wiggle, so Deathtrap lowered him slightly so that his feet drug on the ground, minimizing the motion.
The shots stopped and the dead guys gun swung up and fired at them, hitting the first one before he had a chance to fully retreat into cover. The rest of them were so surprised that they all opened fire. The bullets tore the body, quickly shredding it, so Deathtrap dropped more slack into the line, causing the body to fall onto its side.
The group stopped shooting and waited.
Artemis exhaled and waited for her moment, and the instant that the first of the ambushers moved as if to step out, she shot him.
The rest fell back opening fire, trying to find the shooter. It was also Deathtrap's cue. He let go of the second shield and let the cable connected to it slide, lowering it to hit the ground just in front of the body.
Gaige popped up from her position of hanging onto the back of the corpses, and grabbed the shield, keeping it upright as Deathtrap let the cable fall, and they both started shooting.
She felt the return fire slamming into the shield she had braced against her shoulder, and took aim and fired herself. Periodically she saw one of the shooters heads vanish and often a second one die at as Artemis bounced her shot into them.
Deathtrap felt the shots hitting the shield he was carrying too, and was glad he had been convinced to take it as he fired a caustic beam into the troops, watching the ashen armor melt.
Gaige spun around the shield and ran into the room firing wildly as she moved before leaping the crates they were using for cover and rained death upon them with a familiar shout of "Anarchy forever!"
Meanwhile Deathtrap flew into the room and swung around the other way driving them into a pincer, with any that tried to flee getting picked off by the unseen sniper.
Very quickly the ambush party was dead.
Gaige did a once over to make sure that they were all dead and gave a thumbs up to Artemis, who dropped out of the second level of the shelving where she had been hidden, and moved forward while reloading.
The room where the ambushers had been seemed to be a waiting area for the supplies, probably where new stuff would get sorted and organized before sending it to its proper spot in the next room.
Artemis paused as she got up to her side of the cover that the ambush had been behind and listened for a few seconds "We should be good for the moment." She declared while picking up her discarded cable.
"Good, grab some ammo and check their gear."
Again, they didn't find much, though Gaige was tempted on one of the shotguns.
"Just take the damn thing, you can always drop it later."
"Fine. Here's some rounds for you, and a bunch for me. Let's get out of here, elevator should be just through those doors."
Deathtrap followed along, shouldering the shield for the time being, as they headed forward and moved past the door and into the room where the elevator would descend. It was a wide-open area, with a large notch cut out of the far end where the freight elevator they had seen earlier would fit. On either side of the room were elevators that could be called small only in comparison to the main one, each was large enough that they could easily fit a cargo container and still have room for ten people around it. Other than that, there was a small office off to one side, three doors of varying sizes set around the perimeter and a few crates and barrels strewn about.
It was to one of the elevators that they headed.
Gaige crouched by the control panel, and after peaking under it sighed and stood back up.
"Bad news. The elevator is out, and I don't think I can fix this."
"Worse news."
Gaige turned to ask what when she saw it, a large man in similar, but significantly better armor than the group they had just been fighting, was walking towards them, a large rifle over his shoulder. Everything from his tarnished bronze armor to the helmet topped with a crest that he wore screamed that they had found the boss.