A flurry of gunfire quickly filled the room. The monsters were being shot
down left and right but coming in just as fast. A slew of grunts blasted at
Wallace and Klatt. Soldiers were pouring in through the large slipgate
platform (A replica of the ones from the earlier room only much larger).
Rotweilers leaped at the two gunmen but only to be shot down in mid-air. A
rusted metal door lay opposite to them. The small room contained a gruesome
battle. At just the right time Wallace took aim and blasted a load of
shotgun shells clear through a group of men. The path to the door was open.
Klatt and Wallace leaped over dead bodies into the next room, a narrow
hall, still being following by freakish grunts.
About fifty feet into the tunnel they came to there target. The power core. A large canister, about ten feet wide and reached from the floor to the twenty-foot ceiling, was covered in a metal shell. Several monitors hung off the sides of the canister with consoles attached. Only Klatt knew how to shut it down. Klatt dashed to one of the keyboards and typed away, throwing the rifle behind his back. Wallace took aim at the hall holding the creatures back. Klatt screamed over the gunfire from behind Wallace, "Okay! To shut the power core down we have to override the command menus from the long-range slipgates! The connection has been destroyed so you'll have to do it manually! The only way to do it is to knock out the terminals at slipgate A and B! I'll have to command the controls while you take them out!"
Wallace twisted his head behind him, still shooting into the hall, "So you're saying I'm going back into that room to destroy a computer and then do it again?! With an army of these freaks still gating in?!"
Klatt winced, thought about it, then said, "Yeah"
"Alright than!" Wallace violently cocked the shotgun and dove into the hall. He had a quick second to breath, the hall was empty but more were coming. "This is the perfect time to use this" He opened a small pouch that was at his left breast. He pulled out a small foil packet with to pills inside. He ripped the top off the packet and gulped a pill down. He began moving at an incredible pace. He shot his body around to counter every movement in the room. He lived at the moment and saw everything with a sharp eagle eye but remember it as a deep blur.
He was back at Long Range Field A. He didn't remember why though. He knew he had to kill the monsters that were gating in, from the pad right in front of him. He looked around the room. Wall. Monster. Platform. Platform! He was about to take a step but realized not to. Wall. Floor. Monster. Computer. Wall. Computer! He looked blankly at its screen. He tapped a couple keys and got frustrated because he forgot what he was doing he. In anger he pointed the shotgun at the screen and remembered. BOOM! And the screen tumbled back with the computer dangling by damaged wires. He took a couple more shots and ran out the room.
He didn't stop at the core but just yelled at Klatt to open Slipgate B's door. While running past the core Klatt called to Wallace, "Here! Take it! It's all I've got!" Wallace saw an unbalanced pack wobble through the air and his drugged body grabbed at it quickly. He opened the pack to reveal a small amount of grenades. He strapped the pack around his waist, tossed a grenade its room B and yelled at Klatt too shut the door while some unsuspecting beasts looked at him in shot.
Blood and steel erupted down the hall, with the door dragging along. He shot some more, tossed another grenade inside, saw bodies flying across the room and gained access into the area. A quick shot was aimed at the second terminal but a grunt popped up and unwillingly took the bullet. He was about to shoot again but another soldier came up from behind. Then from the side. One slammed into his side, another one knocked him down. On his back, Wallace blasted forward, sending the freak-marine off his chest and against the wall. He hopped to his feet and in a graceful swing of the gun he cleared room for the shot. Boom, boom, boom! And the computer's silicon pulp hung from a small desk. He shot at the monsters while backing up out of the room.
He ran back to Klatt who had a smile on his face. "Great! It's almost shut down!" Klatt said, typing away at the keyboard. Monsters were closing in on them. Time was limited. "I've gained access to all the important data for NIN. Let's see…current projects, security systems, financial info," Then Klatt's face turned white, "…A…2" He tapped a key and Klatt read the screen aloud, "A2 missile planned for impact at NIN Slipgate Complex it approximately sixteen minutes. They already launched the missile!"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP, KLATT!" Wallace yelled holding the soldiers back, "TURN OFF THE GOD DAMN CORE AND WE CAN GET OUT OF THIS PLACE!"
"Okay, okay!" Klatt scrolled through some more areas, "Weapon systems, power consumption," He tapped at a key, "barracks power consumption, office power consumption, ah! Slipgate complex power consumption!" He tapped a key. "Power consumed, power information, power traffic, power source!" Another tap, "Central power core! Deactivate core!" He pushed one last button and cold smoke erupted from the power core. Static electricity branched through the core and the metal casing slowly lowered into the ground or fell off. Inside was one of the most frightening things the two of them have ever seen. In the center of the power core should have been a super-active radiating blue fluid. The glowing blue liquid was there in the canister but something else with it, a collection of black globs. The black globs moved in synchronization and floated towered the glass. The globs formed a shape and it came into view. It was some kind of mutated freak. He was huge, filling the whole canister with its transformed body. It reached its hand up to the glass. The monitors flashed in large red letters, "WARNING! POWER CORE STILL ACTIVE! FOREIGN MATERIAL DETECTED!"
Klatt and Wallace looked at each other, "Now what?!" Wallace questioned in fear. "Well um…nothing…it's over…no, wait! Back-up power! The back-up power supply it should be right…." Klatt twisted around, catching a small door behind him, "…Well that should be it."
"Well let's go then!" Wallace said, giving the freak another look.
Klatt reached for the control panel but when he tried to open the door a robotic voiced announced, "ALL DOORS SEALED. DOORS WILL BE LOCKED UNTIL FOREIGN MATERIAL HAS BEEN REMOVED."
"Crap!" Klatt profaned, "We'll have to get rid of that…thing"
"Whatever it takes," Wallace courageously said and without a second thought he tossed a grenade at the core. In a split second the grenade exploded, core glass shattered and the fluid gushed out. Klatt and Wallace immediately activated their power armor to adapt to the chemical. The mutant creature shook it head, flinging drops of liquid all over. The room began glowing blue due to the radiant light. Once the flood of core-fluid lowered they shut down the power armor and only sent protection to their feet so that they can safely trudge through it.
The freak was a human shape but horribly disfigured. The lower legs had grown very wide, as did the lower arms. The hands and feet each gained three large claws that grabbed angrily at the walls. The back had spread wide and had a small neck on top to connect the freakish head. The skull was somewhat triangular with a narrow mouth but could open it very wide. Small slits of eyes had lost pupils but gained a fiery red shade. The claws of its right hand swished at Wallace who ducked, leaving the hand to splash through the core-fluid. Wallace sent pump after pump of shotgun ammunition into the beast. He showed no reaction and just swiped and grabbed at them. Fortunately the room wasn't very wide so the monstrosity didn't have that much space for movement. But he was still a major threat.
The two men dodged the swipes and were flanked by the creature's foot, slowly lowering on them. They leaped to the side and Klatt tried for the door again. Nothing. It still detected the creature…but how? He was out of the core? And what happened to the core's destruction? Was it not supposed to be a massive explosion? There was no time to dwell on such questions; he joined Wallace in the fight.
Wallace reached in his pouch and tossed three grenades at the monster. They impacted just below his ribcage, causing an explosion in the beast's waist. Its skin flapped open and human-like organs were exposed. He began shooting at its guts but they didn't seem to be damaged much and it didn't effect the monster much either. Wallace saw the creature's arm come swinging at him. He fell back and shot wildly. In strange sickening luck he shot a ceiling tile out that once held a soldier's dead corpse. The corpse hung by some straps that got caught on the ventilation, his pale white skin drooped through the armor. This was a Super-Heavy soldier, Wallace heard about them just before Operation: Counterstrike. The super-heavy soldier packed a heavy punch: A mini-rocket launcher, grenades, and a chain gun. Wallace dropped the shotgun and tossed the backpack. He grabbed the chain gun out of the dead hands, swiped some grenades, and a mini-rocket form the launcher.
The beast plunged both his arms into the shallow layer of core-fluid and splashed it about. Brass shells from Klatt's rifle made "kerplunk" noises as they swished out of the gun and into the mess. Wallace tore away at the beast's skin, up the leg, up the torso, he kept the gun directed at the shoulder, than onto the face. Through all the firepower being pushed into it the beast never seemed to be in pain. It jerked its arm back and slammed it downward. How long were they going to keep this up? The fight was going nowhere. Someone had to make a move and it was Wallace. He wildly flung the mini-rocket upward, when it was mere inches from the torn open hole in the creatures gut, Wallace shot out a small burst of bullets that beautifully ripped into the metal casing of the rocket and caused it to explode in mid- air. Monster organs slid out of the opening and the beast began coughing up blood. An unheard noise suddenly stopped and the beast's slayers continued delivering lead into the open wound.
It couldn't take it anymore. It flailed its arms crazily and flopped down face-first onto the floor with a loud slam. It quickly got over the pain and began to lift itself up. The large ugly head rose up and met Wallace's eyes. Wallace stared into its doming red eyes as if to show it who is the tamer
Before the beast raised itself Wallace placed his pouch in to the wet salivating mouth and unloading a speeding round of bullets. The skull exploded violently and he remembered Reeve's terrible death.
Reality came back; time stopped speeding and returned to normal. Memories were clarified and the original target was clear. A single message woke them, "Approximately five minutes until A2 impact" Klatt tried the door once more and yet still the door would not open. He turned and immediately saw the problem. A group of wires had been hanging from the mutant's brain into the upper half of the core tower. The wires stretched through his body into the bottom half. Wallace noticed this at the same time and leaped up on the creature's shoulders and sliced the wires in a swift cut of his knife. "Try the door. Quick." Klatt try once more and it slid open.
"So what the fuck was that, Klatt?"
"How the hell should I know? It sure as hell wasn't the power core. And didn't they say by destroying the power core there would be a mass explosion?"
"Yeah…but that thing couldn't have been like the others…how was it hooked up? It must have been feeding? Maybe they didn't want us touching the cores because they wanted to keep those freaks alive as there little secret."
"I don't know but we'll have to find this shit out when we escape this place" Klatt said, now in the much smaller back-up power room, wiring some cables together,
Wallace laughed to himself about the escaping part.
"There…almost done," Klatt fiddled around some more.
"Approximately two minutes until A2 impact" the computer system called.
"HURRY UP KLATT!"
"I've almost got it! Just gotta get it here…here…and…here!"
"Power core shut down initiated. Power core will shut down in one minute."
"Come on quick!" Wallace yelled. He grabbed Klatt by the wrist and led him down a narrow hallway to slipgate B.
Klatt thought, "This is not the way out?! Where are we going? Where is he taking me?"
Wallace went head on into the grunts, still gating in. He got into the Slipgate B room and propped Klatt against a control terminal at the other side of the room. "Get ready to gate me." Wallace said.
"What?! Gate you? You mean the other side of the building?"
"No. Where they are coming from. Gate me there. Now."
"Approximately one minute until A2 impact."
Wallace commanded, "Make sure the coordinates are correct." He stepped onto the platform.
Klatt typed away.
"Approximately forty-five seconds until A2 impact."
Wallace looked up and saw the huge white light activate and glow brilliantly.
"I'm sorry. Sorry Klatt. I hope you realize your not making it out of here. I have killed far too many friends for my own benefit."
"Approximately thirty seconds until A2 impact." The robotic voice echoed
"This time it will be different though. You will die, yes, but not just so I can save my skin, not for my own benefit, but for the benefit of mankind. I will stop this war once and for all."
The light lowered so that is was about three inches from Wallace's bruised head.
"Fifteen seconds until impact"
"Hurry up, Klatt!"
Klatt typed away silently, in great fear.
"Ten…Nine…Eight…"
Rotors beneath the surface under Wallace's feet began to rumble. The crystalline structure on the platform began glowing.
"Six…five…four"
Light from the top and bottom of the slipgate encased Wallace's body.
Sparks exploded from it and Wallace was gone.
Klatt looked up at the ceiling, at the direction oh his coming fate.
"Two seconds…one"
Knife. Reeves. Knife. Reeves. Wallace. Youngman. Knife. Klatt. Knife. Youngman. Wallace. Klatt. Wallace. Youngman. Wallace. Reeves. Youngman. Klatt…Knife. White. White. White. White. White. White. Black. Red. Black. Falling. Black. Knife. Wallace. Youngman. Reeves. Klatt. White. Black. Red. Falling…Black. Black. Black. Black. Black. Black. Black. Black. World.
About fifty feet into the tunnel they came to there target. The power core. A large canister, about ten feet wide and reached from the floor to the twenty-foot ceiling, was covered in a metal shell. Several monitors hung off the sides of the canister with consoles attached. Only Klatt knew how to shut it down. Klatt dashed to one of the keyboards and typed away, throwing the rifle behind his back. Wallace took aim at the hall holding the creatures back. Klatt screamed over the gunfire from behind Wallace, "Okay! To shut the power core down we have to override the command menus from the long-range slipgates! The connection has been destroyed so you'll have to do it manually! The only way to do it is to knock out the terminals at slipgate A and B! I'll have to command the controls while you take them out!"
Wallace twisted his head behind him, still shooting into the hall, "So you're saying I'm going back into that room to destroy a computer and then do it again?! With an army of these freaks still gating in?!"
Klatt winced, thought about it, then said, "Yeah"
"Alright than!" Wallace violently cocked the shotgun and dove into the hall. He had a quick second to breath, the hall was empty but more were coming. "This is the perfect time to use this" He opened a small pouch that was at his left breast. He pulled out a small foil packet with to pills inside. He ripped the top off the packet and gulped a pill down. He began moving at an incredible pace. He shot his body around to counter every movement in the room. He lived at the moment and saw everything with a sharp eagle eye but remember it as a deep blur.
He was back at Long Range Field A. He didn't remember why though. He knew he had to kill the monsters that were gating in, from the pad right in front of him. He looked around the room. Wall. Monster. Platform. Platform! He was about to take a step but realized not to. Wall. Floor. Monster. Computer. Wall. Computer! He looked blankly at its screen. He tapped a couple keys and got frustrated because he forgot what he was doing he. In anger he pointed the shotgun at the screen and remembered. BOOM! And the screen tumbled back with the computer dangling by damaged wires. He took a couple more shots and ran out the room.
He didn't stop at the core but just yelled at Klatt to open Slipgate B's door. While running past the core Klatt called to Wallace, "Here! Take it! It's all I've got!" Wallace saw an unbalanced pack wobble through the air and his drugged body grabbed at it quickly. He opened the pack to reveal a small amount of grenades. He strapped the pack around his waist, tossed a grenade its room B and yelled at Klatt too shut the door while some unsuspecting beasts looked at him in shot.
Blood and steel erupted down the hall, with the door dragging along. He shot some more, tossed another grenade inside, saw bodies flying across the room and gained access into the area. A quick shot was aimed at the second terminal but a grunt popped up and unwillingly took the bullet. He was about to shoot again but another soldier came up from behind. Then from the side. One slammed into his side, another one knocked him down. On his back, Wallace blasted forward, sending the freak-marine off his chest and against the wall. He hopped to his feet and in a graceful swing of the gun he cleared room for the shot. Boom, boom, boom! And the computer's silicon pulp hung from a small desk. He shot at the monsters while backing up out of the room.
He ran back to Klatt who had a smile on his face. "Great! It's almost shut down!" Klatt said, typing away at the keyboard. Monsters were closing in on them. Time was limited. "I've gained access to all the important data for NIN. Let's see…current projects, security systems, financial info," Then Klatt's face turned white, "…A…2" He tapped a key and Klatt read the screen aloud, "A2 missile planned for impact at NIN Slipgate Complex it approximately sixteen minutes. They already launched the missile!"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP, KLATT!" Wallace yelled holding the soldiers back, "TURN OFF THE GOD DAMN CORE AND WE CAN GET OUT OF THIS PLACE!"
"Okay, okay!" Klatt scrolled through some more areas, "Weapon systems, power consumption," He tapped at a key, "barracks power consumption, office power consumption, ah! Slipgate complex power consumption!" He tapped a key. "Power consumed, power information, power traffic, power source!" Another tap, "Central power core! Deactivate core!" He pushed one last button and cold smoke erupted from the power core. Static electricity branched through the core and the metal casing slowly lowered into the ground or fell off. Inside was one of the most frightening things the two of them have ever seen. In the center of the power core should have been a super-active radiating blue fluid. The glowing blue liquid was there in the canister but something else with it, a collection of black globs. The black globs moved in synchronization and floated towered the glass. The globs formed a shape and it came into view. It was some kind of mutated freak. He was huge, filling the whole canister with its transformed body. It reached its hand up to the glass. The monitors flashed in large red letters, "WARNING! POWER CORE STILL ACTIVE! FOREIGN MATERIAL DETECTED!"
Klatt and Wallace looked at each other, "Now what?!" Wallace questioned in fear. "Well um…nothing…it's over…no, wait! Back-up power! The back-up power supply it should be right…." Klatt twisted around, catching a small door behind him, "…Well that should be it."
"Well let's go then!" Wallace said, giving the freak another look.
Klatt reached for the control panel but when he tried to open the door a robotic voiced announced, "ALL DOORS SEALED. DOORS WILL BE LOCKED UNTIL FOREIGN MATERIAL HAS BEEN REMOVED."
"Crap!" Klatt profaned, "We'll have to get rid of that…thing"
"Whatever it takes," Wallace courageously said and without a second thought he tossed a grenade at the core. In a split second the grenade exploded, core glass shattered and the fluid gushed out. Klatt and Wallace immediately activated their power armor to adapt to the chemical. The mutant creature shook it head, flinging drops of liquid all over. The room began glowing blue due to the radiant light. Once the flood of core-fluid lowered they shut down the power armor and only sent protection to their feet so that they can safely trudge through it.
The freak was a human shape but horribly disfigured. The lower legs had grown very wide, as did the lower arms. The hands and feet each gained three large claws that grabbed angrily at the walls. The back had spread wide and had a small neck on top to connect the freakish head. The skull was somewhat triangular with a narrow mouth but could open it very wide. Small slits of eyes had lost pupils but gained a fiery red shade. The claws of its right hand swished at Wallace who ducked, leaving the hand to splash through the core-fluid. Wallace sent pump after pump of shotgun ammunition into the beast. He showed no reaction and just swiped and grabbed at them. Fortunately the room wasn't very wide so the monstrosity didn't have that much space for movement. But he was still a major threat.
The two men dodged the swipes and were flanked by the creature's foot, slowly lowering on them. They leaped to the side and Klatt tried for the door again. Nothing. It still detected the creature…but how? He was out of the core? And what happened to the core's destruction? Was it not supposed to be a massive explosion? There was no time to dwell on such questions; he joined Wallace in the fight.
Wallace reached in his pouch and tossed three grenades at the monster. They impacted just below his ribcage, causing an explosion in the beast's waist. Its skin flapped open and human-like organs were exposed. He began shooting at its guts but they didn't seem to be damaged much and it didn't effect the monster much either. Wallace saw the creature's arm come swinging at him. He fell back and shot wildly. In strange sickening luck he shot a ceiling tile out that once held a soldier's dead corpse. The corpse hung by some straps that got caught on the ventilation, his pale white skin drooped through the armor. This was a Super-Heavy soldier, Wallace heard about them just before Operation: Counterstrike. The super-heavy soldier packed a heavy punch: A mini-rocket launcher, grenades, and a chain gun. Wallace dropped the shotgun and tossed the backpack. He grabbed the chain gun out of the dead hands, swiped some grenades, and a mini-rocket form the launcher.
The beast plunged both his arms into the shallow layer of core-fluid and splashed it about. Brass shells from Klatt's rifle made "kerplunk" noises as they swished out of the gun and into the mess. Wallace tore away at the beast's skin, up the leg, up the torso, he kept the gun directed at the shoulder, than onto the face. Through all the firepower being pushed into it the beast never seemed to be in pain. It jerked its arm back and slammed it downward. How long were they going to keep this up? The fight was going nowhere. Someone had to make a move and it was Wallace. He wildly flung the mini-rocket upward, when it was mere inches from the torn open hole in the creatures gut, Wallace shot out a small burst of bullets that beautifully ripped into the metal casing of the rocket and caused it to explode in mid- air. Monster organs slid out of the opening and the beast began coughing up blood. An unheard noise suddenly stopped and the beast's slayers continued delivering lead into the open wound.
It couldn't take it anymore. It flailed its arms crazily and flopped down face-first onto the floor with a loud slam. It quickly got over the pain and began to lift itself up. The large ugly head rose up and met Wallace's eyes. Wallace stared into its doming red eyes as if to show it who is the tamer
Before the beast raised itself Wallace placed his pouch in to the wet salivating mouth and unloading a speeding round of bullets. The skull exploded violently and he remembered Reeve's terrible death.
Reality came back; time stopped speeding and returned to normal. Memories were clarified and the original target was clear. A single message woke them, "Approximately five minutes until A2 impact" Klatt tried the door once more and yet still the door would not open. He turned and immediately saw the problem. A group of wires had been hanging from the mutant's brain into the upper half of the core tower. The wires stretched through his body into the bottom half. Wallace noticed this at the same time and leaped up on the creature's shoulders and sliced the wires in a swift cut of his knife. "Try the door. Quick." Klatt try once more and it slid open.
"So what the fuck was that, Klatt?"
"How the hell should I know? It sure as hell wasn't the power core. And didn't they say by destroying the power core there would be a mass explosion?"
"Yeah…but that thing couldn't have been like the others…how was it hooked up? It must have been feeding? Maybe they didn't want us touching the cores because they wanted to keep those freaks alive as there little secret."
"I don't know but we'll have to find this shit out when we escape this place" Klatt said, now in the much smaller back-up power room, wiring some cables together,
Wallace laughed to himself about the escaping part.
"There…almost done," Klatt fiddled around some more.
"Approximately two minutes until A2 impact" the computer system called.
"HURRY UP KLATT!"
"I've almost got it! Just gotta get it here…here…and…here!"
"Power core shut down initiated. Power core will shut down in one minute."
"Come on quick!" Wallace yelled. He grabbed Klatt by the wrist and led him down a narrow hallway to slipgate B.
Klatt thought, "This is not the way out?! Where are we going? Where is he taking me?"
Wallace went head on into the grunts, still gating in. He got into the Slipgate B room and propped Klatt against a control terminal at the other side of the room. "Get ready to gate me." Wallace said.
"What?! Gate you? You mean the other side of the building?"
"No. Where they are coming from. Gate me there. Now."
"Approximately one minute until A2 impact."
Wallace commanded, "Make sure the coordinates are correct." He stepped onto the platform.
Klatt typed away.
"Approximately forty-five seconds until A2 impact."
Wallace looked up and saw the huge white light activate and glow brilliantly.
"I'm sorry. Sorry Klatt. I hope you realize your not making it out of here. I have killed far too many friends for my own benefit."
"Approximately thirty seconds until A2 impact." The robotic voice echoed
"This time it will be different though. You will die, yes, but not just so I can save my skin, not for my own benefit, but for the benefit of mankind. I will stop this war once and for all."
The light lowered so that is was about three inches from Wallace's bruised head.
"Fifteen seconds until impact"
"Hurry up, Klatt!"
Klatt typed away silently, in great fear.
"Ten…Nine…Eight…"
Rotors beneath the surface under Wallace's feet began to rumble. The crystalline structure on the platform began glowing.
"Six…five…four"
Light from the top and bottom of the slipgate encased Wallace's body.
Sparks exploded from it and Wallace was gone.
Klatt looked up at the ceiling, at the direction oh his coming fate.
"Two seconds…one"
Knife. Reeves. Knife. Reeves. Wallace. Youngman. Knife. Klatt. Knife. Youngman. Wallace. Klatt. Wallace. Youngman. Wallace. Reeves. Youngman. Klatt…Knife. White. White. White. White. White. White. Black. Red. Black. Falling. Black. Knife. Wallace. Youngman. Reeves. Klatt. White. Black. Red. Falling…Black. Black. Black. Black. Black. Black. Black. Black. World.