The sound of hissing and screeching from behind him, combined with the weirdly giddy looks on the faces of most of the men in white coats – and some of the women, too – gave him the feeling that there was something bad coming up behind him. Turning around with a certain amount of trepidation (he wasn't stupid enough to think that something bad would just go away if it was ignored, but no sane person was eager to look their own destruction in the face) he saw the large group of insect-headed things coming for him at a run.
This was, in the words of Egon Spengler, very bad.
Running before even one of them could get within punching – or stabbing; those giant crab-leg looking pinchers on their backs gave him the heebies – range, he was very unpleasantly surprised to see one of them spitting at him. He didn't know quite what they were doing, other than something his Grandma would have washed his mouth out with soap for, right up to the point where the stuff splattered all over the floor. Apparently it was some sort of acid. Some sort of really strong acid. Some sort of really strong acid that was melting through the goddamn floor and oh my god I am so fucking fucked right now!
"Well…" He couldn't think of anything really witty to say; imagine that. "Bye now!"
Running like the hounds of hell were snapping at his heals, which probably wasn't far off the mark considering what these things could do, Ryan careened out of the room and into a hallway. Shouting a mix of taunts and swearwords at the Zoanoids that were pursuing him, and finishing up by yelling at them to "kiss my armor-plated butt!" Ryan kept running. When the shower of corrosive enzymatic fluid that he had just narrowly dodged finally registered in his conscious mind, Ryan had the thought that maybe, just maybe, it hadn't been one of his better ideas to tell that to a group composed mostly of acid-spitting bug-headed Zoanoids.
Jumping out of the way of another shower of acid spit, Ryan looked in front of himself, trying to see if there were any more Zoanoids up ahead. What he saw looked almost like a pair of steel double-doors. Grinning, Ryan poured on more speed, knowing just what it was that he was looking at: the entrance to an elevator. Or at least to an elevator shaft.
Once he had reached the elevator doors, Ryan had to again avoid a spray of enzymatic fluid. The acid that had been aimed at his head instead hit the doors of the elevator he was standing in front of. There was now a hole corroded through the elevator doors, but Ryan could be glad of the fact that the hole wasn't at hand-height. Forcing his armored fingers into the seam between the doors, Ryan braced himself. Grunting with the effort – even to a Guyver these doors were hard to move – Ryan planted his feet and forced the doors open with a final surge of bio-boosted muscles. Jumping into the shaft, he looked around for the elevator that he knew had to be in there somewhere. There was nothing below him, so Ryan turned his gaze upward. And there, a fair amount of distance above him, was the elevator he had been looking for.
He was just starting to concentrate so he could fly up to the elevator when three bug people buzzed into the elevator shaft below him. Oh hell no, just the kind of bugs I didn't want to deal with!
+Crouger, is there a problem?+
Speaking of things I didn't want to deal with, Ryan grumbled internally. +What would give you that idea, Agito?+
+There was a sudden burst of frustration, and what might have best been described as apprehension, coming through your Guyver-link.+
While Ryan took a minute to process what Agito had just said, one of the bug people spat a stream of corrosive fluid up at him that he just barely managed to dodge.
+I'll talk to you later, okay?+
No answer was forthcoming from Agito, so Ryan turned his attention back to the three Galma that were giving him trouble. Really big flies need a really big flyswatter, Ryan laughed to himself as he looked back up at the elevator that he was slowly coming closer. He could also hear the Galma coming closer, and he didn't like that sound one bit. One of them spat at him again, and Ryan quickly made himself as scarce as he could in the narrow elevator shaft. Finally getting sick of dodging acid spit, Ryan decided to go on the offensive.
"Stop bugging me!" Ryan shouted, firing the Head Beam at the pursuing Zoanoids.
Two of them managed to dodge, but the third one wasn't so lucky. It took Ryan's blast right in the forehead. The infrared laser split open the Zoanoid's head straight down the middle, killing it instantly. The remains of the third Galma dissolved as they fell, becoming nothing more than biological ooze before they had reached the halfway point of the shaft.
+Crouger, are you having a problem?+
+Look, Agito, I'm currently dealing with a pair of really annoying bug-guys. So why don't you check in later?+ There was no answer from Agito, so Ryan figured that Guyver III had gotten the message.
Looking at the elevator coming swiftly into view above him, Ryan grinned. This could do some serious damage to those oversized, acid-spitting bug things. Looking at the bottom of the elevator, Ryan willed his Guyver to show him where the emergency brakes were. If I remember Speed correctly, elevators have at least two emergency brakes, maybe more. Okay, so here's hoping that there really are only two.
Kicking out with his right foot, Ryan smashed the right brake into little pieces. Turning to look at the one on the left, Ryan fired two shots from his Head Beam. The blasts melted the left brake into useless slag. Okay, so now I have to take care of the cables at the top. Looking up again, Ryan focused his thoughts on the gravity controller imbedded in the Guyver's waist. Feeling the force of gravity that was trying to pull him down, Ryan used the gravity controller to selectively invert it, pushing him upwards. Straight into the base of the elevator. Ducking his head slightly, Ryan rammed his way through the floor of the elevator, not caring much if anyone was inside when he crashed through.
Now on top of what remained of the elevator car, Ryan quickly severed the cables with his Vibro-blades. Hovering, he watched the car fall, hoping that neither of the two flying Galma would be able to fit though the hole he had made. But as it turned out, the elevator knocked both Galma unconscious before it pounded them into the floor. Ryan laughed to himself. Well, that was fun.
+What happened to the Galma?+
Ryan chuckled aloud this time. +That's what they're called? Well, I squashed them, that's what.+
This time, Agito's telepathic voice held a fair amount of skepticism. +And how did you squash them, exactly?+
+I dropped an elevator on the things,+ Ryan answered, his obvious satisfaction coming though loud and clear.
+Crouger, I like the way you think,+ Agito sent back.
+Thanks for the vote of confidence, Agito. And I told you already, call me Ryan.+
Ryan listened, but Agito didn't answer. +So, how goes your part of the mission?+ he asked at last.
+Fairly well, so far. Most of the Chronos personnel are too preoccupied with the damage you're doing to worry about the other parts of the facility,+ Agito said.
+That's good to know,+ Ryan nodded. +I'm glad that my little demolition derby is of at least some use to you guys.+
Nothing more was forthcoming from Agito, so Ryan focused back on his own mission: causing massive havoc and chaos for Chronos. A wall exploded inward under the force of the Pressure Cannon, and Ryan followed that up with a volley of blasts from the Head Beam. He wasn't going to use the Mega-Smasher, not in a relatively minor skirmish like this.
But with Zoanoids popping up around every corner, it was hard not to be tempted. Kicking a Ramochis hard enough that it flew backwards into a group of Gregole, Ryan laughed at the resulting pileup. Then he finished them all off with a couple blasts from the Pressure Cannon. Racing through the dissolving Zoanoid parts, Ryan snapped off some more shots from his Head Beam at anything else that moved.