Section Thirteen
Chapter Eleven: Break In, Break Out
Planet Gardius? – Location Unknown, Teleport Hangar – 1016 Hours
"And, that should just…about do it." Leonard said with a breath of effort, snapping on the last of the equipment Cashim needed to traverse the moon. Having the air tank be vulnerable to attack was unacceptable, necessitating bulkier armor while still maintaining comfort and mobility. Equipping humans had always been more difficult for him than robots, but if there was any human closest to a machine, it was Cashim. She had waited without complaint, and now nodded.
"Thank you, Doctor."
The old man leaned on his cane and smiled. "Oh, don't mention it." He stole a glance at his daughter, who was still in the same place as she'd been about five seconds ago. "When will you be heading up?"
Cashim considered this. "Twenty minutes to a half hour, sooner if they run into trouble. I don't expect them to become friends, but civility while on missions is something they'll have to learn."
Leonard nodded. "Yes, of course…" He looked toward Lacerta again, still silently controlling her unit.
"I think she'll be fine here, Doctor." the soldier said, not unkindly. "I'll need you up in the computer room, please."
Another nod, this one hurried. "O-oh, of course." He made for the door. "Right away, yes."
Cashim was well aware the old man was scared of her, and had often thought about something to say to reassure him on that. Nothing came to mind, or at least, nothing honest. This was Cypher's operation, after all.
Once he had left, she sat back and waited. Not many people could relax in heavy armor, but she had learned to get sleep anywhere it could be found.
With the only other occupant of the room focused on other things, she was free to think ahead. Let's see…the distraction Doctor Shuffle had planned should be going into effect now, if it hadn't already.
0
Planet Gardius – Streets outside Museum – 1015 Hours
"My, would you look at that?" Katie said, peaking out from where they were hiding near the front door. "Someone must not think the police here are very good at their jobs."
Barnes nodded. "They've been there ever since this place started getting exhibits actually worth anything."
'They' were a pair of specially contracted guards posted at the museum's entrance, watching anyone who came in with a hawk's eye. Anyone who looked remotely suspicious were reported and searched. Not that she qualified of course, but that was the trouble with bringing dear Barnes along. Two more of the guards were patrolling around back, and several others were inside. All of them were skilled, and if you felt like playing fair, getting in when they didn't want you to would be a handful.
Just as well, then.
Unlike Cashim, Katie never spared much thought toward what the best time for things was. If you could do something now, why later? Raising her arm above her head, she sent a short bolt of lightning into the air.
The guards raised their heads toward the lightning, devices primed. But while their training had probably prepared them for a lot of things, a horde of robots descending from the rooftops wasn't one of them.
Oh well.
0
Planet Gardius – Section Thirteen Heqaduarters, Garage – 1017 Hours
Not every deployment required something as grand as the helicopter, and Section Thirteen had a few other vehicles on hand for driving. Nothing as flashy or durable as their air transport, of course, but they could get from point A to point B with them easily enough. Anton currently leaned up against a six-seater jeep, listening to Captain Stromhold take a call. It didn't sound good.
"Alright, sir, please calm down…that wasn't a request, sir, I don't like being yelled at this early in the day. Yes, alright sir. We'll be down there soon, just keep your head down."
Jeanne shoved the receiver down, probably a tad harder than was necessary, and walked over. "Alright, kids, field trip time. Pack of 'bots just broke into the museum, bold as you like, and I doubt they're there for sight-seeing. Hop in; the ride might be a little bumpy."
Anton held back a snort. After Alyssa last night, the only ride he might think of as bumpy was one out of a cannon. Something occurred to him just then, however. "Seems like a big coincidence they'd try to do it right now, though." He muttered, buckling in.
Jeanne caught his eye in the rear-view mirror. "We can save paranoia for later. Right now we have a job to do, alright?"
"Uh, right."
Next to him, Ace cracked his knuckles eagerly. "Either way, they've got another thing coming if they think they can get away with it. Right, Sarge?"
The gadget drone had always had problems with seat-belts. GD currently sat in an odd crouch, hands locked onto the head-rest of the seat in front of him. He nodded. "Assessment: there is a distinct probability, Corporal Spade."
"Yeah, exactly…I think."
Jeanne bit down on her cigarette. "Scintillating." She gunned the engine.
0
Gardius' Moon – Surface – 1016 Hours
Teleporting was never exactly a fun experience, but doing it into a place with no air was even worse. A properly tuned device could compensate for that quickly (quickly enough so that you didn't suffocate, anyway) by generating its own atmosphere, but there was always that awful moment when no air was coming into your lungs. It lasted way too long.
Plus, the air Bowie made always made her throat itch for an hour afterward. Alyssa turned to watch as the others finished warping in. "Alright, no-one got their foot caught in the ground? Cool."
Arturia gave her a cold stare. "Very amusing." She looked down toward Daniel. "Librarian, did the cave-in take place nearby? I assume you can discern such things."
"Depends. Can you keep anything from ripping my head off as a greeting while I do it? This isn't someplace I want to take chances in."
She nodded. "Nothing will lay a hand on you. I swear it on-"
"Your sword arm, I hope," Daniel interrupted, "otherwise it's not really all that relevant." Despite the snarking though, this seemed to reassure him somewhat. He took a tentative few steps forward, and when nothing exploded under them raised Lithic and stuck him into the crust.
"Hmm." The digger hummed as the report came back to him. "Not more than a few minutes' walk that way." He frowned. "Be careful where you step, though. This whole area's been subject to drilling – whoever's down there, they've been here for a while. If they know we're coming…"
Dwight cocked Gates, shaking his head. "No need to be paranoid. If there's a trap, we'll just be careful, that's all."
Daniel gave him a look. "Don't knock paranoia, Dwight. It's kept me alive more times than you can count."
0
Gardius' Moon – Underground – 1017 Hours
"Alright, this way, this way, keep 'em coming…what are you guys doing, gimme that!"
Two Vanguards almost fell over as Ryusei yanked the crate out of their hands, dumping it unceremoniously onto the teleporter. "There, was that so hard?"
He might have been complaining (and hey, who wouldn't a little, having this as their first job?), but it was going fast. The vanguards kinda sucked at fighting, but they could carry stuff around pretty well. That was something, right?
Still, as quick as this was going, they probably hadn't even gone through half the stuff here yet. And that was just what they could carry – he knew part of the reason he'd been picked for this was to make sure no-one could use the heavy equipment at all if they couldn't. Oh yeah, and they had to-
"The units sent to collect Doctor K's experiments have been destroyed." Lacerta said calmly, over just a twinge of disgust. "I knew that they wouldn't be cooperative." Her unit moved toward the chamber's exit
"Hey, where you-"
It didn't even turn around. "I will go deal with them. His experiments have been useless thus far, and he has not cared about their well-being before now. Section Thirteen may examine their bodies as much as they like, if that suits them. Remain here, and continue the moving: I will not be long."
Instantly, he opened his mouth to take back, but held his tongue at the last moment. The boss wanted them to get along, right? "Sure you don't need any help?"
"I cannot imagine why that would be."
…but some leaders had a way of asking a bit too much.
0
Planet Gardius – Street Outside Museum – 1019 Hours
As the jeep screeched to a halt in front of their destination and the two organic subordinates slithered out, Anton made a silent vow never to assume anything about anyone's driving, ever again. It had been…well, there just weren't any words for it. "N-next time, I'm driving, I don't care what they say. There are some things a guy shouldn't have to do…" Even Ace looked a little shaken.
Jeanne was nearby, speaking to a member of the local police; the three hurried over.
"…from what we can tell," he was saying, "they've dug in there pretty well. There's been no word about the people inside, or any hostage statements: hell, we don't even know who's behind this."
"Hm." she grunted. "They're covering the door, I'm guessing."
The captain barely waited for him to nod yes before making for the entrance. "Thanks for your time. The three of you, follow me."
The officer stared wide-eyed as Jeanne made straight for the closed double doors. They'd tried that earlier, and had two of their men nearly put into the hospital for it, caution be damned. Sure, she was supposed to be good, but… "Uh, there's probably a back ent-"
"I don't take back entrances."
Personally, Anton would have been fine taking the most rear entrance possible. But he followed her up the stairs regardless.
He expected Jeanne to use an area search or other similar spell, but she held up a hand for quiet, then put her ear up to the door. Anton blinked, but realized quickly: a method like that still stood less of a chance of alerting them than magic.
After a moment she straightened up. "I don't hear anything – which isn't all that surprising, they'd have to be deaf not to hear a car driving up. They're probably all covering the door right now."
"…then why are we going through it?" Anton asked, feeling like an idiot for asking.
It didn't help when Ace even raised an eyebrow. "Well, because-"
He was cut off by the sharp vreem of a bolt-head's rifle from inside the building, pulverizing the door into a very expensive cloud of planks and splinters. More shots followed it, and they ended their flight the same way as the debris: a wall of water thrown up by Jeanne. More shots came, going through the walls at angles; they too were stopped as she expanded the wall into half of a dome. When the barrage ended, none of them had been harmed.
"Statement: it would appear they now have some method of intercepting our communications, Captain Stromhold."
Jeanne gave him a look of something, but it definitely wasn't surprise. "Oh, is that it. For a second I thought I'd just blurted it out-loud." She chewed on her cigarette, looking at Anton. "That a good enough reason for you, Langsley?"
"Um – yeah."
"Peachy." The rescue worker held up three fingers. "On my count – and yeah, Langsley, that means we're going in."
Anton flinched. He hadn't noticed his eyes widening himself, actually.
One finger came down. "One." Another. "Two." And… "THREE!"
The door was locked; Jeanne kicked it right in.
0
Gardius' Moon – Site of the Cave-In – 1019 Hours
"And, this is it."
Alyssa had to whistle, even if she was the only one that could hear it. It was almost picturesque, even if it was an event that could crush you like a grape.
What had once been a smooth part of the planetoid's surface now sloped downward into a pit about ten feet around, still filled with debris. Whatever – or whoever – had been caught in it, they must have been deemed expendable.
Daniel turned to the one member of their team that hadn't yet spoken. Or thought, anyway: that was the only path of communication up here. "Otavi, can you…" He raised an eyebrow as she shook her head. "…yeah, that's right, you can't. No plants up here, huh?"
Arturia frowned as the girl nodded a hesitant yes. "Why did you not tell us this before we left?"
Otavi looked away, which didn't improve her mood. "I believe I asked you a question, you-"
Her voice was cut off by the sharp crack of Daniel striking his device down on the rock. "Lay off her." he said with sudden forcefulness. "It's not like she's helpless, and I can do this myself anyway." Without a word further and before anyone could stop him, he leaped down.
Fortunately the drop was only about five feet, barely a hop for someone wearing a barrier jacket. A few rocks were jostled loose, but nothing exploded, fell, or came out of the ground, which made it a metric ton better than some other drops the digger had made. He looked up. "If they're expecting us to come from somewhere, it won't be from here. Give me a sec, I'll make a hole."
"Need any help?" Alyssa called down.
"Not getting in my way is helping."
As she contemplated chucking a fireball down the hole, Dwight crouched, opening up Gates' video radar. Nothing doing; the bedrock here must have been interfering with it. Or maybe something in the bedrock, who could really tell? He caught the captain's eye and waved her over. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I think it might be best if just the three of us went down there. No need to put all our eggs in one basket, right?"
She tapped her foot on the ground, considering it. "So what if we do if you get into trouble? No way we'll be able to fly that fast in those tunnels."
He shrugged. "Hopefully it won't come to that; Daniel knows his stuff when it comes to caves. And if it looks like it will…" the sniper smiled. "Well, I think there might be a lady around who wouldn't mind raising a little hell."
"You know, it's funny, I was thinking the same thing." Grinning, Alyssa walked back to Arturia. "We're on look-out duty, 'tury, so sit tight."
The knight looked like she would protest, but looked away, scowling. Alyssa frowned – usually she'd never miss a chance to talk back to her. Oh well; she'd have to know better than to start it today, right?
She gestured to the hole, and then to Dwight and Otavi. "Head down there once he's done, then, you too. Try not to do anything stupid, alright?"
Not even Daniel smarted off to that. It was a crazy day already – and it was only going to get crazier for her.
0
Planet Gardius? – Location Unknown, Computer Room – 1021 Hours
"Father?"
Hearing his daughter's voice never failed to cheer him up a bit (even if it was from a professional tone), but Leonard still had to pierce his lips. Depending on what aid Lacerta was going to ask for, he might not be able to give it. The scope of their sensors reached well across Planet Gardius, but the moon was another story. They'd never thought far ahead on the possibility of Section Thirteen finding their work there. Simple hindsight, but that meant they were blind in at least one eye.
He gave up on the sensors for the time being, and switched over to Lacerta's point of view. "Yes, dear?"
"I am not sure that-" she began, and sighed. "Could you send all of the unoccupied Vanguard units to head to the location of our cave-in."
"Er, alright. Why?"
He felt a bit stupid for asking, and even worse when his daughter responded politely. She never took the same tone with him as others. "If their goal is to infiltrate these tunnels, it is only natural they will do so where they assume us to be vulnerable. It is simple logic."
Her voice always went quite calm when talking about things like that. Always so sure of herself, too…
In any case, he made the keystrokes. "They'll be there soon. But are you sure you'll be alright handling-"
"That would be irrelevant in any case, since I am not personally there. But I do not intend to let a group of beasts destroy a piece of your work, father."
That was another thing she was always determined about. "Well, be care – um, do your best?"
She was nice enough not to answer.
0
Planet Gardius – Museum Front Hall – 1022 Hours
"That was…that was something, wasn't it?" Anton breathed. He was still standing, but only because he'd be the only one laying on his behind otherwise.
Nearby, Jeanne nudged a discarded arm from a thrashed droid, eyes sweeping the room. "You alright, Langsley?"
He straightened up quick as an arrow. "No – yes ma'am, I certainly am!"
"Huh. Looked like you were panicking a little, during that first charge. Had to pull you under cover once or twice too, if you remember."
"Confirmation: I can affirm that this indeed-" GD began, and practically cut off with a record scratch when Jeanne glared at him. That made Ace choke back a laugh that had almost spilled out, too.
She waved a hand at the surroundings. The hall was wide, filled with several exhibits (an unfortunate portion of which were now outside their cases), and had three entrances: two hallways leading off to the left and right, and a staircase leading up to the second floor. After a moment's thought, Jeanne pointed Ace and GD toward the former. "We'll split up here, keep us from getting surrounded. Spade, 782, take your pick, and watch each-other's back. Langsley, you're with me."
Anton saluted on reflex, as the other two made for the right hallway. "Yes ma'am."
She stared. "Right. Just stick close, and try not to…" the captain shrugged. "Just try not to screw up, alright?"
It was blunter than Alyssa might have put it, but he appreciated the honesty. "Guess I should think back to what I did my first night here, huh?"
Jeanne looked unconcerned. "If you think that'll help. A smart mage goes with whatever works, in a situation like this."
"I guess you never met the teacher I had." Anton remarked as they climbed the stairs. "He used to say that a mage of the Bureau should always fight with honor."
"He sounds like an idiot like to me." she said without hesitation. "The worst thing you can do to a cadet is give them that kind of training."
Anton smiled. "I guess that's speaking from experience, right?"
He'd meant it as a joke, but she turned, breathing a plume of smoke up at the ceiling. "Yeah. I do."
The young man decided not to ask.
0
Planet Gardius – Museum Security Room – 1023 Hours
"My, my. Now that was just sad. You'd think they wouldn't let someone like him within ten feet of a professional team, wouldn't you, Barnes?"
The familiar said nothing. Working for Quattro, he'd gotten used to seeing what people really meant behind their words, and right now Katie was as unstable as a live bomb. He could see why; losing to a rookie was bad, but it should at least be a tough rookie, right? If it really was just some weakling who'd gotten lucky, what did that say about her?
Not that he was going to say anything about it right now, of course. He wasn't going to play therapist while on the clock, especially to her.
Katie sighed. "Oh well; I suppose at least one thing would come from you not being able to stop him," she jabbed a thumb over her shoulder, "from squealing."
The him in question was the museum's curator, currently trussed up in one corner with a gag in his mouth. He was plump, but you didn't work in a place like this without getting some instincts, even if you couldn't tell them apart from paranoia. He'd be a useful hostage, if Katie felt like playing it smart.
Yeah, right.
Smiling, the girl twirled her knives. "Shall we go for a little hunt, Barnes? I can't imagine those rustbuckets will manage without us."
"I'm still here, you know." came a sardonic voice from the other corner. Katie turned and gave the walking speaker a wide sneer.
"And? New models or no, they still don't stand a chance against them from what I've seen. So unless you're going to do something besides standing around, I think I'll take this into my own hands. Come, Barnes."
The familiar uttered a short growl, but followed. The droid – and the person behind it – were left standing silently, oblivious to the curator's moaning.
0
Planet Gardius – Computer Room – 1023 Hours
It was usually quiet here, and in most areas of their base with the work that went on in it, but a squared patch of it had just appeared next to him. He turned, noting the pursed lips, the folded arms.
He'd never really been privy to Grace's personal life, and probably never would, but one tidbit he had managed to pick up was that she didn't like to be called useless, directly or otherwise. She tended to be…rash afterward. "Now, Grace…"
"She wants me to be helpful, does she?" said the biologist to the room in general, not appearing to notice Leonard had said anything. "Alright, then."
That didn't sound good. "Ahem," he said pointedly, "I wonder if you realize you aren't controlling a combat unit at the mo-"
She gave him a look of disdain. "It has arms, and it moves when I do. That's enough for me. Besides, there's something I've wanted to assess personally."
Leonard opened a mouth for a retort, and found that sadly, this logic was quite sound: he'd seen Grace fight before, and to tell the truth she probably didn't even need two arms for it.
And…it was only the one droid. Leonard shrugged. "Well, alright." he said, ignoring how the robot had begun moving for the door even before he'd opened his mouth.
Gardius' Moon – Teleport Chamber – 1023 Hours
"So, you guys find this as boring as I do?" Ryusei asked, tossing another crate onto the pile. The vanguards said nothing. "Yeah, didn't think so. Man, I wish-"
"Ryusei." said a calm voice in his ear.
Even if he hadn't actually been slacking off, technically, he still jumped at the call. "Lacerta!? W-what's up?"
If she noticed the stammer, she didn't say. "The officers from Section Thirteen are about to break through at the cave-in. I sent all our available units there, and I want you to-"
He slammed the suit's hands together, grinning beneath the visor. "Now you're talkin'! I'll be there in a-"
"No." Lacerta cut in with a voice that wouldn't brook any argument. "I want you to go around from the back entrance, and attack the captain and her lieutenant. Lure them away as far as you can, so they won't interfere. The others will be a simple matter."
"…" Ryusei knew they'd been sent up here to fight those guys in the worst-case scenario, but something about his partner's voice got to him. "You sure the boss would want us to-"
Speak of the devil; their commander's voice crackled across both their channels. "So long as you're both careful and do the job you were sent there for, I'm fine with it. If you can gain an advantage against the enemy early on, there's no reason not to."
All this enemy and warfare talk kind of went over his head, but what the boss said went. "I'll be over there in a flash," he said with a nod, "you just hope those droids can last that long, eh?"
Cutting off the radio, he triggered his suit's jets with a quick thought. Ryusei grinned as he felt the back armor slid up and the engines build up with a whine. He loved this part, always had. He leaped just as they flared on, sending him out of the cave in one second. The low, tight tunnels should have been a problem for any flying mage, but he took them like the back of his hand.
Finally, it was time for his debut. Those two weren't gonna know what hit them.
0
Gardius' Moon – Site of the Cave-In – 1025 Hours
"Okay, you'll never get this one. I spy, with my little eye, something that starts-"
"For the last time, I am not playing this game."
Alyssa shrugged, gesturing at the grey landscape around them. "Hey, not my fault there's nothing here to-"
Arturia rounded on her, glaring with the sharpness of an arrow. "We may," she hissed, "pass time by focusing on the duty at hand. If that is possible for you."
That had caught the captain off-guard, but the tone made her answer back with glare of her own. "Yeah? Well from what I've seen, you-"
What would have been a very unpleasant event was broken up by Daniel calling from below. "Okay, I've made it as safe as it's gonna get, you two can come down."
Dwight stood up, a bit quickly. "Well, we'll be off then. If something happens, you'll be the first to know. Coming, Otavi?" The girl nodded, and they both hopped down, keeping to the path Daniel had excavated for them. The captain and lieutenant were left by themselves for the moment."
"…whatever." Alyssa said, turning away.
"Indeed."
0
Planet Gardius – Museum Hallway – 1025 Hours
Anton had read in more than a few books that had tense situations that it was quiet…too quiet. He'd never really gotten that before; nothing could be that quiet, could it? But it could, actually. The building wasn't all that big, and only had two floors, but after two or three rooms without any sign of more droids, you started jumping at anything that made noise, even something was simple as a door clicking shut, or, a bit embarrassingly, his superior's footsteps.
Jeanne had tried a few long-range searches, but the building itself was working against them there; almost every security system in the building ran on magic, and it was enough to interfere with common spells like that. Anton stepped carefully around a wide case lining one wall. All of them had two sets of sensors inside; one to detect any non-magical means of breaking in, and the other to detect any mages trying it. Both would trigger an alarm, but in the case of the latter, an electric shock would emit, proportionate to the amount of force applied in the attempt. If the burglar wasn't careful, they could lose more than just their freedom.
He felt a little awkward being this nervous following behind Captain Stromhold; she didn't look worried at all. She barely seemed to look at her surroundings as they turned a corner, tapping at Flashpoint's surface every so often. When they were about in the middle, a beeping came from the device.
"Well, there's a reading." Jeanne said calmly.
"Finally." Anton said, hoping the relief wasn't too obvious in his voice. He looked around. "Where are they?"
"Right above us."
The 'huh?' on his lips was strangled away by the reinforced ceiling breaking open as six droids dropped into the hall on either side, weapons at the ready. In almost the same instant, two iron walls slammed down on either end of the passage, sealing them in completely.
Jeanne bit her lip. She hadn't expected them to be able to hack into the security system, or fit up there for that matter. Sloppy. She was already moving Flashpoint over, but a confined space was going to be a problem, especially with-
"Captain, get down!" a voice cried before a burst of wind sent her hair whipping around. She didn't follow the command – at least, not until she saw the barely-visible spell slam against the glass case off to the side. Then she hit the floor like a sack of bricks.
At first the robots were oblivious, adjusting their aim downward slightly, but the build-up of energy attracted their attention instantly. Not that it did them much good. With a nasty crackle, the system within the case's stand sent out a burst of raw magic at everything in range. Anton and Jeanne weren't harmed, thanks to the captain's shields, but the robots didn't turn out quite as lucky. With jittery shudders, they fell apart one after another as their systems blew apart from the inside.
Anton took a second to get up, which was unfortunately one more than she took. "Not bad, Langsley. But I hope that didn't tire you out too much."
The security wall behind them was still there, but the one in front had opened, revealing…nothing at all.
At least, there wasn't to his eyes. Butthe same quiet that had had him jumping at nothing let him hear a sound coming their way: footsteps.
Jeanne bit down on her cigar. "Anton. Get out of here, quick."
"Huh?" he turned to her, surprised. She hadn't even hesitated with the command.
"I didn't stutter, did I?" she replied, glancing at him sharply. "This one would break you in two, no chance." Flashpoint was swiveled over at the pocket of nothing. "I'll cover you, so get outta here! Find the other two!"
A sharp stream of water fired from the hose, and Anton barely heard another quick set of foot falls, moving off to the side. At the same time, the captain's hand came down on his back and shoved. "Get going!"
A voice like that could make you run straight up an erupting volcano, and he wasn't someone who could disobey. He ran, feeling a presence pass by him as he went through the raised barrier. Nothing happened, but Anton knew for a fact that was only because they hadn't felt like it. It wasn't a very nice fact, at that.
When he passed through, the barrier came back down with a slam, as if on cue. As if someone very close by wanted to separate him from the Captain.
It was beginning to dawn on him that there was probably someone who wanted a word or two with him here in this museum.
Flattening himself to the iron wall, his eyes scanned the empty hallway ahead as he listened for…what? Would she actually let him hear her coming? "What am I thinking? Definitely."
The only thing he wanted less than going off alone was to sit here and wait for that. Feeling like a key was turning in his back, he set off, signaling for Akashic to begin scans of her own. Hopefully GD and Ace were doing better than him at the moment.
0
Planet Gardius – Portrait Gallery – 1028 Hours
"You know, Sergeant, I'm beginning to think we took the wrong way."
GD looked sideways at his corporal as another droid stepped forward, clambering over the corpse of a fallen comrade without a glance. "Statement: I believe that may have been irrelevant, Corporal." No measures had been taken to inhibit their movements, therefore it was quite probable that there had been multiple ambushes planned. Not that there was any necessary concern for the other party, of course.
Another member of the squad might have reflected more that this wouldn't have become an ambush if not for Ace's usual exuberance. But then, no-one could help how they were made. He knew that, you might say, in his bones. Or at least the nearest equivalent.
In any case, they were not facing any undue adversity on this engagement. Most of the force seemed to be of the standard models, but a few of the specialized ones had been deployed as well. For example, a Knight type was now advancing between two now-unoccupied display stands (both officers had a strong feeling that Arturia would be having a word with them about that later on), its sword ready and shield thrust forward. Behind it, two of the normal models trained their rifles.
Meanwhile, behind them, one of the Boxers stepped into a rush, two others flanking it with their swords prepared. Escape was possible to either side of them, but this would be both un-ideal and rather pointless. He and the corporal had ways of dealing with situations like this.
As the boxer prepared its blow ahead of the knight, Ace reached down and seized hold of the small droid's leg. GD braced himself – there was ample reason why Ace could only execute this maneuver with him. Ducking below the shots and turning his back away from the knight, the strike artist tucked himself into a quick but forceful spin, carrying GD into the air.
The Boxer would have stepped back if it had been able to – it wasn't programmed to deal with something like this, but it never got the chance to figure out exactly what it was. GD triggered his claws as Ace sent him whipping through the air like a Morningstar, aiming right for the neck. The boxer fell to the ground, disabled from a small but effective wound.
That left the two accompanying it – but not for very long. As their revolution turned GD to face the knight's group, Ace was brought closer to them, and he lashed out with a vicious roundhouse kick. It speared the first robot straight in the side, carrying it into the next with a jolt of electricity. The two tumbled into a stand, smashing it apart as they scattered across the room.
And then, the knight. Extending his arms, GD retrieved his leg, gripping onto Ace's outstretched arm and kicked off into a jump, sailing overhead. The swordsman droid's defenses weren't designed for an attack from above, and certainly not behind at the same time. It sputtered as GD's claw was stabbed right into the space between its head and body. Before any resistance could be mounted, the gadget drone twisted, with the same air as someone removing a particularly bothersome screw. In a broad sense, that was what happened now. To someone with sufficient knowledge of both, a robot's head was not connected much more tightly than a human's. The main difference, to him, was that Lady Lackland would not have issue with his treatment of one.
This he reflected upon while tossing the knight's severed head at one of the normal types, bowling it over with the impact to its mid-section. They really were quite predictable. The supposed Commander unit would have their work cut out for them, he felt. At the same time, though, he was almost looking forward to it in a way.
The drone leaped down and continued his work, secure with the noise from nearby that told him Ace was doing the same.
0
Gardius' Moon – Entrance to Tunnel – 1028 Hours
"So, Daniel, what did you say about this tunnel being clear?"
The archeologist poked his head around the rock pile he was using as a barricade to shoot a glare at Dwight. "That's 'cause it was! And since when is it my job to look out for anything besides cave-ins?"
He had a point, but this sure as hell wasn't the time to be debating it. The droids had come out of nowhere as soon as they'd gone too far into the cave to get back out, at least in one piece. It had been Daniel who'd saved their asses, and there was something else he could do to help in this situation. Dwight snapped off a shot, ducking back before he could see if it hit or not.
"Well, when someone on my team spends all his time acting like some big, hot-shot explorer…" began the sniper, purposefully leaving a gap that Daniel was more than happy to fill.
"Acting like? Acting like!?" Daniel yelled, going from zero to livid in about, oh, two seconds. The digger was like clockwork: if you knew what buttons to push, you could make him go cuckoo any time.
He shrugged. "Well, yeah. You talk big, but most of that stuff is probably made up, if you ask me. Hell, you probably couldn't hack in some of the places where I come from."
Dwight couldn't see much of Daniel's face from where he was sitting, but what he could was now beet red. "You mean that back-water lump of dirt you call a planet?"
"Well, yeah," Dwight said, and paused just a moment before playing the flush, so to speak, "any way you look at it, it'd be a bit of a tall order for you, wouldn't it?"
Otavi was lying crouched just behind him, and the sniper was positive he heard her gasp, just a little. After that, the cave got a lot louder (if you could get much louder than a dozen or so robots trying to blast you).
"LEMME SHOW YOU WHAT I THINK OF YOUR DUMB PLANET, DWIGHT!" Daniel roared, and swung his pick-axe…at the very rocks protecting him at the moment. It was a baffling maneuver, which was probably exactly why it worked The rocks flew everywhere, obscuring the droids vision; for a brief window they didn't fire. This proved to be a mistake.
Leaping out from where he had sat, the digger hit home like a tiny missile just before the assembled machines, pick-axe shuddering into the tunnel floor.
What happened next could be called a cave-in, but that left out a certain sense of style. It wasn't a collapse – wherever the vanguard units were standing just happened to have a rock fall there. Dwight probably could have been more precise, but not in under ten seconds.
Daniel stood up and dusted himself off, anger expelled with that one move. "Huh. Teach him to talk crap about my…" he muttered, when something caught his eye.
He might not have been as good at it as Dwight, but several parts of him wouldn't still be attached now if he didn't keep a close eye on things. What he saw now was that the 'bots had been standing in formation, and kind of a weird one for just shooting at people behind cover. They hadn't even tried to get any closer, either.
That was when he saw what the robots had strapped to their chests, and heard the beeping that came from them.
"Both of ya get back, now!" he said, running back where he'd came. "This was a set-"
He never got the chance to finish. The detonators the units had been equipped with went off, and in the right combination to trigger a complete collapse of the tunnel. Rocks fell all around them, and not just from the ceiling; Daniel's feet stepped onto nothing as the floor crumbled too. He briefly glimpsed Dwight and Otavi trying to do the same before they vanished too. Then everything went black.
0
Gardius' Moon – Moon's Surface outside the Cave-In – 1030 Hours
"Hey. Hey, Dwight, what's up!?"
Alyssa quickly turned to Arturia. "Something's wrong, I'm not picking them up anymore. Come on!"
This was one situation where the knight was hardly going to argue. She stepped forward toward the cave along with Alyssa-
There was no telling what might have happened if she hadn't caught a glimpse of it in the corner of one eye. Pushing the captain behind her, Arturia strengthened her shields, and not a moment too soon: two magic bullets screamed in from either side, the explosion sending her stumbling backward.
"Who's there!"
They had to have been waiting for a line like that, Alyssa reflected, as with the whine of an engine an armored figure appeared over the nearest rise. It swooped down as if preparing to attack, but then pulled up short just a little ahead and above them, folding its arms expectantly.
Alyssa stared, and then smiled. "Ooooh, someone's a tough guy, eh?"
To her surprise, they actually nodded.
0
Planet Gardius – Museum Hallway – 1031 Hours
"This sucks."
It wasn't what most people would have called a very tactical assessment, but at the moment he felt it was accurate enough for this situation.
His shoulder had started twinging, and there was no way that was a good sign. What could she do to him, really? All he'd done was keep her from doing something she'd regret later on.
"Will she regret what she's going to do to you for stopping her?" said a nasty thought in his head before he could stop it.
But well, it wasn't like it was a foregone conclusion, right? He'd held her off before, sort of…with a whole sky's worth of space to move around in instead of those cramped corridors.
He really needed to stop thinking for a bit. The important thing to focus on was that Akashic and he hadn't detected anything yet. If he needed to move, he'd know when.
Anton turned a corner.
Right into a pair of crackling knives.
"Hello there." Katie purred.
To be continued…
Next time, Alyssa and Arturia are forced to deal with their attacker before they can go assist the others – but there's something about them that the former doesn't like, and it won't help her performance. Can the two even work together in a battle with their moods the way they are? And more importantly, can Anton keep himself in one piece now that Katie has him in her sights?
Find out this and more in Seeing Stars.
Hope you guys like cliffhangers, because here's three special ones to enjoy.