Chapter Five: Whiplash

Chapter Five: Whiplash

            Holographic Training Room Battlefield

            Subway System

            Dani and Tyler were now in the access tunnel, which was far more claustrophobic than the one on which the train’s tracks ran. Also, the walls were roughly hewn, in stark contrast to those that had been worn smooth by the trains’ passage.

            “I hate this,” Kane muttered. “Tight spaces don’t agree with me.”

            “Does getting shot?” Dani snapped.

            “No.”

            “Then shut up,” she told him. “I’m tired of listening to you complain about everything. Either shape up or ship out, Ty. You’ve got potential, but you’ll never realize it you’re so dead set on running from every battle you encounter.”

            Kane nodded as he stared ahead into the murk. “I know. It’s just…I’ve gotten used all my life to running from battles I can’t win directly. I haven’t really learned how to take a nonlinear approach, and I’m trying. Even so, it’s difficult. By the way, has Stefan checked in in a while? I haven’t heard you talk to him.”

            Dani shook her head. “He requested radio silence, recall. Said it helps him get the drop on people. So he’ll talk when he’s ready. Not before. So it’s best not to disturb him.”

            Subway Tunnels

            Blue Line

            The squad of mechanical warriors stood over Stefan’s body, staring down in something resembling grim satisfaction. While Sfeer’s protocols did not allow it to emote in the same way as a human being, it still had some rudimentary personality programming that allowed it to express feelings. And this was one of those moments; the Russian had wiped out thirty drones in a matter of twenty minutes, and made no end of trouble for his approach on the other members of Alpha. The drones had finally managed to corner the infiltrator, and they had literally poured gunfire on him. Although he managed to evade most of them, four had still slammed into his stomach and chest, and he fell, an ominous dark stain spreading across the stone. One of the drones fired one last shot at his right leg in a coup de grace.

            “Who’s kneeling now?” Sfeer mocked. Then, the drones turned and walked away. They moved in silence for several minutes, processing what was happening. One of the trainees had fallen, and now there were merely five more to eliminate. They began formulating an algorithmically-based plan to wipe out the remaining recruits. Then, as an afterthought, the lead drone turned to look at Stefan’s body once more. What he saw chilled him; the blood pool and a trail of stains were there, but the corpse itself was not.

            “What…” the AI began. Then, he simply cut off the expletive he’d been thinking about using and gave a series of orders. “You three find him,” he said, pointing to a few of his minions. “I’m taking the rest to deal with Alpha’s other half. They are quite perplexing, after all.” They all move off in their determined vectors, their minds processing a variety of plans. The three assigned to Stefan were calculating his normal speed and subtracting the average rate of debilitation for the type of bullet wounds inflicted. Also, they were running plans for apprehension based on that said algorithm. It looked as though he might be moving onto the Orange Subway Line, which in turn greatly reduced the number of places he had to hide. They moved through the adjoining maintenance access tunnel and into the Orange Line’s loading station. Once in there, they found themselves confronted with another problem; the trail of blood that they had been following stopped as abruptly as it began, and they could see no discernable sign that he was even here. They searched around the platform for several minutes, inside closed doors and even in the stationary train on the tracks. Finally, one of the drones gave an exasperated groan.

            “What is this?” he asked. “He can’t have gone far, and it’s not like someone who’s just been shot can disappear.”

            “Maybe not,” came a voice from above them, followed by the click of a grenade. “But you’ll give it your best, I’m sure. Now you see the junkers, now you don’t.” And then their world dissolved in a torrent of fire.

Town Square

            Psynder was creeping from building to building, doing her utmost to avoid being seen. The drones had moved outside the square as if directed by an unseen hand elsewhere. That being said, they seemed to being making rounds around the area where their objective was being kept. Thus, Brooks, Shepard, and Psynder had all spread out, planning on gaining better firing angles from which to assail the numerically superior enemy.

            All right, came Brooks’ voice. I’m in position. Two floors above the sniper, just like we established.

            Same, came Shepard’s voice. The difference being that there were two here, and one was just hiding out. He’s gone.

            Psynder swore. All right, then. That means they know we’re here.

            I know, Shepard replied. But I couldn’t help it.

            Psynder looked up at the building before her. Unlike the others, this particular structure looked more intact, and she would have to enter through either the front or back door, given that its first-floor walls were all intact. Sighing, she reloaded her rifle and went around to the rear door, which she tried. Locked, she thought bitterly. Typical. She stepped back and launched a rapid kick that removed the wooden obstruction and sent a shower of splinters flying into the building. What she saw inside stopped her heart momentarily; eight drones, all of their guns pointed at her. The alien immediately dove for cover as the familiar sound of gunfire filled the area. She sighted with the thermobaric carbine and squeezed off two shots, each of which connected with her targets. The alien dove for cover as the fallen machines’ comrades returned fire, and then she heard one of them arm a grenade.

            Blast, she thought bitterly. Come on, Psyn. You didn’t see that coming?

            Subway tunnels

            Maintenance access

            Dani and Tyler were out in the sunlight now, nd they had left the station’s protective cover for the sanitation workdrone deployment facility. To Dani’s shock, they had not seen a single one of Sfeer’s mechanical men, even though she could hear the sounds of gunfire around her.

            “Probably Beta,” Ty remarked. “They’re not exactly quiet.” Dani shook her head, loading another grenade into the launcher.

            “You’ve got room to talk, Mr. Shotgun,” she quipped. “And whoever they’re shooting at will want some help returning fire.”

            They made it into the square, and not a moment too soon. The mechanical fighters that were guarding the objective had moved out with an aim toward neutralizing the recruits. And they were doing quite well; Psynder was being slowly worked back by the four remaining opponents in front of her, and Brooks was doing his best to thin the robots advancing on his position. However, given that he had to contend with two snipers in addition to that, he was not having an easy time with it. Shepard was nowhere to seen, but bolts of electricity flying in the eastern corner of the square were a fairly good indicator of her current position. Dani sighted her grenade launcher and sent three shells arcing through the air. They impacted the pavement beside five of Sfeer’s men, bathing the metal enemies in an incendiary wave of annihilation. They melted amidst the firestorm, and she turned her weapon on the next group of foes. Ty, in defiance of his traditional method of engagement, was screaming and rushing like a maniac, firing off his shotgun at point-blank at any of the metal fighters who got close enough. For a moment, Dani felt a surge of hope; then, the massive metal battlesuit burst into the square. Her first reaction was to pelt it with grenades. This approach seemed effective at first; the metal warsuit staggered, its front cockpit dented and scorched by the barrage. But it was a short reprieve, the metal fighter was already moving forward again, seemingly impervious to the blazing torrent of explosives. Then, it raised its left arm and unleashed two rockets in her direction. She knew she wasn’t going to reach cover fast enough; the projectiles were about to hit her. But the fatal explosion never came, being replaced by two fifteen yards in front of her. Dani was tempted to stare in shock, but she was already rolling for cover. The explosives expert and team leader reloaded her grenade launcher and set its range to one hundred twenty meters. Then, she heard a voice come over the communications line.

            “Hey, boss. Miss me?”

            Dani couldn’t help but smile at that. “How are you not dead? Psyn said you got shot.”

            “I did,” Stefan answered. “But I’ve had worse. So what’s the plan?”

            “Get the object,” she replied.

            “So nothing fancy.”

            She shook her head. “Any ideas for the mech?”

            Stefan was quiet for a few moments. “Maybe,” he answered hesitantly. “I think I recognize the make and model. Do you want me to try to bring it down?”

            “Wait. As in try alone?”

            “Yeessss…” Stefan dragged the word out. “Is that going to be a problem?”

            “Not if you can do it,” Dani replied.

            “Good,” he said. “Pound the bots in the square. I’ll take the big guy.”

            Square

            Stefan emerged seven yards behind the mechanical giant from under a manhole cover. After he’d blown the group of Sfeer’s mechanical minions to pieces, he had been forced to crawl through seventy yards of sewer pipe to get to the square directly. Not exactly fun or clean, but he was alive and right in the middle of the action. He climbed out of the sewer and was almost immediately dodging being crushed by the mechsuit’s giant foot. The robot almost immediately stepped again, but Stefan rolled out of the way. He heard bullets pinging around him, and his peripheral vision registered several of the automated soldiers falling amidst a hail of lightning bolts. Shepard, he thought. At least she was still doing all right, he reflected. Then, he immediately stopped thinking about anyone else and merely focused on not dying. The massive iron warrior swung its right arm at the infiltrator, and it was only then that Stefan saw the vicious electric sword on the end. He swore and went as low to the ground as he possibly could, narrowly avoiding getting sliced in half. Still, he felt his metal arm being pulled upward by the blade’s magnetic field and heard the sizzle of electricity above his head. As the robot pulled back for a second attack, Stefan broke into a dead run, closing the forty meters between him and the battlemech in a matter of seconds. Catching the robot’s left leg, he grabbed onto a groove in the metal and flipped himself up onto his enemy’s back. The mechanical fighter noticed, and he was far from pleased. To the infiltrator’s surprise, the mech’s arms flipped around, as did its legs. In a matter of seconds, he had gone from mounting his opponent’s back to gain an advantage to desperately trying not to fall off its front. Its piston legs were pumping, now, as it was running at breakneck speed toward a building. Suddenly, it clicked, and Stefan hatched a desperate plan. He placed both feet on a small hold he found in his foe’s armor, and then he pushed off, performing a flawless double backflip off to the left. The mechanical fighter could not stop in time and plowed into the concrete and steel monster in front of him. The building responded with an agitated rumble and a shower of bricks and girders, burying the mechanical suit in a literal mountain of debris. Stefan got to his feet and flexed his fingers experimentally. He hurt all over, and there was still a slight burning sensation in his side, where he’d been shot. That was the only one of the four bullets he hadn’t extracted before the skin sealed up. His body seemed to be healing faster, he noticed with a shiver. This act of noticing was abruptly cut off by a more ominous sound from off to his left: the mech rising from its bed of rubble, a few straggling pieces of concrete falling off of its shoulders.

            “Is that the best you can do? I expected more from someone who can get shot and look like it never happened,” Sfeer’s voice boomed from speakers behind its shoulders.

            Stefan popped his neck and slid a fresh battery pack into his disintegrator. “First you have to prove you’re worth my best, you sentient junk heap.”

            The mech was already running toward him. “I’m not exactly sure if you’re cocky or just stupid,” the AI told Stefan, swinging the electrical sword in a downward arc toward him. The man rolled out of the way, only to find himself staring into the mech’s missile cannon.

            “Oh…” that was as far as he got, as the AI opened fire immediately. How he did it, Stefan never quite figured out, but he managed to twist his body out of the way of the first rocket. The second went wide by several inches, and Stefan retreated to a safe distance to shoot the third. The other two, however, spiraled back and flew toward Stefan. The infiltrator swore, flipped over the first, and ducked beneath the second. They screamed forward for several agonizing seconds before they turned again and streaked toward him once more. In idea started to form in his head, and he put it into action. Rolling under the rockets, he dashed toward the mechsuit and jumped up, grabbing its midsection and holding on for dear life. Then, after the missiles had locked onto him and started moving toward him, Stefan braced his feet and jumped off again. As he hit the ground, he heard two consecutive rocket explosions and watched the mech’s disembodied legs fall to the ground. All around him, he was vaguely aware of robots burning and falling; it looked as though Sfeer was finally at the end of his rope. Dani was standing near the force field, holding the objective article in her hand. The traing was over, and Epsilon had won.

Training Room

            The group that exited the holographic training chamber was far different from the one that had gone in; in the place of the disunited and suspicious trainees stood a solid and clearly defined team. Stefan’s jumpsuit was full of holes, Alison’s scorched and ripped, and Dani was bleeding from a gash in her left hip. They were all bruised and hurting, but the pain vanished in the face of pure exaltation in the victory. Dain lifted the simple metal orb and smacked it down on the desk in front of Anders. The team leader felt a bit of macabre satisfaction at the destruction she and her group had wreaked.

            “Done,” she said, her eyes glowing with triumph. The commander nodded in satisfaction.

            “Well done,” she replied. “Go to your barracks. You’ll find food and fresh clothes there. You have two hours till curfew, and you’re free to spend them how you choose, as long as you do it in your barracks. The leaders’ said he doesn’t want you leaving yet.”

            “Who is this guy?” Stefan asked.

            “You know that I probably won’t tell you, right?” Anders queried. The Russian shrugged.

            “I’m well aware that sharing’s hard for you,” he said. “Even so, I generally make it a point to know who I’m working for. You haven’t told us a thing about what’s going on, and I think it’s high time we at least knew the full situation.”

            “You’ll get briefed tomorrow,” Anders told him dismissively. “Now get out of here. I’ve got things to do.”

            Barracks

            Stefan took off his damaged outfit and climbed into the shower, sighing as he felt the fusion-heated water hit him. His prosthetic arm and leg were both waterproof, something that he had designed them to be, given their indispensability to everyday functions. After he finished, he went into the men’s barracks area and found a variety of clothes in all manner of sizes and with all variety of armor thicknesses. He looked through them until he found a suit he liked, a beige one with a wide, webbed belt for ammo pouches. It came with dark tan pants and a brown hip holster for a pistol, but which could easily double for a knife holder. He also found a large backpack with compartments for a variety of tools and weapons, and he put in next to his bunk. That done, he went into the hangar area, stripped off his outer shirt, and set to work in the gray long-sleeved undergarment that he wore underneath. The welding work he was conducting with his new rifle required him to put on a pair of googles and swap out his hand attachment, too, so he did both. That finished, he attached the welder’s feed to a plasma converter and set to work. Dani, Pysnder, and Alison soon joined him in the hangar, although they set to work on the ship. Tyler and Brooks came last, and they used the space to mock-spar. They spent their first hour in relative silence, and it was in this time that Stefan finished his work on the gun and joined Dani and the others on the ship, or rather under it. Instead of working on increasing speed or computer function, Stefan concerned himself with the two things he understood: cam-swap plates and weaponry. He’d already changed the power feed and ammo type on the ship’s side guns, and was do the same on the ventral cannon. As he worked, he let his mind wander to the events of the day. Showcasing his unique talents might not have been the best way to go, but he had felt it necessary for his team’s survival.

Inside of the ship

Dani Watkins was busy putting new fittings on the engine coolant feeds. As a pyrotechnics expert, she knew the kind of damage a fusion engine could do if improperly vented while the subspace drive, called the ‘Hole Punch’ by most military personnel, was running. She called to Psynder, who was replacing the steel floor plates with a titanium alloy for maximum stress resistance and minimum drag on the ship.

            “Psyn,” she said, “do you have the ion screwdriver? My magnet drill’s dead.” The alien came out of the front of the ship, her entire face blackened with dirt. In her hand was a small, glowing stick.

            “Right here,” she replied. Dani took the driver and started popping out screws and rivets on the old fitting, and Psyn thought it was a good time to broach something that had been on her mind for a good bit of the day.

            “Dani…” she began, but then stopped. What she was about to say sounded insane, even inside her own head. What would their team leader think of it?

            “Yes?” Dani got the last of the rivets out of the fitting and slid it off the blocked coolant pipe. It didn’t do to have hard water flowing while you were replacing ship parts. Not only did it make one huge mess, but it also got in your boots and everything else.

            “I…” Psyn’s voice stopped again, but now the alien forced herself to continue. “Something’s been bothering me about that training exercise.”

            “What?” Dani asked, grabbing the new fitting and checking it over for rust and flaws. Seeing none of either, she clamped it over the pipe and tightened the new piece of technology in place.

            “Stefan,” Psyn told her. “Did you see him after the fight?”

            “No. Why?” Dani finished tightening that coolant pipe and went on to the next.

            “Because Sfeer said he shot him, right?” Psyn asked, unscrewing a plate in the ship’s engine room with her backup driver.

            “Yeah, so?” Dani was busy unscrewing the fittings on the pipe, and she truly hated being distracted. Why was the girl bringing this up now?

            “He’s fine now,” Psyn replied. “I saw him. Not so much as a scratch.” Dani stopped tightening screws and stared at Psyn.

            “Say what?”

            “He’s fine,” she repeated. “He has two scabs on his stomach, but nothing worse. He was shot through the liver and colon. Shouldn’t he be dead, then?”

            Dani nodded, grabbing the new rivet. “He should. But he’s not; are you really complaining that he survived?”

            “No,” Psyn replied, picking up the new titanium plate and bolting it down. “I’m concerned that he might not be all he seems.”

            Dani nodded, closing up the engine block. She’d thought the same thing when he’d guided the missiles into the mech. But she hadn’t said anything, as she’d been more concerned with laying waste to the rest of the robots. “I know what you’re feeling; he did the same thing with that mech. He guided the missiles into it like it was no big deal.”

            Psyn shrugged. “You going to watch him?”

            Dani sighed, tucking the driver into her toolbelt. “I thought about it,” she replied. “But why? What did he do wrong aside from cover our butts?”

            Location undisclosed

            “You are sure of this?” The voice was deep, robotic-sounding. In actuality, it was filtered to prevent the speaker from being recognized, even though the man on the other end knew exactly who was calling.

            “What do you think I am, stupid?” the other asked in a British-accented voice. “The nanobots might block incoming radio signals, but we programmed them to be able to communicate with us as needed. And they already started.”

            “Meaning?”

            “Meaning he elevated his heart rate and used his mods subconsciously,” the other snapped. “If his previous personality gets released without the proper methods being followed…”

            The other nodded. “To ensure that, I have selected an agent to get in contact with him.”

            “How?”

            “Through Four,” the first man replied. “That way, they won’t trace her back to us.”

            “Her?” the other echoed. “You’re sending Val to do this?”

            “I have no choice. Is this truly wise? Perhaps not. We’d hoped for a few more years before Sunstorm got moving.”

            “It doesn’t matter,” the man on the other end replied. “He’s the last we’ve got. Big man’s onto us.”

            “I know,” the first man whispered. “That’s why I think we need to do this now. Just so you know, I’m wiping the Eclipse data from my system.”

            “He’s going to strike that soon?”

            “Today.”

            “Thank you for everything, then, old friend. I guess this is goodbye.” The first man nodded.

            “It is.” Abruptly, he cut the transmission and began a rapid series of keystrokes in the computer system. He knew that he was on a clock, but he no longer cared. The first thing he did was to activate the neural patchwork implants by long-range transmission. Then, he cut them out of the system and began the wipe it took longer than he expected. Of course, given the Eclipse files, it was not entirely unaccounted for. The minutes stretched into hours, and the man was getting a little upset when he heard the door to his dormitory area slide open. His hand went under the computer desk, and he pulled out a small gun from a compartment underneath it. I didn’t give anyone the code to my room, he thought. They’re here after all. He stepped out into he main antechamber, and what he saw came as no surprise. A man in an armored suit, his orange-visored helmet under his arm. Two long belts of bullets were strapped across his chest, and he had grenades in his belt. Across his back was slung his extendable rocket launcher. The angry look in his dark eyes would probably have burned through plate metal if he’d stared at it long enough.

            “So,” he said, cocking the high-powered guns on his wrists. “You were the traitor after all.”

            The man pointed his gun at the other’s head. “No, I’m not. It doesn’t have to be this way.”

            “He told me everything, Radcliffe. How could you?”

            The other closed his eyes. Full system cleanse in four minutes, he thought. I have to stall him. “So did the Spymaster send you, or was the big man himself?”

            “We both know the answer to that.”

            “So it was him. And you listened, even after everything he’s done with you?” The other man shook his head.

            “No, I listened in spite of it,” he replied. “We’re talking about my brother. Not exactly something I want to remember.”

            “And what about him?” The first man asked.

            “You killed him,” the other answered. “I’m going to do the same to you now. More mercifully than you did, I might add.”

            “I didn’t kill your brother,” the first man said. “And I never would. But you don’t believe me; I see it in your eyes. That being the case, do what you came here for. Just know you’ll pay for it.” The shot came faster than the professor expected, slamming into his chest. The sheer force of the impact sent him flying backward, and he slammed against a wall. There was a sickening crack, and Radcliffe went down, feeling a warm flood of blood pouring from his chest. The last thought that went through his mind was I’m sorry, son. You have to carry us now. 

Author's Note

Please note grammar errors and mechanics goof-ups. Positive feedback is appreciated, but not requisite.