Looming in the distance lies a long, flat fortress amongst an asphalt plane, fluorescent flood lights beaming down from steel pillars and illuminating far beyond the stronghold's chain link enclosure.
Joaquin grumbles deeply, "So much for stealth."
The group presses flat to the ground, just out of reach of the light. Zeline squints through a pair of binoculars and then hands them to Dannika.
Zeline murmurs to Joaquin, "There's only two guards posted at the entrance. I'll disarm them, and then you two will be clear to follow, suit up, and get in."
Dannika nods in approval and hands the binoculars back to Zeline, "Sounds like a plan. We'll lay low here."
Zeline swiftly rises and hops onto her speeder, taking off with a sharp hum of the motor. The wind flutters her cape, and the glare of the flood lights paints a gleaming white stripe along the chrome of her armor. She skids to a halt in front of the guards, kicking up black dust, and steps off, marching up to them with authority.
A guard holds up his hand, "Identification please, Sergeant."
She huffs, "Can't be too careful, huh?"
"It is simply protocol, Ma'am."
Zeline glances between the two for a moment, and her hesitation to quickly follow orders makes the guard shift his balance. She then springs forwards and grabs the back of the guard's helmet and swings him into the second guard. She squats down as an array of plasma is shot into the air, then tackles the first guard, wrapping her arms around his knees. She kicks the gun from his hand and catches it mid-air, then rips off the guard's helmet and slams the butt of the gun into his temple. She stands up and clips the two guns onto her belt, turning around to wave Joaquin and Dannika over. The two catch up after a moment and begin to pick up the pieces of armor that Zeline had begun to dismantle. Leaving the guards in their bodysuits, Zeline opens the gate as Joaquin and Dannika slip on the helmets.
Dannika knocks the side of her helmet twice, "Flimsy."
Zeline tsks. "That's a compliment," she says as she hands Dannika and Joaquin each a gun.
The group makes their way to the door of the facility, Zeline swiping her keycard over the scanner. The bulletproof glass doors slide open and the group carefully treads inside. The halls are dimly lit by sickly green-tinted lights that flicker irregularly. Along the walls of the hall lay weapons of all kinds, from short-range zappers to machine guns and voltblades to vacuum bombs, it has everything. Dannika slyly moves her hand towards the rack of vibrashocks, grabbing two of the golf ball sized explosives and slipping them into one of the many pockets on the armor. As they turn the corner, a pair of guards do the same at the opposite end of the hallway. The group feigns calmness. They steady their pace and loosen up, acting as if they own the building.
One of the guards calls out to them, "Privates! Why aren't you at your post outside?"
Zeline quickly retorts, "They're escorting me. Continue your patrol."
As the guards pass by Zeline, they slow down to size up Dannika and Joaquin, scrutinizing every inch of their figures. Joaquin and Dannika raise themselves up to their full heights and puff their chests. The guards seem to be somewhat convinced by their confidence, though their gazes linger as they continue down the hall.
"Come on, quickly!" Zeline hisses, then takes off into a sprint.
The pair tear after her, their boots thundering down the hallway. After rounding the next corner, they bound a few meters further before skidding to a halt beside Zeline, who hands each of them two assault rifles. They each clip their handguns onto their belts, then swing the guns over their shoulders. Zeline takes two for herself as well.
"Move out the back!" Zeline snaps her arm to a door at the end of the hall.
The group scampers to reach it, though before they get even halfway to the exit, the lights within the complex shift to a pulsing red and sirens begin to scream from every angle. The two guards from before appear on each end of the corridor, trapping them inside. The guards level their guns at the group, prepared to fire, but Zeline is faster- much faster. She slips one of the assault rifles from her shoulder and aims it down the hall at the guard, unloading a whole clip into him. The guard twitches with each bolt of plasma that shoots through him, not falling until the last bullet is fired.
"Dannika!" Joaquin shouts.
He jumps forwards at the sight of Dannika locked in the arms of the other guard. The soldier holding her sneers at him and digs the barrel of his gun into her temple, Dannika snarling at the pain.
"Any closer and I shoot." The guard hisses, then raises Dannika up like a shield as he slinks towards the door, his gun now trained on Zeline and Joaquin.
Dannika suddenly begins wriggling violently against him, her legs a flurry as she tries to kick out his knees, though the guard shifts his arm to wrap around her neck, asphyxiating her and nearly crushing her larynx in response. The guard slowly paces backwards out of the building, dragging Dannika by the neck. She gives another forceful convulsion and places her arms behind her back.
The guard grumbles as he forces his gun hard against her head once more, "Move again and I blow your fucking brains out!"
Dannika grits her teeth at the pain. Even with fear surging through her body and consuming her senses, she manages to wriggle two fingers into her back pocket without him noticing and scoops out a vibrashock. She squeezes her eyes shut and takes in a sharp breath.
She slips her thumb through the ring of the pin and pulls, "Yesh' der'mo, ublyudok!" She cries as she snaps her elbows out and then pushes her hands backwards onto the guard's chest.
The vibrashock ignites and pulverizes through the guard's armor and into his ribcage, disintegrating his lungs with the force of the vibrations. Dannika falls from his arms as he goes limp, rolling onto her back. She heaves for breath as adrenaline courses through her body, her limbs and jaw shaking from what she had just done. As she orients herself to sit up, she finds herself unable to; her arms feel like phantom appendages. Before her lay the dead guard, and on either side of him are two trails of flesh in the form of pulp. As time slows and her vision darkens around the edges, she cranes her neck to gaze at where her arms should be, only to find bone.
YOU ARE READING
Descension
Ciencia FicciónExiled by a tyrannical government and betrayed by his brother, Ben Anderson is hurled from his status as one of the world's top elites and plunged into a dystopian reality. The clock ticks as a revolution comes to its apex, and the fate of humanity...
