System of the Damned

  Chapter 16-Xavier

  Heavy Metal Murder

  The newly constructed heavy lift shuttle was spartan and massive, but it had been built out of Rodu shuttle and ship parts. The mechanic leaning part of my mind loved it, everything was so easy to get to and work on! The dad part of my brain screamed that this thing was a flying testament to the human phrase “hold my beer”. Though I have to admit that the mixed crew checked over everything before trying to lift off from the ground or come back from space, the ship just always looked ready to fall apart.

  I was currently checking over my shiny new mark nine suit in the smaller cargo bay, and this deep in the hull I could barely hear the rumble of the engines. My suit though was quite literally shiny thanks to it being a new titanium alloy, but it was hitting the paintshop when we got back. My name is Xavier, not Patton thank you very much. It was less sleek than the previous models I’d tested for Marie, but this model had all the gear I’d asked for. All it cost me was trying an inhibitor that Albert had worked up, and Evans had told me and a few other blurs to use while in space. It had worked well at keeping me from hitting the dangerous end of my speed physically, and below stopping point for mental.

  Sadly this meant we now had a few dozen rats added to the Order, but these were rats that could speak human language. That had been another of his tests, but the rats had learned Mandarin and not English, which was fine with me. But back to the shiny new suit…armor…oh hell let's face it, the damned thing was a mech. The feet were still able to be used to grab things, but had armoring over the top now. The calves stored power units that along with the smaller units in the biceps, kept the suit powered for a couple days at most. Captain Rowland had shot down the request to use fission packs, and I could understand his reasoning. There hadn’t been enough testing and research done yet.

  It was also twice the weight of my last suit since it’d been designed for combat, which meant the thruster ports in the back of the legs all had armored covers. I couldn’t fly on planet anymore, but I could get some good jumps in. There were also ports in the arms with armor that covered them when not in use, and I had enough dried food and water stored in it to last a couple weeks. My version was custom, but also a base for human models. They’d not have all the snacks, and their version had a thicker back to hold the power units that mine had in the limbs. I was currently on its shoulder cleaning around the helmet, which was full of sensors for mine, and also the ejection port.

  I had to manhandle the brush I was using to clean, and this suit was larger than my last one in height as well, standing just under seven feet tall. Across the storage room from my suit was a behemoth of armor standing eleven feet tall and weighing three times what mine did, the mark ten. My wife was taking a kettle back from one of the ship’s crew and hopping up to snap it back into place in the forearm. Like my suit, it was a base for a human suit, but very customized. Where my suit was customized for combat, light space flight, and general use, hers was customized to take care of others…and be a walking tank. Both suits now used a “cradle” system with sensory feedback and options to use keyboards and the like. Hers, though, was a walking mobile home that could move vehicles and equipment, haul and treat wounded, cook dinner for an army…or absolutely ruin someone’s day.

  Her suit couldn’t fly in space and had been tethered to the ship to catch and stack salvage while I’d been out helping gather and bring it in. It could mildly fly on planet, but less like a bird and more like strapping turbines to a boulder. It was great for her or the people like my person that were giant and broke things naturally. Since her suit literally dropped its forearms and hands to use as cooking stands, they’d put turbines into the wrists and made the hands able to fold back against the arms for “flight”. There were also the same in the feet, but with armored ports, and a heavy armored pack on the back for more turbines and power units. I know for a fact that her suit had a fission battery along with caltunium power units, but no one argues much with my wife.

  I don’t even argue with her much and she loves me, but she’s six inches of loving and brutal fury when she wants to be. So I watched as she casually put kettles, ladles, and other utensils up into their spots in the arms and chest of her suit. And just to show how customized this massive suit was, when she used it to cook, the chest opened perfectly for her to walk on and pull utensils from the arms as she worked. That wasn’t even counting the medical kits in the thighs that were full field trauma kits. Bare in mind she could literally walk down into the thighs and upper arms of her mech. I could easily survive in my suit if it wasn’t trashed, she could trash the FOB and then make dinner.

  “Xavier dear, you’re staring and brooding again, aren’t you?” Hit my ears as I noticed Lola was watching me stare at her suit. She was wearing her little pink apron with a crossed ladle and mace on it.

  I shook my head and shrugged in that human way toward her. “Just thinking about…well how crazy that thing is. The biggest and most armored mech the kids have designed yet…and you turned it into a field kitchen and hospital.”

  She smiled at me and closed up the arms of her suit, poking a button in the chest that made it relatch the lower sections of the arms back into place. “Well yes, I enjoy cooking for everyone, and you burn everything but coffee.” She pointed a dainty ear down at the legs of her suit as it stood itself up fully. “I decided that it ought to have medical gear as well, people get hurt, we tend to visit the…forward..oh the base that they’ve set up.” She waved a hand-paw dismissively.

  I couldn’t help but snort. “That’s because half the injuries that the medical gear you have would be used for…are caused by you. Honestly love, you’re very strong…stop hitting so many people with ladles when they annoy you.”

  Her ears wilted down and she sighed. “I’ve asked Albert if he can change my strength, but I like being strong.” She shrugged and gave me a worried look. “I’ve always had a temper…and do not give me that look, I know I have issues.” She slipped off her apron, folding it to stuff it into a pouch. “This helps though…” She pulled up a pinner as Captain Rowland had called them, a rather thin and tightly rolled cigarette, which she lit and puffed on.

  A smile slid over my face and I nodded. “I’ve actually asked Albert the same for myself, the inhibitor is just the first try on it.” I hopped into the open chest of my suit and put up the cleaning brush, grabbing my own cigarette and lighting it as I moved to step back onto the chest plate. “Honestly I’m amazed neither of us has accidently killed anyone yet, the kids and the clan are all going to be using this stuff…the blurs at least.”

  She squeaked out a snort and made a face. “Yes, they’re working on one for us..tanks…” She huffed and shot smoke from her nose, giving me a look. “I want to smack whoever came up with that term.”

  “Oh, that was Albert…well I think it was all of our kids.”

  She took another drag from her cigarette and held it for a moment before purring. “This is really good stuff, and Xavier…you don’t have our four, and then hundreds of others, all calling you dad.”

  I gave her a cheeky grin. “Oh no love, you did that yourself. Our humans call you a den mother, but I know you were needing some time away from our people when you agreed to come with me.” I chittered, shaking my head. “I know you hate flying, so much that you’ve never let our humans see your wings…”

  She stared at me for a long moment and huffed, closing her eyes and shivering as thinly furred wings that were sort of large for her size, grew from her back. After a moment she flicked the ash from her cigarette and stuck it in her mouth, her wings wrapping around her like a cloak. “Best I can do is hop or a little gliding. I can’t really fly with them, I’m too…” I could see her struggling. “I’m too heavy, another reason I want to see if he can fix me.” She made a face and sucked down the last of her smoke, spitting the butt into a tray in her armor’s lowered chest.

  “Well after this mission is done and we can relax…we’ll work on getting us both fixed up. Honestly I miss rutting that doesn’t end with one of us having to leap away from the other…” I grumbled, making a face and moving to poke my com unit. “Adam, has my person been informed?”

  “Not yet, though I have to say that you and Lola have won the bet with your children. The Major informed the Captain of her implant not working and she chose to not risk pregnancy, these alternate mating styles that humans have are…odd.” Adam said with a little smirk as he appeared on a nearby screen.

  Lola huffed. “Yes, they are odd at times, but are we going to be getting sent in?”

  “Yes, they are working on telling him now. So please do suit up. I am unsure whether it will be to capture or kill yet.”

  “Kill.” I chittered as I moved to climb into my suit’s cradle and power it up. “He will choose to kill all of the ones that pose a serious threat rather than risk long term effects of them spreading malice and hate.” The chest closed on my suit and let out a hiss as it sealed, my wings growing out and into the space in the cradle made for them.

  My wife had her suit moving before it had sealed fully, my cameras picking up the view of her pulling her mace from a wall to clip it to her suit’s hip. She had stolen my person’s newest weapon from him after it had repeatedly knocked him down during testing. “Omar is making your person a new and better weapon for his personal use.” Was all she said as she snapped a drum to the base of her weapon that held roughly four to five hundred pounds of rounds. Five hundred pounds of rounds with a fifty caliber shell and a five point seven steel bullet. It had art worked into the metal of the casing.

  “I can’t believe you let Honey and the Order name your weapon…” I shook my head as my suit pointed to the etched artwork of a broom hitting someone. “Momma’s Broom” was artistically worked into each barrel of the gatling gun. It was then that I got to watch her suit shivering, because I could also hear her squeaky laughter.

  “Oh, like yours is any better.” She waved her suit’s hand at the long jet black rifle that I was setting aside. “It has a leather belt worked into the body of it, you just didn’t let them work the lettering in.”

  “Because I’m also part of the human’s military, I have to keep up a semblance of standards.” I couldn’t keep the mirth from my chittering as I snapped magazine cans to my suit’s hips, and then put in fresh canisters into the forearms of my suit. My pistols snapped to the thighs of my suit and when in use, drew rounds through the hands into the grip of either pistol. I’d only be using the pistols since I was also needing to snap another weapon to either shoulder to take down non-combat targets.

  “Dart guns? You think they are keeping that heavy of a control on their prisoners and forced recruits?” She asked as her monsterous suit watched mine attach the magazines to the weapons and snap them to its shoulders.

  “Yes, plus there is also the risk of panic and stupidity of any involved that aren’t getting a bullet.” I leaned in my cradle and wiggled my foot, making my suit do the same, then both myself and Lola went through the routine of making sure everything worked. Ear tips working switches and touchpads to make armor open and close over ports, wings shifting to make turbines whine.

  Adam spoke as we’d started back for the main cargo doors of the hauler. “It’s all guns blazing.” One of the spare screens in either of our suits started to cycle through the various humans that were marked for death. “These are marked for death, Agent Washington and his family are marked for recovery. The Major wishes that you rescue any non combatants that you can, there are also a few targets from the original group that are marked for capture if possible.”

  “The ones that have things being used to force loyalty.” Lola growled. “I hate some of the human tricks that they do to each other.” Her suit slowed as we got to the cargo doors. “How long until we are in position?”

  “Two minutes, I’m having to almost hover and drop you off about a mile from your target. Adam warned me about a stolen AA turret that one of the patrols saw being uncovered.” Came from the pilot. “Gonna use the main door and crack it open for you to drop through.” I couldn’t for the life of me remember his name, but he was one of the oriental breed of humans, very nice pilot. He was also an albino like me.

  “Copy, moving low level drop. Just don’t drop us on any mimics please.” I chittered and switched channels back to Lola, who was cursing in Lo’kar. “Lola…are…”

  She suddenly turned and punched a section of scrap hull strapped to the deck, almost breaking the chains holding it down as she put a large dent into it. Her suit’s fists clenched before she ripped a spare bit of chain from a tie down and secured her “broom” to her suit’s chest. She had me worried as her suit started tapping at thin air. “Override engaged” sounded from the ship’s intercom before music started to play at full volume. It was what humans called classical music, but my eyes were focused on Lola’s suit, which was moving like a conductor

  Then Maestro’s tenor went over the com. “Valkyrie flight one and assault team two, move to secure landing sight.” Ride of the Valkyries! That’s what this song was, and I watched as the crew that’d been working around the bay rushed out of it.

  “Copy that, moving to support the First Mother.” Was chittered over the com as I stared like an idiot at the walking and orchestrating titan that was my wife’s suit moved to stand at the large cargo doors.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  “I didn’t know you loved this sort of music.” Was all I could say as the lights in the bay flicked to amber colored.

  Her suit shrugged and the hands ratcheted back onto the forearms. “Orchestral music is very soothing for me.” I could hear the grin in her voice as her suit poked at empty air, which soon thundered with...was that celtic or norse? Either way she was blasting the deep bass drum riddled music from the ship’s systems, and her suit.

  “I love you.” Was all I could say as I walked my suit over to stand beside hers, which was doing a little wiggling dance.

  “Love you too.” Was the last thing she said before clipping something to my suit, and for the briefest second I saw a flash of olive drab snap out the opening doors. “You’re suit can’t fly anymore on a planet th….” I didn’t get to hear the rest.

  My suit was ripped out of the cargo hauler as the parachute opened outside it, and it is something akin to being manhandled by my person…but less gently. The less gently part was due to the fact that I was hanging from a drop rig for cargo and my suit was spinning like a top for a few seconds. Then my suit’s thrusters opened up to stabilize itself and I got to watch my wife run her suit out of the ship’s open bay door.

  The night lit up when her suit’s thrusters all lit at full burn to slow itself down as it dropped down for the ground. I myself had to break the clip she’d snapped to my suit to drop down the last twenty or so feet with my suit’s thrusters firing at max. The reason was a barrage of tracers that had missed me.”

  “You ear biting! Blowhole licking!” Lola was cursing in Ca’zeze and Lo’Kar again, and that’s just a rough translation of the start of her rant as I heard the clanging of rounds through the com. That is also about the time that the Valkyries made themselves known, three heavy chainguns roared to life as the flyers made a pass from the air.

  I slammed into the snowy ground at a run, drawing my pistols and moving from cover to cover as the tracks and flyers pulled back from the heavy fire that flew their way. The gods quickly vented their rage with a demon of screaming and flame, just kidding…Lola was using her new gun. It looked like some ancient god got angry though, flame flew out the end of the barrels for ten or fifteen feet? The noise of the high cycle motor was drowned by the roar of the bullets firing, and the sound of trees exploding. There was also the shattering of concrete, a few vehicles being shredded, and the sudden thick fog from her weapon vaporizing snow.

  It was only about ten seconds of actual firing from her gun before she let off on the trigger, and then Adam beat me to speaking. “Checking. Checking. Nine names checked off on the hard kill list and two seriously wounded from the possible capture list.”

  “Medical team enroute.” A human voice came over the com as my suit’s sensors picked up one of the heavy human vehicles moving away from the colony and for this storm bunker. Well it had been meant to be a storm bunker, instead it’d been used as a hideout for bad humans. Sadly most had gone past getting a whack with a newspaper, and were into putting them down areas of being a bad pet.

  “You also have confirmed kills on two tractors, one bulldozer, fifteen small all-terrain vehicles, and several tons of reinforced concrete.” Adam added cheerilly. “Marie has also been notified about the need for insulation to dampen impact noise.”

  It took about a minute and a half before Lola stopped cursing in three languages and settled enough to properly speak something other than curse words. It was hare raising to hear, I mean I turned white it was so bad. “Thank you, and let my daughter know that it is also quite noisy when flying.” From cursing to polite and proper as could be in the space of a deep breath.

  “Will do, and also you have collapsed the primary entrance, you will need to dig it back out to enter in your suits.”

  “Balls it’s cold up ere.” Came a new voice and my suit tripped, earning cursing from the speaker. “Damnit boss, watch where you’re goin…and that hole…” Arnold, it was Arnold, the one damned tank as strong as my wife…who also loved digging and making things to dig with. The reason I’d tripped on a dwarf bunny was because he was wearing a depleted uranium alloy suit, which is why he was as strong as my wife. His warning was also just in time for me to dodge the eight inch wide hole he’d dug. “Hey Ma, figured you’d end up breakin the place and came to help out..”

  “Thank you Arnold, you’ve always been such a helpful buck.” When any of the Order was properly polite to Lola, my wife couldn’t help but be just as polite back. That meant that as much chaos as the Order caused or routinely ran on, everyone was usually quite polite. After all, we’re our own people, gotta stick together in growing and taking better care of our pets.

  I bent my suit down and picked up Arnold, his alloy suit was bulky on him, but it was largely full frontal armor. The back was lighter plating and a small pack with spare bits in it. “I’d tell you to give more warning next time, but…”

  “Coms don’t work through rock worth a damn, and you know I can’t keep a com workin boss. Don’t worry though, crews gonna come by and put in a proper exit for that tunnel.” Arnold shifted in my suit’s hand and motioned for me to take him on for the broken bunker.

  “Yes, I know. Adam, can you make sure all the known exits for the bunker are blocked?” I said as I started walking my suit along, the heavy yet graceful tread of my wife’s suit stomping snow into patches of ice as we walked.

  “The Spots are working with Master and Blaster and have them secured.” Adam said casually as could be, even as I watched five other flashes in the night from charges going off. “They are secured and will be monitored.”

  The walk to the shattered bunker entrance was rather uneventful, though I set Arnold down and helped Lola dig out the surviving wounded when the medical staff arrived. The rest…I think the human word is Ew. It honestly looked like I’d punched these people repeatedly. At speed. Because they were mostly a mildly chunky red paste that was smeared on the shattered concrete, ventilated vehicles, the ground, a surviving wall, and there was a lot of pink snow. Actually it made me think of salsa, which I now wanted.

  I ended up spending a few moments moving wreckage away from the parking area so the medical team’s truck could pull up properly. I ignored the pained noises from the two humans that weren’t on the hard-kill list, they’d live. They’d just end up in a medical tank for a few days, or maybe a week since that was a truly shrill scream from the one. I have to admit that the screamer wasn’t as loud as Lola or Arnold’s digging. Lola’s suit was tossing chunks of reinforced concrete to the side, or small sections of it after Albert punched it free.

  Literally Albert, First Miner of the Order of Bun-Bun…mined with his fists. His armored suit protected him from the debris of his punches, because he is as strong as my wife. When he was doing careful work, it sounded quite a bit like a jackhammer, but faster. He had different gauntlets that he’d used for different things, and had to get them replaced often. So to the humans inside the bunker, it probably sounded like one of the construction crews was working.

  Once I saw that the two seriously wounded could be stabilized and were being tended to properly by the human vet...medics. The humans called their vets Medics, at least the military humans did. So now that the shrieker was sedated and being tended to, I went over and used my suit to toss rubble out of the entrance to the bunker. Our resident jackhammer was having a snack of jerky and a drink of water, no doubt given to him by my wife. “I’m not sure how much use your broom is going to be inside of here with how much damage it caused to the entrance.”

  Lola tossed a mass of rubble away and paused, her suit’s domed helmet spinning to look at me. “You’re right...I’ll have to use my mace down there. I haven’t had another gun tailored to this suit’s hands yet.” Her massive suit shrugged and shifted to latch the gatling cannon to its shoulder so that it hung down its back. “There, much better.”

  I nodded and went back to work, which took us another half an hour to clear enough debris to start getting shot at again. Arnold ended up having to hammer open a spot that I could slip my suit’s arm into, and with that I used the camera on one of my pistols to have a look. “Pellets, they’ve got one of the heavy mg’s at the end of the main hall. That’s gonna have the good armor piercing rounds.”

  “Boss, toss in a flash and a smoker.” Came from Arnold as he took off his helmet and revealed his black furred head to pull on a balaclava. He called them dust masks, but it was honestly a balaclava, which he put his helmet on over.

  “Arnold dear, your suit won’t protect you from that gun any better than ours will, and Marie told me that your armor isn’t really rated for even normal rifle rounds.” Lola said sternly, which made me blink and look at Arnold curiously.

  “Oh she worries too much, and so do you Ma. Why I said for him to toss a flashbang and then a smoke grenade. Give me cover to get up close and break them or that slug slinger, then you an him can come in behind me.” I could hear the grin in his voice and rolled my eyes.

  “Fine, I can’t get a bead on that gun.” I kept a few nonlethal grenades on my suit’s belt and pulled one of each from it. “You know the preferred capture targets?”

  “Ever seen Ma here punch a human in the ankle or knee? I don kill nothin less I got no choice boss. And that ain’t a flashbang boss…” Arnold said pointing to the grenade I was about to yank the pin on.

  I looked down. “Oh…silly me.” It was an HE grenade, which I popped the pin from. “It makes a flash and a bang.” I let the spoon fly and snap tossed it down into the hole.

  “Balls!” Came from Arnold as he jumped to my suit and slipped to hang from the back of the shoulder, which was a good idea since the grenade blew out a nice hole from the rubble. “Is this cause I’m courtin Marie!?”

  “Possibly, and doing stupid shit out here. You’re not allowed to die Arnold…” I ordered him in a growling chitter and tossed in a flashbang and smoke grenade. I’d checked this time to make sure.

  “By the tank of my birth Boss, I treat er right.” Then both of us looked over as there was quite a bit of shaking from Lola’s suit, and then. “Ma! I hear you squeakin 'giggles in there! Seriously, you two are gonna gimme a heart attack…I think I’ll go play tag with the crazy humans. Safer in there…” Arnold bitched as he hopped off my suit and slipped his way into the smoking hole.

  Lola and I tried to not make any noise near the entrance, instead she walked her heavy suit around as if pacing in annoyance. Right up until we heard the first loud clang and human scream. I heard the crack of bone breaking, even as Lola ripped the last bit of rubble out of the way.

  That let me slide my suit down into the bunker in time to see a female human point a rifle into Arnold’s face, except he simply slammed one of his mining spikes into the end of the barrel. Well it was the spike on his gauntlet and he punched the gun, but the spike went into the barrel, and caused the backfire that hurled the rifle’s bolt through the right side of her head.

  “Pull back.” I chittered as I drew my pistols, my suit’s systems had night vision, thermal, a sort of sonor, and sound tracking. So I could easily pick out the various humans, my suit’s systems marking them all as hard kills, and I gave them each a round to the head as I walked my suit up. A flick of a switch and my suit’s broadcast speakers turned on and translated what I chittered next. “This is First Sergeant Xavier, surrender now or your deaths will be very painful.”

  Lola worked her way down into the spacious hall as I was using a guncam to look around a corner toward an intersection of hallways. “You know they won’t surrender.”

  As she said that, a lanky gold furred human dragged a brown furred woman into the intersection with him, using her rather well for cover as he held a gun to her head. She was bound and gagged tightly, sensors showed a fast pulse. “We have hostaAAAAAAH!” He ended up screaming thanks to a shot from my pistol that took off his trigger finger, the next three rounds went through his wrist, hip, and knee.

  Lola moved into the hall as the screaming man dragged the woman to the floor, her suit’s massive hand dragging the woman up and back. As soon as the female was safe, Lola moved on and I moved to follow her. I’d not noticed one of the teams coming in behind us until a mark four took up station inside the entrance. “Good kids.” Came from Lola as her suit’s foot crushed the gold furred human’s chest.

  You’d think that it wouldn’t take a long time to dig a bunch of misbehaving humans out of a hole and put them down, but it did. They didn’t learn from the first human I put down and another soon enough tried to use a hostage. I think the hostage will need therapy for years after having the man’s guts splash over him as Lola’s suit ripped the male apart. A note, you never, ever, even if your life depends on it…ever threaten a child around my wife. With or without a suit, she will break you.

  As one of the teams got the boy out, Lola moved for cover as weapons fire rattled down the hall and peppered her suit. She drew her mace and motioned to me, so I called back. “Scout!” I kept myself calm, so I saw the streak of light and didn’t jump when a dwarf appeared standing on my pistol. “Report?”

  She bowed, her body and fur glowing softly. “Hostages on the right, I disarmed the charges in that room. It has one guard, there are six down in the next two rooms, and one human tank with armor in the room across from the hostages.” Her ear flicked that direction and she was suddenly gone.

  “Lola and Arnold take care of the tank. I’ll move down the hall and provide covering fire. Recovery team is to get the hostages out.” I chittered over the com and pulled a flashbang around, blinking as it turned out to be another dwarf, who was holding a glowing shard of Caltunium. Another of the recovery team reached around my suit and fired three smoke grenades down the hall. “Three…two…” I hurled the dwarf down the hall at the same time Lola walked her suit through a wall.

  It quickly sounded like two O’Pangs were having a spat in the left room, my guns raising as I came around the corner in time to see the glow vanish from the shard and the dwarf suddenly erupt in arcs of current as he kicked off a wall into the right room to subdue that guard. I’d warned these bad pets at first that they’d die painfully, so I put bullets into shoulders, knees, wrists. There was one of the possible captures, and they got three darts after I’d shot their weapon to ruin it.

  Arnold flew through the air and cracked the concrete of a wall that he hit, making me look into what had been a stocked storage room. It was now a complete disaster zone with broken shelving. Lola’s suit was locked in a grappling match with the human tank, which is most likely why the helmet snapped up. My wife flipped in the air as her suit fired her at the ceiling, surprising the human. I gawked as the man looked up and his wide right eye was suddenly filled with four inches of hardened alloy, one of Lola’s cooking knives. The man crumpled as she kicked it into his brain, letting her land atop her armor and drop back into it.

  “Ow, that fuggin hurt.” Arnold grumbled as he climbed my suit, giving a wave to the still arcing dwarf. “Hey Sparky, damn you cooked em good.” I turned my suit’s head to scan the very dead human, his hair smoldering still. The flesh looked baked, meaning this person hadn’t had more than the barest amount of mineral. That is most likely why they looked almost malnourished, probably boiled most of the nutrients from their food to get the mineral out as much as possible.

  “Scouts forward!” I chittered and moved to drag the capture target back for the recovery team, and just in time as Lola walked through a wall and crushed the chest of another dying human under her suit’s foot. The front of her suit had dozens of scratches, little dents, and furrows from all of the weapons fire. I knew she was annoyed by it, mainly because she kicked the dead and dying from her path.

  *************

  It took another hour and a half to clear the rest of the bunker of hostiles, defuse four bombs, and kill almost every living being inside. My wife’s suit was heavily scarred by the end and dripping blood, while my own suit was scarred and missing one of the dart launchers, the other was barely there. Arnold’s armor was scorched and he along with one scout and two of the recovery team were getting treated outside, an idiot had a flamethrower down here. The idiot and his flamethrower were both still slowly burning in a closed side room. Flame throwers don’t like when you shoot their fuel tanks with incendiary rounds.

  Agent Thomas Washington had greying black fur that was trimmed short on his head, dark tanned skin, and bright yellow eyes that glowed softly in the light. The..native american breed human was tall and lithe, while the smoking barrel of his shotgun was hanging toward the floor. His “inner circle” lay dead in the room aside from one, who’d wake up after some medical treatment. Behind him, his wife and daughter were in a safe room with some of the kids, who were being cute…and distracting. “A pleasure to finally meet you, First Sergeant.” He nodded to me and leaned his shotgun against a wall, then bowed softly to my wife’s suit. “Mam, a pleasure to meet you as well.”

  “I see that the Order has mentioned that I prefer proper manners, Skinwalker.” Lola chittered as she climbed out the open helmet of her suit, which earned a toothy grin from the man. “It will be a short bit before we can get you and your family out of here.”

  “I guess that not only did the AI break into my files fully, but we’re not going to be staying here for a while?” He asked and I nodded my suit’s head. “I hope you didn’t suffer many losses in this fiasco.” He waved a hand at the bunker.

  “No deaths, some of our people will be requiring time in one of the medical tanks though.” Lola looked around and nodded. “And you did very good work in gathering all of the problems in one place. This would have been much more of an issue if we’d had to hit a bunch of different places.” She nodded when she saw a picture hanging on the wall of a house with a mailbox at the fore of the art. “That is the dead drop?”

  His eyes lit as a grin spread across his face. “Yes, indeed it is. Even with your people digging and mining, the idiots never thought to check my walls.” He moved the picture from the wall in a certain way, revealing a one inch hole in the concrete. “Where are you taking my family and I to?” He asked casually.

  “You’re being taken to the Lo’Kar and Ca’Zeze settlements, though you’ll be staying in the Lo’Kar areas.” I said as I puffed on a cigarette, the smoke venting out of my suit’s helmet. I got to watch worry settle on his face. “Yes, you’re going to be staying with Stormwind and Grek. Moreso your family is being resettled at the new lab complex they’ve built, and yes…he will be coming there soon with his wife.” I meant my person.

  He deflated and sighed. “I’m never in the rest of my life ever going to accept a job because my wife wants me to.” He looked at me, well my suit. “He’s her great uncle…as soon as she heard that he was alive, I had to take that job. And now the man is going to be back in my life…”

  “You’re in your forties…Major O’Connell is only in his middle sixties. The math doesn’t add up.” I chittered softly.

  Agent Washington let out a bark of a laugh. “The man is in his nineties…the man listed as his father in his files is actually him! Roderick O’Connell fought in the Coup that happened when they tried to order the military to go against civilians. I think it was something stupid like over civilians owning guns…” He waved a hand. “Honestly I think that’s the only reason we didn’t lose more than a few states at the start of the war.”

  “Wait, you’re saying that he’s nearly thirty years older?” Lola asked.

  “Yes, he almost died in the battle for DC. Heard he blew up half a block when he took out a tank, but they used him to test early cryo. He was really messed up, and by the time I was in the agency, someone was using him and some others to test genetic alteration therapy on. He’s a marine, so were most of the others. But he’s broken, they fucked up the first treament and he’s got absolutely no fucking flight response!”

  “WHAT!?” Came over a nearby com and then it clicked off.

  “Well, guess the Captain is going to be using that dart gun he keeps around in his quarters.” Came from the Lo’Kar holding the com unit, and a portal staff. “Shall we?” He asked and moved up to look up at the Agent. Then the Lo’Kar male grinned up at the towering lithe agent in a feral way. “Great nephew…”

  “Fuck me…”