CHAPTER X27: DEADZONE HEAD HUNT

  Shifting eyes moved towards Archius; the Blood Contractors stopped what they were doing. Hopefully, their face scramblers weren't obvious! If it was, Archus expected nothing but a straight-up blood bath, here and now.

  "Hey," Archius started, having to fake a broader accent whilst hiding his plain, slightly jovial voice.

  The lead Blood Contractor with pale Belsari blonde hair walked forward, nodding to Archius. "Let me guess, early shift change, right?" he asked. "Nothing’s on the cameras… Something up?”

  The voice was instantly inquisitive, as if expecting something to go wrong. Despite that, it didn’t sound rude.

  Archius nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Can't wait to hit the hay again." Small talk to sell the deal.

  The Contractor shrugged. "Yeah, yeah, then what about the rest? Y'all really clocking off all at once? She-Wolf won't like that, but… we look after our own. If you’re tired, then just hit it."

  Oh, so they’re less controlling than Archius anticipated?

  ”Let’s keep this between us, right?” Archius requested. "I mean, you're the guys letting us hit the hay after all."

  The contractor chuckled. "What's up with the armour?"

  "Looted it off some of those AGENTs," Archius replied. “Maybe it’ll be worth my retirement!”

  The dichotomies of Archius’ team were showing; both Edain and Quinn were ready to open fire. Persephone and Hosea, meanwhile, remained calm. The unease was slowly being noticed by a few of the Blood Contractors... Fuck. Archius nodded to the blast door in the centre of the checkpoint.

  Looking up, Archius noted internal walkways embedded into the walls, firing positions looking down at them.

  "Let’s be on our way then.”

  The Black Ops operatives were probably more used to lying and sneaking around than Kazuki's regulars. That was made apparent when Edain scratched his neck. The scrambler had a hard time configuring to the movements, and the projection lagged ever so slightly.

  The Contractor moved towards the door's scanner as another stepped forward. "Wait a minute!" he sneered, walking around towards Edain.

  Shit... Edain's eyes were clearly placed on Archius. Now, everyone was readying themselves for the slaughter ahead. Archius sighed as the Contractor stood right in front of Edain.

  Archius turned to the Contractor, patting them on the shoulder. "Hey," Archius said, stepping in between them, then he lowered his voice. "Things are tough for us, alright? I don't want him to have excuses to huff crytera, we’ve been trying, but he might relapse…”

  The Contractor furrowed his brow, then sighed. Substance abuse is quite common for these types of people. The Contractor bit.

  "It's nothing! Just let them through!"

  With that out of the way, the Belsari Contractor shrugged and tapped a keycard against a scanner. The doors reeled open, and Archius led the way forth.

  Now through, Archius muttered, "We'll split up. Old Man, Apothio, you two find as many weakpoints and place charges on them. Wait for our signal. Hades, Epsilon, we’ll seek out the data farm.”

  Hosea nodded. Like that, the two of them left their team.

  Persephone was grunting as she looked at Quinn. Archius sneaked peaks at his ICAPAD, with the route highlighted. They took the back halls, slinking through maintenance shafts and on the semi-treacherous hovering rafters. Delving deeper and deeper into the facility, the team had to eliminate a few guards here and there – but they got to the server room.

  "Hide the bodies," Archius said, dragging a keycard from a dead Contractor and slapping it against the scanner. Both Quinn and Persephone were throwing the Contractor bodies off the sides of the walkways, into the abyss below.

  The door phased right open. "Bingo," Archius said, as if he had done anything of actual effort to get here.

  Breaching in, they phased the door closed behind them. The three split up, searching the server room. Nothing too big, but not too shabby. Columns of servers stacked up towards the ceiling, connected to dozens of computers and modules throughout the server room.

  For a lack of modern tech, the room wasn’t too shabby.

  "Over here!" Persephone shouted across the room, attracting both Quinn and Archius to a master console. It was connected to a large monitor screen along one of the walls. ”Looking good, right?”

  "Tch... I've worked with worse," Quinn jeered. Persephone scoffed before walking off, leaning against one of the server towers whilst smoking a cigarette. "Hey, you got a spare?"

  Persephone snorted at Quinn, "Get your own damn cigarettes."

  Archius peered over, noting them to the Aspiran Hazes. Poor quality cigarettes, but Archius didn’t really care that much.

  Nothing had gone wrong… yet.

  Something always goes fucking wrong with these missions! Always do! Archius knew it to be some sort of intuition, but nothing ever so fucking well anymore, and all because of one small factor that blows up! Archius stuck Krystalink into the system, harvesting information through the injector stick.

  Then, a voice called out behind them all. "The fuck are you guys doing?!" It was the Belsari Contractor.

  Archius turned around. Quinn stood beside him and remained still, but Persephone was out of view. She pulled her pistol out, hiding behind one of the server stacks.

  "Updating the information we have," Archius said. "Yeah, I know. Didn't expect me to be tech-savvy, eh?" Archius shrugged.

  "No... Where's the other three?"

  "Sleeping? Eating?" Archius shrugged. He had to play it cool. Quinn, however, kept his face directly planted on the Blood Contractor. FOR FUCK'S SAKE! Archius nudged Quinn in the leg slightly.

  "Uhh!?" Quinn shot a look at Archius.

  The Contractor sighed. "You're not supposed to do stuff like that," he snarled. Then, a few more Contractors emerged from behind the server towers behind him. “Should have known something was going up.”

  "Shit..." Quinn murmured. "What do we do?" His eyes constantly shifted between Archius and the group of four contractors placed against them.

  "Come on, don't make this hard for us, alright?” The Blood Contractor took steps forward, oblivious as Persephone slit the throats of those behind him, picking them off one by one…

  Then, bad place; bad time. The Belsari Contractor turned around, noticing their missing member. "Wait a..." Quinn flung into action, kicking the Contractor to the floor.

  As the Contactor grabbed their pistol, they aimed at Quinn – only for Persephone to stomp on his hand, crunching the bones against the cold concrete floor.

  Quinn turned to Persephone. “Thanks for that.”

  Persephone grunted in tacit acknowledgement, stepping over the dead bodies to face the Blood Contractor. "So, we kill him?"

  The Contractor whelped and looked to Archius. "I should have fucking killed you then and there..." he sneered. "Fucking traitors!"

  Archius placed a finger to his neck, disabling the scrambler for a moment. "Well, we were never your friends to begin with.”

  Stress and sweat poured down their face. "Wait... No! I can... I can tell you stuff!"

  "Really?" Archius asked. "And what can you offer, hmm?"

  "I..." The Belsari Contractor paused, then blinked several times and gritted his teeth to speak, “They should have bombed the whole planet twice over..."

  At that taunt, Archius chuckled. It soured his mind, but Archius simply smiled. Then, he slowly placed his boot on the man’s neck. Then, crunch… The windpipe broke, and the man asphyxiated to death.

  Quinn grunted, putting a bolt in their head as the Contractor began to tear up in agony.

  "Hmm. Quick and painless," Persephone sarcastically commented with an understanding stare. "Did we get anything good?”

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  "Uh... Not exactly... quick enough..." Quinn raised a pager from the Contractor’s clenched hand, the one Persephone hadn’t crushed. Instantly, the alarms started blaring. "SHIT!"

  "Fuck!" Persephone took her machine gun off her back, taking point towards the door. "What do we do!?"

  Archius turned back to the console, connecting a datapad to the info-port and getting as much information as possible. Shit… Not enough time! Archius snatched the datapad and injector stick, transferring as much as possible before a lockdown shut off all the servers. The lights went dark, replaced with a dim, glowing orange.

  ‘Old Man! Time to detonate whatever bombs you’ve planted!’

  'Hah! Sure thing,' Hosea replied, before a crackle of energy shook the facility. Quinn and Persephone both latched onto the server racks whilst Archius was nearly thrown to his feet...

  'Nods on,' Archius said, switching his gear online. Surface teams, status report. You see anything?’

  Osmond came through, 'We have signals incoming... This database is complete, right?!'

  'YEAH! OF COURSE IT IS!' Archius shouted back. ’If they’re not on it, consider them hostile!’

  One of the seekers responded, 'Our ICAPADs intercepted some intelligence, seems to be Blood Contractors' blood thirsters! Vengeful fucks!'

  'Finally, someone's making sense, thank you!'

  'Blood thirsters?!' Osmond inquired.

  'Blood Contractor elite. You thought the Blood Contractors were bad... well... These guys are worse, drugged up like the Kanrasans!' Persephone replied. 'Let’s not stay around without sufficient firepower.’

  Another hurdle, great...

  The fireteam stormed forward, out of the server room and through the walkways and tight hallways.

  A group of Bloodies passed by, initially holding fire in the tight space.

  "THEY'RE DOWN THERE!" Archius shouted back where he came from, whilst pretending to hold onto a wound. "WE NEED MEDICAL ASSISTANCE, WE’LL CUT THEM OFF. OORAH?!”

  “Oorah!” One Contractor bellowed back, rushing by with the rest.

  With an ongoing distraction, the two peered over at Archius. 'You got black ops training?' Persephone asked.

  ”Better,” Archius replied.

  Connection had been lost, and Archius barely got anything good out of this… Shit, Archius sighed, knowing that the lockdown had shortened the transfer. Another shockwave rippled through the black site, pipes burst, and walls cracked.

  'Hey... Old Man, what did you blow up exactly?' Persephone asked.

  'Huh? Anything that looked important.’

  'Did any of them have a hazard sign... anything to do with explosives or gas?' Archius asked.

  What came next did not please Archius. 'Well, yeah! Send this place sky high. Might as well!'

  'Whilst we're still here...?' Archius asked.

  'You told me to blow up the charges! I did!' Hosea replied.

  Dammit… A singular thought passed by Archius; head as sparks of flames and gas roared from the pipes. They were bursting at the welded seams!

  The dingy warehouse complex was turning into a fucking oven! Archius ducked beneath the spouting flames, crouching whilst leading the other two.

  'This goes into my hazard pay, I'll let you know!' Edain complained.

  'Thank fuck I'm not with you guys...' Amyé jeered happily.

  Rushing through the collapsing facility, Archius and co finally made contact with a hostile squad, unleashing a torrent of bolts down at them.

  'Are you guys fighting the Blood thirsters right now?!' asked Osmond, with increasing levels of nervousness in his voice. 'I'm calling in evac for you guys! Heavy cavalry?’

  'HEAVY CAV!' Archius shouted. ’ENFORCERs and CRIS, tell them it’s time to claim their participation awards… except they’ll have to work for it!’

  'You think these guys are bloodthirsters?!' Hosea bellowed with a laugh.

  Those Blood Contractors that attacked the Judiciary were insane... Suicidal even. Drugged and stimmed up, too.

  'On it!' At least Osmond wasn't as tumultuously emotional as Eliza, which was her best trait. But in moments like these, it worked wonders, as Osmond got to work instantly.

  Rushing into a lobby, the trio came across Hosea and Edain, holding out behind counters and arming racks. Droves of Bloodies, arrogant enough to charge, were torn to shreds as Hosea’s wrist cannons opened fire.

  Archius weaved backwards, feeling the pain of blood splattering against his face.

  Archius sighed, all this bloodshed and effort and for what?! They're all dead anyway. Archius rolled his eyes as he walked up to Hosea. ’Exfiltrate, we need to get out of here.’

  'Right on it.' He approached an elevator, pressing down on the button... Edain grumbled, tapping his feet as he looked around and up, then… they noticed: it had been locked down. 'Hmm... Big problem we’re having right now.’

  Then, they pried the doors open, only to watch as the elevator crashed downwards from above.

  'Shit, they're coming down!' Quinn shouted, as they all aimed for the elevator. 'Oi Seekers, you lot coming to exfiltrate us?’

  'NO?!'

  Right, more obstacles. This can’t go worse… right? To his horror: yes. The elevator's speed was increasing. Then, in a blur, it flashed right by them, with screams following suit.

  The team gave each other glances before Archius peered down the elevator shaft. Flames roared upwards with a crash.

  "Lucky that wasn't us!" Archius smiled, hiding his immense frustration whilst clasping his hands together.

  Hosea clicked his fingers, passing out rappel devices to everyone. A lever-pulled rail ascender… Really?

  "You don't mean it,” Archius snorted.

  "Well... We're winging it, aren't we?" Hosea nodded at the device.

  Fair, fair enough. Each member of the team stuck their ascenders to the wires. Upon activating, a reeling sound leashed them upwards. Hosea and Quinn were first, then Persephone, then Edain.

  "This is going to ache my head!” Edain's voice got fainter as he ascended.

  Archius was last.

  "Won't be missing this place," he remarked, before attaching his own and pulling down on the trigger. Instantly, he felt his body tug and thrust upwards. Smog and musty smoke shrouded Archius as he was thrown up the shaft into a small chamber.

  “Great, so we took the emergency exit INWARDS!” Archius sighed at realising they were at the main entrance.

  Stairs led upwards.

  "At least we didn't have to climb all those stairs," Quinn said.

  "Shut up," Persephone shot back, the first one to start climbing the steps. The team followed suit until they reached a hatch. Hosea punched it open. "Where the fuck are we?!"

  Exiting from the hatch, Archius quickly noted that they were still in the complex. The windows were dark and dingy, with the team bursting out of the building...

  The warehouse complex was in flames and crackled with heat.

  'The Bloodthirsters! They're here!' Osmond shouted. Half a dozen shuttles roared by in the distance, sirens hailing death. Gunfire roared amongst the sirens, under the suppression of the bigger guns.

  Exiting out onto the warehouse’s stone-cold container field, they rushed towards the trucks and vehicles. Any cover was better than no cover, Archius thought. Some Seeker teams were also taking cover behind them. Hosea ran off towards them, coordinating.

  The Blood thirsters began their assault, ramming through the gates and unloading heaps of suicidal, poor fucking infantry.

  Archius opened fire with the rest. Amyé took out the few carrying heavy equipment, but that didn't stop their advance. As they returned fire, a few Seekers fell. Literally. One Seeker came crashing down from a watchtower above, splattering onto the truck right next to Archius.

  ”Where is our cavalry!?”

  The Blood thirsters made contact with a squad closer to the front of the battleline, and immediately the squad was torn to bits, as the thirsters slammed into them with shield and axes, crude but effective. Persephone ran up from cover, out into the open as she rushed into melee combat - her body shield taking the heat away from the rest of the operatives.

  'Hades!?' Hosea shouted. 'GET BACK HERE! Leave them, you’ll be cut to pieces!’

  Persephone, however, chose to ignore him... Fuck. Archius sighed. Well, another good operative gone. But then, a spark flashed in his mind. “Epsilon! Secure Hades and secure a way back!”

  Shoving Quinn forward, Archius had forced his hand. Stumbling forward, bolts pinged off Quinn’s armour. The ballistic impact snapped him awake. With his objective clear, Quinn ran forward.

  By the time Persephone got to the squad, only one was left, and she fended off the wolves – shielding the last member of her team.

  Smoothing the relations between the Ex-Seekers and Kazuki's old guard was Archius' original objective. Sure, it might not have been the smoothest of missions... but they got there in the end.

  Quinn's armour was smashed to pieces by a Blood thirster, narrowly missing a killing blow as Persephone shot them dead. Nanobots formed up along Quinn's shield, giving him the slightest bit of protection as he covered Persephone.

  Slowly, they covered themselves and the remaining, injured operative, backwards.

  'Cover them!' Edain shouted, rushing up and helping the two operatives behind the trucks. The litany of fire turned outwards became ever hotter, taking out chunks of concrete and hovering archways.

  Archius took his sweet time to aim his revolver, giving long-range shots towards the approaching maniacs.

  Amyé took out the heavy gunners, whilst Archius was shooting for the sake of it. The adrenaline… It was running wild in Archius.

  Edain started to treat the three operatives who returned. "Fucking insane..." he commented, stitching up a few bolt wounds that penetrated Quinn’s blast-retardant pants.

  The Blood Contractors were getting closer, with high casualties. Archius could see the whites of their eyes, the steam and movements of their exoskeletons, pushing them forward with screams of agony.

  Then, lights roared up from above.

  One Blood Contractor peered up before rockets cracked up the ground all around them. The additional roar of shuttles signalled only one thing: their cavalry had finally arrived! Both CRIS and ENFORCER shuttles hovered by, throwing down smoke.

  AGENCY Firepower. CRIS Precision. ENFORCER tenacity. All three assets of the heavy cavalry thrusted down, deploying and destroying their foes.

  Archius stepped out of cover, waving his hands out and basking in the sheer firepower. Archius made it seem like they pushed through hell all together.

  "We fucking did it!" he shouted. “Let’s get Arbiter to give us all free booze!”

  Quinn staggered out from cover, helped by Edain and Persephone.

  As Persephone walked by Archius, she remarked, "Your guys. Not bad." She seemed relatively pleased. Still, her sneering, objecting face did not show her pleasure.

  ”The noose is getting tighter,” Archius commented. Still, looking through the information they harvested, it wasn’t great… “Slowly, but surely.”

  Hosea's eyes were peering behind Archius' facade. ”Good job.”

  “It was a good job for us all,” Archius replied, always the social engineer, as he shifted the glory elsewhere. And him? He was just the linchpin, the catalyst to start the reaction.

  And reacting to the flames would be….

  "Yeah... but you particularly," he added on, before walking off to meet the incoming reinforcements.

  Now, it was only a matter of time until the lever was ready to drop.