Desperate Measures Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-One

The massive door lifted with surprising speed. Sparks flew from the sides as light from the cavern flooded the darkened pen, revealing the outline of a pair of four-legged, two-armed behemoths easily three times the size of an exo.

Erik took a deep breath.

After all this time fighting the conspiracy, a giant

yaoguai

seemed the logical end of a raid against a major facility. He was happy it appeared to be a monster and didn’t have missile launchers or laser cannons grafted to its shoulders. Given their luck, he’d expected to see a half-Hunter conspiracy assassin show up and try to kill him the next time he had a beignet.

That left the monsters in front of them—conventional by conspiracy standards, disgusting aberrations by all rules of civilization. Dark green plates covered their bodies. Claws the size of swords protruded from their paws. Massive protrusions extended from both arms, reminding Erik far too much of the ballistic shields of an exo.

He didn’t need to be a genetic engineer to understand that form followed function. These were living tanks designed and bred to face off against people like him.

“Kind of annoying,” Erik murmured. He raised his voice. “Let’s waste more conspiracy money. I don’t care how big they are. They’ve got to have a weakness.”

“Maybe they’re lactose-intolerant,” Jia joked.

The behemoths stomped forward, their heavy steps shaking the ground. The monsters set their arms together so the protrusions formed a barrier that blocked the bulk of their bodies and galloped forward surprisingly fast. Vincke’s mocking laughter filled the air.

Erik cared more about finding that guy and putting him in his place than taking down the giant

yaoguai

. They were another obstacle—a big one, but nothing more than that.

“Eat this, you giant bastard.” Alpha Six launched a rocket.

The behemoth charged through the explosion without slowing. It cleared the smoke and flame, revealing that its arm shields had survived, although they were thinner. Small pieces of the top layer remained, but most were scattered on the ground in charred chunks near the site of impact.

“A monster with ablative armor. What will they think of next?” Erik muttered. “Get ready to throw everything we’ve got at them. For all we know, these things can regenerate.”

An annoying familiar cacophonous buzzing sounded right before scorpion bees poured into the open chamber. Erik downed some with bursts but was more worried about the behemoths. He’d suspected earlier the enemy might be trying to run down their ammo, and this was likely the reason. Nothing alive was invulnerable, but something that large would be able to take a lot of punishment before going down.

Jia kicked her exo into a sprint, avoiding a charging behemoth. She fired bursts into the armored hide, accomplishing little but crushed bullets and casings clattering to the ground. The monster was slower than an exo at top speed, but the cramped conditions made it difficult to achieve that velocity. Superior burst speed gave the behemoths a slight advantage.

Vincke had understood exactly what he’d been doing.

Erik would consider congratulating him after punching him in the face, but the scientist hadn’t risked unleashing the behemoths before, which meant he was worried the full team would be able to defeat them. The rocket had weakened their arm shields, so the theory was simple.

Throw enough explosives at anything alive, and it’d die. He called it Blackwell’s Law.

The scorpion bee swarm now filled the air, swirling and diving toward the interlopers but ignoring the behemoths. Erik didn’t have time to think too closely about how Vincke had accomplished that as he shot the monsters out the air or crushed closer attacks with a bash from his expanded shield.

Exoskeletons were useful weapon systems that made it easy for a soldier to expand his capabilities. But like all human weapons, they’d been designed for a specific purpose and enemy: other human weapon systems.

No one had anticipated exos having to fight swarms of scorpion bees or dire wolves. The battles against

yaoguai

in recent years made Erik wonder what would happen when humans had to fight anything more than a minor skirmish against intelligent aliens. Their weapons would have to adapt.

Erik growled and shook off some scorpion bees. They had crawled up the arm of his exo. Some snapped their claws against the exo’s armor. Others tried to move in farther and get the operator underneath. With a back thrust, he pulled free of the pests and unleashed two bursts to end their unholy lives.

Alpha Three launched plasma grenades into the swarm, the explosions vaporizing groups of the

yaoguai

. The soldier continued to fire steadily at the new enemy air force but was smart enough to keep moving. He dodged between tanks to avoid the swarm, clearing some of the larger ones with a pulse of his jump thrusters.

The large number of flying, buzzing monsters forced the attention of all the exoskeletons present, but the original enemies didn’t stop. A behemoth rushed toward Alpha Six, who offered it another rocket. It peeled another layer off the arm shields, but the

yaoguai

closed the distance before the third rocket could be fired.

Alpha Six grunted as the explosion from his rocket knocked his exoskeleton back, but his shield saved him from the brunt of the damage. Nearby, Alpha Three turned away from the scorpion bees near him and opened up with his rifle on full auto into the back of the behemoth. He didn’t do much other than chipping the armor, but he did force the monster’s attention away from the other downed soldier, who managed to right his exo and jump to the side. He followed up with another rocket attack, but it hit a scorpion bee in front of the behemoth, killing others nearby but barely touching the monster.

More flying

yaoguai

filled the hole. Many stayed near the behemoth, circling it and ignoring the humans.

“It’s like living chaff!” Jia exclaimed.

“I liked it better when we shot something and it died,” Erik grumbled.

He jumped over a gestation tank and arced a plasma grenade behind the other behemoth. It roared as the explosion shoved it forward. After a couple of meters, it changed direction. The attack hadn’t penetrated its back armor, despite burning through several layers. He didn’t have time to follow up as scorpion bees swarmed him. More trickled in from the open chamber.

“It’s surprisingly easy to get them to work together with the right scents,” Vincke explained, his tone condescending. “That was one of my realizations for how to go about controlling all my creations. Work with instincts, not against them. It seems obvious, but it’s not.”

Erik tried to ignore the scientist and drown him out with the help of his rifle. Scorpion bees fell one after another, but Vincke continued his rant.

“Of course, my masters wanted something that offered finer control, but there are tradeoffs to everything. Nature loves balance, and pushing her toward extremes makes things less sustainable. But this is just a small taste of a small force.” Vincke sighed. “Admittedly, there are residual design flaws. It’s difficult to keep them alive for long, and there is a lot of genetic instability I need to constantly watch for, but I can work those problems out. All my research will be even more important now that I’ll have actual field data against a military Special Forces unit, along with Blackwell and Lin. You should understand that’s why I didn’t kill you right away. I needed data, so don’t think you’ve accomplished any great victories because you won’t be leaving this place alive. Take some small comfort in knowing your deaths will advance my research.”

“You haven’t won yet,” Erik shouted.

His next attempt to launch a plasma grenade toward a behemoth was thwarted by scorpion bees. He didn’t consider it a total waste since each grenade was blowing flying

yaoguai

out of the air. The trickle from before had finally stopped. No reinforcements meant an end to the madness. Another smash from his shield knocked a scorpion bee out of the air.

Erik ran backward, trying to escape the thicket of monsters. He glanced at the two behemoths, looking for any small advantage his team could use against them. He grinned as he noticed something important.

That was the problem with specialists. They figured because they knew a lot about their own field, they understood everyone else’s. Vincke thought he was clever because of what he created. The scientist thought he understood tactical and battle necessities, but he didn’t seem to understand that defenses that took away a weapon system’s advantages were useless.

The behemoths had appeared first, but they now appeared unwilling to charge through the scorpion bees, reducing their mobility. Their buzzing cloud of protection might save them from major explosives, but it also reduced their contribution to the fight to nothing but a vague menace. Calm, disciplined tactical assessment reduced their danger.

“Clear the flyers first,” Erik shouted before crisping another group of scorpion bees with plasma grenades. “But save some grenades for their friends.”

He hoped Vincke was sitting in an office somewhere, his hands clutched tightly, realizing how badly his attempt to take them down was about to go.

Jia bounded from tank to tank, alternating between rifle bursts and grenades. She attacked different parts of the swarm, creating holes the other monsters quickly filled. Erik shot a couple of scorpion bees off the shoulder of her exo before blowing up a group near a behemoth.

Alpha Three and Six moved faster and more confidently. They didn’t stop and allow the

yaoguai

to swarm them. Their rockets and plasma grenades plowed their road and further reduced the enemy’s strength. A combined assault annihilated an entire wall of scorpion bees in front of a behemoth.

The monster was too close to Alpha Six. Sensing its opportunity now that its living shields were gone, the behemoth surged forward. Alpha Six’s next rocket missed it by centimeters, exploding behind it before the behemoth smashed into his exoskeleton. The monster battered the rocket launcher, wrenching it to the side before bashing the exo’s rifle and bending the barrel.

“Get off me, you damned freak!” Alpha Six shouted.

“I’ll keep the flyers off you,” Jia shouted to Erik. “Help him.”

She followed up with four shots in rapid succession that dropped the scorpion bees closet to Erik. He ran toward the downed Alpha Six. All he needed was one opportunity.

A grenade from Alpha Three blew up a couple meters behind the behemoth, searing its already weakened back armor. The monster ignored the attack and continued pummeling and clawing Alpha Six’s exo, gouging the armored frame. Alpha Six tried to hit it with his expanded shield, but the behemoth pinned the exo’s arms with its two front legs and roared, revealing a mouth circled with jagged, razor-sharp teeth.

The bastard should have kept his mouth shut. Erik had been waiting for that moment. It was like he said; everything had a weakness, and this was a lot worse than lactose intolerance.

Erik fired a burst into the behemoth’s throat. Blue blood sprayed all over Alpha Six’s exo, but the creature stepped back, raising its arm shields and swaying.

The other behemoth rushed at Jia. She waited until the last possible moment before jumping straight up, her thrusters singeing the top of its head. She raked it with a burst before landing and jumping again.

Free use of rockets and grenades had thinned the scorpion bees. Erik doubted Vincke had any more in reserve. He sent another grenade toward the behemoth near Alpha Six. The explosion blew through what was left of its arm shields and blew away a good portion of its surface armor.

Erik was liking this, but the battle wasn’t over.

The creature’s movements were clumsier and slower, but it was far from dead. Most of the team’s grenades and rockets were gone, and ammo levels were reaching critical.

Scorpion bee bodies rained from above, victims of Jia and Alpha Three. The enemy air force was defeated, and that left only the

yaoguai

assault infantry.

“Concentrate on the wounded one,” Erik ordered. “After me, go in callsign order.”

The four exos all took full advantage of the mobility provided by their jump thrusters to leap from tank to tank, never staying in one spot. While the behemoths’ charge speed and size were impressive, they couldn’t jump, and without the scorpion bees, there was nothing to keep the exos out of the air. One of the oldest principles of warfare was to take the high ground.

Erik launched all but his last two grenades at the wounded behemoth. Jia waited until right before the smoke and explosions cleared to add her contribution. Alpha Three shouted in defiance as his launcher flung grenades at the monster, and Alpha Six finished off with two rockets after turning his exo to account for his out-of-position launcher.

The massive explosions enveloped nearby tanks, burning them and blasting out chunks. Thick, dark smoke covered that part of the cavern, along with scattered fires.

The huge outline of the behemoth appeared in the smoke and moved forward, revealing a blackened crater in the chest extending almost to the back. It toppled forward and crashed, shaking the floor.

“You’re right, Jia.” Erik smiled. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

“Told you!”

Erik ran forward to avoid the surviving behemoth. The

yaoguai

crashed into a nearby gestation tank, the collision cracking the cylinder in half before the monster kicked the pieces out of the way and raised its arm shields, roaring from behind them.

“Same strategy.” Erik jumped backward, sacrificing his last two grenades to bring down the arm shields.

Jia, Alpha Three, and Alpha Six repeated their performance, but this time when the smoke cleared, the arm shields had been blown clean away, but most of the

yaoguai

’s surface armor remained.

Erik growled in frustration. He was out of grenades. “Explosives check.”

“I’m dry,” called Alpha Three.

“Two rockets,” yelled Alpha Six.

“One grenade,” Jia called.

He would have liked more to work with, but battles often came down to judicious use of remaining resources. The most important resource was the dead behemoth. It was proof they could win.

“Alpha Two, Alpha Six, open a hole!” Erik bellowed. “Give it everything you’ve got!”

Jia sprinted toward the monster, her exo’s feet clanging on the metal floor. She shot the grenade before leaping to the side and letting Alpha Six nail the wounded behemoth with his final two rockets.

Erik didn’t wait for the smoke to clear or bother with controlled bursts. He sent a constant stream of bullets at the behemoth. Jia turned to face the monster and joined in. Alpha Three added his fire, but there wasn’t much Alpha Six could do with his damaged barrel.

The behemoth stumbled forward. Bullets riddled its now-exposed body, shredded it and painting it blue. They kept up the attack. If they couldn’t finish it with the exos, they were going to have to get out and hope their backup rifles could do it. As long as they had a single bullet, they could win.

The large constant fire filled the cavern with an echoing cacophony of death. All the other enemies they’d encountered that day would have long since fallen.

Erik’s ammo indicator hit one percent before the monster collapsed and crushed a tank. He grinned. That was the Lady, always keeping it exciting.

“Everyone all right?” Erik asked after taking a deep breath.

“I’m good,” Jia called back. She sidled her exo close to Erik’s and lowered her voice. “I’m out of grenades, but I’ve still got ten percent for my rifle.”

Ten percent? That was impressive combat efficiency, considering everything they had gone through. He’d been worrying too much.

“I’m fine,” Alpha Three called.

“I’ve got some broken ribs, I think,” Alpha Six offered, his voice strained. “And some lacerations. That thing hits…well, about as hard as you’d think.”

That was nothing medpatches couldn’t fix. Erik looked at Alpha Six. The behemoth had torn deeper than he’d realized, including into the armor, judging by the jagged cuts through the soldier’s tactical suit. It was a living exo-killer.

“Huh,” Vincke offered, sounding genuinely surprised. “I was hoping to kill you with the

yaoguai

, but I knew collecting my data would involve taking some risks. No matter. All interesting experiments produce surprises. I’ll take care of you soon enough.”

“Really, asshole?” Erik replied. “I’m willing to bet if you had any more monsters to send at us, they’d be here already, and there are twelve angry people with exos who have an appointment with you.”

The large door closed.

“You don’t understand, Blackwell.” Vincke laughed. “You’re trapped down there, and your friends outside can’t do anything. I’m going to leave, and in ten minutes, this facility is going to explode. Unfortunately for you, that will, I suspect, necessitate you dying, but at least it’ll be quick. I’m a merciful man.”

“You’re not going to be able to escape,” Jia shouted.

“It doesn’t matter because you’ll be dead. I have some tricks left. It’s as I said; you were nothing more than a means to an end. And… No. Wait. What? It can’t be.”

“Problem, Doctor?” Erik asked.

A white-garbed Emma appeared in front of Erik with a smug smile on her face. “He’s busy trying to figure out how to get out of the room I just locked him into. His fleshbag fear is overwhelming him.”

Erik grinned. “It’s about time.”

The door on the far end of the chamber opened. A grinding noise from farther inside followed—another door.

“I thought about letting you believe the self-destruct was still active for my personal amusement, but you’ve been through enough. I can’t do anything about the doorway he blocked with the explosion, but you can follow the tunnels out the other way. They will take you to the surface.” Emma smiled. “I’ve disabled jamming, as you might have surmised from my appearance.”

“Beta Squad?” Erik transmitted. “What’s your status?”

“We’ve neutralized all AAA,” replied Beta One. “We ran into more

yaoguai

, but we took care of them. Minor injuries and two of our exos are trashed, but no one’s dead. You need backup, Alpha One?”

“Negative. We’ve taken care of things in here.” Erik grimaced. “We still need to find our informant.”

Emma clucked her tongue. “Yes, Mr. Ahmed. He’s unconscious but alive in a room on the main level.” She burst out laughing. “Oh, this is too much. Coming with you on these missions is worth it for this kind of thing alone.”

“What?” Erik raised an eyebrow.

“That idiot fleshbag scientist is now destroying his PNIU in a panic,” Emma explained. “I think he finally understands I’ve taken control of all the systems here, and he won’t be escaping.”

“Anyone else here?” Jia asked.

Emma shook her head. “I have control of all cameras, drones, and sensors in the facility. Based on that, I’m comfortable saying there are no other humans present, and no active

yaoguai

. I’ve brought in drones from the perimeter, and I’m not detecting anything or anyone other than Beta Squad in the nearby forest.”

Erik surveyed the carnage around them. Smoke drifted off smoldering debris.

Yaoguai

bodies and parts covered the floor. A steady drip of blue blood and fluid dropped through the grating. It was a slaughterhouse.

“Let’s go pay Doctor Vincke and Mr. Ahmed a visit.”