“I mean, that’s my goal, but at this time, I’m not able to.”
“I’m going,” Victoria said. “I’ll be in the armory.”
“As will I,” Lily agreed. She patted Felix on the top of the head and left with Victoria.
All three squads volunteered as well, and promptly went to join the ladies in the armory.
Getting up in nothing but his undershirt and skivvies, Felix clapped his hands together. “Alright, let’s get my stupid ass into Legion’s Fist here so I can go kill people.”
“You’re no soldier, Felix,” said one of the techs as another keyed the Warden to open the cockpit.
“No, I’m not. But even I can aim a rifle.” Felix turned around and backed up into the Warden. Stepping into the cockpit, he slid his legs into place, then his arms.
“Is your aim any good?” asked the same technician.
“Guess we’ll find out how much first-person shooters carry over to real life.” Felix placed the back of his head into the helmet. “Close it up.”
There was no response to his command, but the Warden whirred to life. The cockpit began to close up around him, the helmet coming down into place around his head.
In front of his face, four displays came to life. Three provided him with his front and peripheral cameras, with the fourth giving him a rear view.
“Testing, one, two, three. Please confirm external microphones picking up audio,” someone said.
“Reading you,” Felix confirmed. He shifted himself as the harness began to tighten up around him. After a few seconds, he felt like he was held firmly in place.
“Testing communication system. We’re also releasing the servos. Do you know how to pilot it?” That’d be a tech manning a console nearby.
Felix turned his head to focus the camera on the individual. As if he were moving his own body, the Warden moved. “I hear you, and I’m sure I’ll figure it out. No time like the present.”
“Most of the controls will be reading the signals in your brain to help coordinate the movements of your body. You’ll notice the longer you’re in there, the better it’ll get. Learning mode should be complete within two hours, or depending on how much you use it.”
“Anything else?”
“It utilizes all the same cues your mark two did. Use the war-net just as you did previously.”
“Right.”
Stepping out of the loading bay, Felix had the impression that he could move freely. There was no delay from his body’s commands to the movement of the small mech.
“Looks like everything is running smoothly. Any questions?”
Felix turned towards the arsenal and pulled down the energy rifle. There was a connection port and locking mechanism that the Warden’s hand fit into perfectly.
With a pop, his HUD changed, turning red. A crosshair in the top left of the screen came to life. In the top right, the silhouette of his energy rifle and an energy bar showed up.
Pulling the rifle up to his shoulder, the crosshair changed its location, matching up with the direction of the rifle.
“Two questions.
“Where is Wraith’s tracker, and how do I get out of the lab? Time is money.” Felix pulled the rifle’s muzzle up and held it against his shoulder.
He was ready.
Now, if only his opponents weren’t, this’d be a lot easier.
Chapter 33 - High Voltage -
He’d taken the four Wardens after finding out they had survived the blast. They’d only needed a minimal amount of re-equip and repair, and would meet them at the location once ready.
In addition to that, he’d taken all three of the internal security squads from HQ. With Victoria and Lily, that completed his small army, and they’d set off for Wraith’s location marker.
Felix was looking at the war-net virtual map. He was slowly going over all the notations and markers that his people had been adding as they scouted the area.
Looking up to his screens, he tried to imagine the map overlay with the actual layout.
They’d ended up at a large, sprawling… farm.
An actual farm on the outskirts of the city-state.
It had the look of a militia holdout farm. Self-sustaining, armed mundanes wandering around on patrol, and paranoid signs disavowing the local government.
An organization of supers, mundanes, and others who had targeted him personally, masquerading as an anti-government mundane militia.
His long-range Wardens had set up in the distance, both providing cover and vision. The melee Wardens had been assigned each to a squad, leaving the third one with Felix. Victoria was with team one, and Lily with team two.
“Tee-one, guard change,” crackled the radio in his ear.
This was it.
They’d only been here for a short time, but they already had a solid idea of what they were walking into. The entire complex was regularly patrolled, but the number of people didn’t match how many heat signatures they got from inside.
Which meant this was much like his own base.
Underground.
“El-ef actual, engage and take both. Confirm,” Felix said into his mic.
“Tee-one actual, copy. Tee-two actual, copy. El-ef, copy.”
“Engage.” Felix watched his displays.
His people quickly overran the enemy positions. There was no noise, no gunshots.
“Tee-one, confirmed.”
“Tee-two, confirmed.”
The squad leader for his own group moved ahead now. Felix took up the rear guard and leveled his weapon.
The squad fanned out and moved at a quick jog, sweeping and clearing the field as they went.
Their goal was the farmhouse wall ahead. There were no windows or overlook to it, which meant the approach was ideal. The two closest patrols were built in such a way as to watch the area.
When they hit the halfway point, Felix heard his comms pop to life again.
“El-ef, phase one complete. Go phase two.”
There was no response to the command, but Felix knew they were moving towards the third and fourth guard positions.
He couldn’t spare a thought to look, as he was making sure he was doing his job.
Felix swept his head to the left, then right, confirming that their flanks were still clear.
The squad reached the wall and sidled up to it. Four members of the squad broke off and rushed to each end of the wall.
“El-ef two, west clear. Sight on tee-one, on engage.”
“El-ef four, east clear. Sight on tee-two, post engage.”
Felix moved to the wall and squatted down, turning himself into an impromptu ladder. Kneeling with nothing to do, he pulled up the war-net.
The plan was going accordingly. There were only two more patrols that they knew of. Catching them during the guard change would eliminate the most hostiles, but was also the most risky.
Then he heard something he didn’t want to. Something he’d dreaded.
A gunshot.
“Tee-one, shots fired, post engage.”
Felix licked his lips. It wasn’t the worst outcome; they’d managed to clear a good number of the patrols before this point.
Maybe they didn’t hear it.
“Ess-one, hive active. Clear shot, engage?”
They heard it.
Two members of his squad had vaulted over him and onto the roof of the building. That was the end of him being a ladder.
Turning his face to the wall, Felix took a deep breath.
“El-ef actual, weapons free. Move to final.”
As he finished giving the command, Felix burst forward, activating the jump jets.
Plowing through the wall, Felix brought his energy rifle up in a low firing position. Wood, cement, and rebar exploded out from his dynamic entry.
Stopping dead a foot inside the building, Felix immediately cleared the corner to his left, then swept right.
There were two doorways.
Triggering the communications button for his own squad, he moved to the right. At the same time, he dropped his left hand into the armored ammo pod on his thigh and fished out a grenade.