“Down, down to goblin town,” Felix said, snickering into his microphone between heaving breaths.
His Warden slammed to the ground, warning lights going off all over the cockpit. The resounding boom of his landing echoed upwards.
Taking two steps towards the bay doors, he inspected them for a second. Rearing back, Felix threw as heavy a punch as he could.
One of the doors peeled away and bent outward while the other broke in half.
Crawling out of the wreckage of the elevator shaft, Felix tried to get back to his feet.
The Warden refused to cooperate with him. The flashing red lights became solid red lights.
Son of a bitch! That’s what you get for not thinking, idiot. Did you even try to slow your fall? No. You just jumped down a giant dark hole in the earth.
Think, think, think.
How bad is it?
Glancing at the warnings, Felix decided he’d have to go on without the Warden. Both legs were damaged and the servos were locked.
There was no way it was going anywhere.
Unbuckling himself he hopped out of the cockpit before it even fully opened. Snatching up the energy rifle he turned the big weapon over to inspect it.
Running a hand through his sopping wet sweaty hair he looked at the connection point in the handle.
Now to check a battery.
Reaching into the cockpit, he fingered the control for the Warden to open up its battery compartment.
The lower back half of the torso slid open.
Felix yanked on one of the straps that had held his hips in place. Pulling the knife out of the sheath on the Warden’s belt, he quickly cut the belt away.
Moving back to the rear of the Warden, he looked at the batteries. They were connected by a single cord each to something else.
Yanking the cord out of that point, he flipped over the connector to look at it.
“Looks right,” Felix muttered, his breath slowly coming back under control. Pulling the cord closer, he tried to fit it into the handle of the rifle.
Two seconds of wildly trying to insert it, he got it to seat itself.
With a pop, the energy rifle hummed to life as the cord fed power to it from the battery.
Setting the rifle down against the Warden, Felix took out the strap and tied it into a sling through the carrying handle of two of the batteries.
Tying it closed like a bandolier across his chest, Felix tied the second connector cord to the first.
“Gotta make sure the reload is quick,” he muttered to no one.
Hefting the rifle, he went to the front of the Warden. Reaching into the pod, he fumbled around blindly to find any grenades he could. It was hard when the system didn’t tell him what he was accessing.
Getting a hold of three of them, he attached them to his harness. Turning towards the hallway in front of him, he took a deep breath.
Then set out again.
“Shit to do, people to kill.”
Getting to the door, he found his first obstacle.
The damn locked door itself. The Warden could get through it, but not Felix.
Looking up at the edges of the door, he found that it was only held up by two hinges.
Heading back to the Warden, he spent a minute hunting in the pod. He was hoping that for some reason someone had thought to include some C4 or a breaching charge or anything.
Unfortunately, there was no such luck.
Grumbling, Felix went around to the battery hatch and dragged out two more batteries. Lugging them over to the door, he detached the rifle from the battery on his back.
Snatching the cord up from one of the two at his feet, he clicked it into the rifle.
Aiming it at the top hinge, he pulled the trigger. It only took him a second to get the beam into place, and then he waited.
Holding the trigger down.
Twenty seconds in and he finally let go.
The hinge was slag. It’d turned molten and oozed its way down.
“One down.”
Aiming at the lower hinge, Felix pulled the trigger.
The beam was decidedly less bright this time.
Rather than mess around, he let go and pulled the cord out. Kicking the spent battery away, he attached the second one and went back to work.
Twenty seconds in, and the lower hinge was gone.
Turning the rifle and its sizzling, smoking barrel away, he disconnected the second dead battery.
As he moved up to the door, he reattached one of the batteries on his back to the rifle.
Staring at the door, it was clear he’d really messed it up. The entire thing was warped and bowing outward.
Pulling a grenade free, he wedged it into the hot, bent metal, then pulled the pin.
Jogging off as quickly as he could, Felix didn’t stop until the grenade exploded.
Turning around, he headed back the way he’d come. As the smoke cleared, he could see the door was done.
The entire upper half was torn out, and it was hanging on the other door.
Rather than risking it and giving people a clear shot on him as he went through, Felix did the only sensible thing.
He wedged a grenade in the bottom of the door and repeated the process.
As the smoke cleared from the second explosion, he watched as both doors swung slowly open. The busted one fell out and slammed to the ground while the other kept opening.
“Are you done?” a voice called from inside.
Felix blinked, his shoulder pressed up to the space next to the now open door.
He hadn’t expected someone to talk to him.
“No. You’re not dead yet, and I don’t have Kit. How about you send her out and I’ll let you live today?” Felix lied.
None of them would leave this place alive.
“Forgive me if I don’t believe you.”
“Then you get to die. Last words?” Felix called out.
He started taking deep breaths, rocking himself up against the wall.
Throw in the last grenade, then shoot him.
Find Kit, get out.
“Felix?” Kit called out.
Shit, Kit.
“Uh-huh,” Felix responded.
“Leave me here. They put a control crown on me.”
That definitely explained why she wasn’t fighting back in any way.
“They want me to fight Skipper for them. To free the city.”
“Can’t do that, Kit. The only way they get to keep you for themselves is my death.”
“What?” Kit asked someone else.
There was quiet discussion back and forth.
“Did they tell you they blew up the school to kill me? Ioana, Andrea, Lily, and Victoria are all dead.
“Eva’s probably dead, of course. Since, you know, they blew up a school. I’m sure Lucian is too. And you know, every other kid there.
“Real snazzy bunch of heroes. Totally in it to save the city. One dead child at a time.”
“That’s—” shouted the male voice, trying to argue with Felix and assure Kit at the same time.
Felix decided this was it. Sprinting around the corner, Felix went down to one knee and slid across the cement as he crossed the doorway.
Two men were standing next to Kit. One he knew, the incredible regenerating man, and the other he didn’t.
Felix pulled the trigger, the bright beam of his rifle stabbing outward.
Mr. Regeneration was cut in half outright.
The second man got the beam across his head, and dropped instantly. His head simply disintegrating.
Then a third person stepped out of the shadow in the corner. They leveled their weapon, and fired.
Bullets tore into Felix’s leg, stomach, and side.
Tracking the target, Felix pulled the trigger again, the beam lancing out once again.
It connected with the weapon and the hand holding it.
Screaming, the attacker hunched over, then vanished, leaving their gun behind.
Felix felt his breath catch and lay down on the cold cement.
“Damn,” he hissed.
Pressing a hand to one of the bullet holes, he lay there, staring up at the ceiling.
“Shit, that hurts,” said someone else, presumably the guy he’d shot. “Didn’t your mother tell you that cutting people in half isn’t nice?”