Gamma Nine (Book One) (26 page)

Nathan was
faltering slightly, his voice straining more and more as the power
struggle between human and monster shifted in favour of the
beast.

Pyoter made a
mess of the creature’s back, swinging his titanic blade in arcs as
he carved away flesh. It showed no signs of stopping its assault on
Nathan, every cut from Pyoter’s blade made the monster howl. As
Pyoter cut deeper and deeper into the back of the avatar the blade
started meeting more resistance. Solid bone growths terminated the
momentum of the Titan’s forceful attacks, protecting vital organs
within the avatar’s giant body. Pyoter left the monster’s back a
lacerated mess of flesh, but it did not stop it.

The Wolves were
swarming the avatar, trying to stop the creature from crushing
Nathan. Pyoter sliced at its sides and limbs, Xander poured his
last clips from his pistol into the creature. Locke coordinated his
Wolves while he fired his Kicker in the exposed back of the
monster, hoping that one of his bullets would hit a vulnerable
spot. Christian was the closest to his brother, he took some of the
blows from the giant meat-hammers, but most of them were just
glancing hits as they bounced off Nathan’s shield.

Christian tried
to grab his brother by the arm but Nathan was stuck in place, the
slightest movement would break his stance, and that would mean
certain death.

The biggest
surprise of the mission came when Stevens, the only Lancer left on
the platform, who was virtually on the side-line of the battle with
the creature, sacrificed himself to save a Titan’s life.

Stevens vaulted
on top of the creature’s back, using the destroyed back to climb up
to its small head. Stevens steadied himself on the creature’s back
and shoulder and emptied his rifle’s clip into the monster’s
unusually small cranium.

It had the
desired result Stevens was hoping for; the creature shrugged and
aimed one of its arms in his direction, giving the kneeling Titan
the opportunity to roll away.

Christian made
sure that his brother was safe, covering him with his own shield as
Nathan rolled away from the monster, its attention now on the
smaller human attached to its back.

Stevens dodged
the first upward and awkwardly directed arm directed at him,
jumping over it and landing on the platform in front of the
monster. Stevens’ back was to the beast when it landed, giving him
a clear view of the Titan whose life he had just saved.

He had only a
moment to see the Titan nod at him with respect before the beast
behind him ended his participation in the fight.

Stevens was hit
from the side by one of the monster’s meaty stumps, throwing the
Lancer across the platform into the western wall. The Lancer
connected with such force that his armour cracked, echoing in the
reactor room. Stevens’ body broke as he slumped down against the
wall he had connected with; air escaping his lungs over the squad
radio was the last thing anyone heard before he fell silent.

Nathan tried to
stand, Christian helped him up, his body hurt even inside the Titan
suit, which meant that he would require serious recovery if they
survived the Fateful Moment.

The Wolves
backed off, Pyoter, Locke and Xander circled the monster as
Christian held his brother upright. Nathan would live at least,
that comforted Christian, but it meant that they were one Titan
down for the rest of the fight, and that was not a good thing.

Christian was
about to tell his brother to rest against the console close by when
a rumbling alerted everyone on the platform.

It was coming
from the wall beside the stairs the squad had descended into the
reactor room. The sound came from behind the wall, metal against
metal screeching as something came to a halt.

Moments later
the wall split, revealing it to be a hidden door. As the opening
grew, bright light escaped the crack, and slowly it freed the trump
card Rivers had gifted to Jay.

It was as tall
as the avatar was, and broader from shoulder to shoulder. It
stomped out of; the opened portal, causing the platform to shake
with every step. It was far from graceful, but more powerful than
all of the Wolves combined. Even Pyoter would struggle to overpower
such a monstrous piece of equipment without everyone’s help.

The tide of
battle shifted the moment the thing behind the door was
revealed.

It was old,
archaic almost, left unused in its metal cage. Powered down for so
long the joints struggled at first to move its giant frame. But it
soon remembered its mechanical muscle-memory, joints squealed as
boiling oil flooded its tubing, awakening the beating heart of
gears and circuits that was asleep for so many years.

The current
crew of the Fateful Moment had never used it, created in an age
before plasma reactors were tamed, purposefully built to keep the
reactors in check whenever the trapped star inside wanted to break
free. Mighty enough to lift entire reactors from their cradles,
shielded from all radiation, its body and limbs protected by layers
of interlocking, armoured plating.

These things
were the templates Thomas Wexler had studied and then condensed to
create his ARC suits the Wolves now wore. All of the known ones
were either destroyed or not in any form of working condition, most
people had forgotten about the mechanized maintenance suits used in
the past. Such things always got lost during wars, no-one ever
bothered to keep track of weapons or hardware once their usefulness
came to an end.

It was never
named, only numbered due to its requirements. But this one’s
previous operator had taken great pride in its existence, and
probably named it because of the connection the operator had with
it.

The operator
had named it Artemis, painted in thick black letters on its upper
arms and across its chest plating. There was no OS inside Artemis,
only a direct connection between operator and machine body.

Direct
connection was not as fast as the Suit OS connection the ARC suits
used, but it allowed the operator of Artemis to get the job done -
whatever that job was at the time.

Pistons on its
legs hissed as Jay moved Artemis forward, falling into a steady and
mostly stable stride towards the avatar of murder wreaking havoc on
the platform. Artemis’ metal arms ended in ogre-like hands,
perfectly-articulated, metal fingers flexed as Jay got to grips
with the feeling of being in control of such power. Jay looked out
through an armoured glass slit, located just above the name Artemis
on the construct’s chest.

With every step
the Lancer inside understood the construct more and more, feeling
its limbs burning with barely contained potential.

The monster
faced Artemis head on, dropping on to its muscular arms to stare at
the new enemy. The beast did not look phased by Artemis’
appearance, instead it looked eager to grapple with it.

It stomped with
all four of its limbs on the deck and charged at Jay and
Artemis.

Artemis
increased its pace as well, but it was ready for the creature’s
aggressive tactics. Artemis lowered its right shoulder, lining up
the level plating used to carry equipment on as a battering ram to
barrel into the monster.

The construct
crashed into the beast, bringing its charge to a sudden and
bone-crushing halt.

The giant
creature stumbled backwards with a ruined face of gushing blood,
teeth had splintered and veins had burst from the impact.

Artemis took
almost no damage, only denting slightly from the monster’s face
smashing into its shoulder plating.

To the Wolves
watching on in silent shock it seemed like Jay was a natural at
operating Artemis, and gave the construct the space to fight the
beast. Christian helped his brother over to the stairs leading to
the upper decks, sitting Nathan down and standing guard over him.
Locke stayed where he was, close to the portal Artemis had appeared
from. Xander and Pyoter gathered themselves and moved back,
circling the platform to join the others.

Artemis wasted
no time, not giving the beast any chance of counter-attacking. The
monster was still snorting, trying to clear its face from all of
the blood when a metal fist struck it.

The blow was
aimed at the beast’s face again, one of its eyes burst, blinding it
instantly. Thick mucus mixed with blood erupted from the ruined eye
socket, spraying everywhere as the creature howled.

Jay did not
stop; he pummelled the monster more with Artemis’s powerful fists,
bones cracked as punch after punch flew into the creature’s bloody
face.

Artemis grabbed
the back of the avatar’s short thick neck and head-butted the
thing. It staggered back, reeling as it struggled to maintain its
footing.

But, as most
combat veterans would warn you, most of these feral beasts were far
more dangerous once it had taken some damage, and like wounded
animals they would become even more unpredictable and violent as
they came closer to death.

The avatar of
murder was either very close to death or hurt beyond any hope of
survival, because it just shook its head after a few moments and
looked even more menacing than before.

Without taking
a step the monster leapt into the air, aiming its decent at
Artemis.

Artemis moved
to block the descending limbs of the beast, bringing its armoured
arms up just in time as the force of the monster’s weight caused
the platform to buckle and shake.

Artemis had
caught the beast’s meat-hammer before it could crash into its metal
body, holding each other barely at bay.

The monster was
gaining the upper hand slightly as Jay started to panic.

He scanned the
buttons inside the cockpit of Artemis while he tried to hold on to
the creature’s arms.

One button
caught his eye - aptly named Shit storm, he pressed it without
hesitation. He had no idea what it would do but he hoped it would
give him an opportunity to renew his attack on the creature.

Flames burst
from Artemis’ back, making the Lancer inside smile boldly as the
pair started to lift from the platform, ascending rapidly towards
the ceiling of the reactor room.

Pillars of
flame and smoke catapulted both colossal avatars into the air, the
platform scorched matt-black beneath Artemis’ boosters, located
where a human’s shoulder blades would have been. Thick rockets
screamed in their whining pitch as they sucked in air and spewed
flame.

The avatar of
metal and circuitry held the bestial avatar of murder in its
clutches, estimating the point of impact behind the monster as they
drew closer to the reactor room’s ceiling.

Just before
they hit the ceiling Jay inside Artemis leaned back slightly,
changing the angle at which they would hit. The angle was just
enough to bring the monster above Artemis, ensuring that the
creature would be the first to connect with the ceiling.

Jay released
one hand as the monster shifted above it, balling one of Artemis’
metal hands into a fist.

The ceiling of
the reactor room was roughly thirty feet from the platform’s deck,
what took only a few seconds to transpire felt like minutes to Jay,
as if everything was happening in slow motion, seeing every
movement clearly and predicting the outcome of his manoeuvre.

The beast
smashed head first into the ceiling with a sickening crack,
creating a fleshy buffer between Artemis and the metal ceiling.

Artemis’ balled
fist punched at the same time as the creature hit, punching clean
through the monster’s body. Jay felt the decking behind the exit
wound dent as meaty flesh separated to allow the metal to pass
through.

For the first
time since the battle with the mutated monster began everyone heard
the beast scream from excruciating anguish. The deep, guttural howl
was replaced by a roar of pain and desperation.

Artemis’ fist
had punched through the creature’s enormous chest, leaving a gaping
hole where the sternum would have been on a normal human, pulping
half of the creature’s giant heart in the process.

The two avatars
stuck to the ceiling as the jets kept pushing upwards; Jay killed
the boosters by pressing the button again, and he saw the fear in
the remaining eye of the deadly beast above him. Jay smiled again,
knowing he had succeeded where the Titans had struggled.

All that was
left now was to kill the monster; it was crippled and weak enough
to deliver the death blows.

The pair
dropped to the decking of the platform, Jay once again expertly
using Artemis to switch places with the monster, using the
monster’s body as a cushion. It screamed again as they collided
with solid-metal decking, the creature thrashed underneath the
weight of Artemis and its operator.

Jay punched
downward into what was left of the creature’s face, almost
crouching on top of its ruined torso. Its limbs were flailing
uncontrollably as it was pulverized by metal fists raining down on
it.

Its roars and
screams mixed into a chorus of torment, slowly losing power as the
creature’s life spark fizzled under the punishment from Jay and
Artemis.

Jay ended the
creature in the most spectacular and absolute way. He finished it
by slamming both hands into the creature’s head, cracking its thick
skull open. In one fluent movement Jay made Artemis stand, grabbing
the limp body of the giant creature by its arms.

Artemis rotated
and swung the creature’s lifeless body around, throwing it towards
the armoured glass protecting the consoles from the lightning storm
between the reactors.

The avatar of
murder, now nothing more than piece of dead meat, went straight
through the thick armoured glass, shattering the shield into
uncountable pieces.

It flew
straight into the most violent part of the storm between the
reactors, skipping like a rock on a calm pond a few times, coming
to rest at the heart of the reactor room’s deadly surge of
electricity.