That gave me a thought; a very morbid one at that. But if we weren’t going to make it out of this clinic, at least we could make sure that those outside of this room didn’t leave it either. I pulled off my back pack, filled with the charges that were originally intended for load-bearing walls in the north wing. I pulled close to Neurotoxin’s ear, and whispered, “Let’s get ‘em set up here. Put two minutes on the timer. And if you could rig up some kind of anti-tamper device to make it harder for the Azzies to disarm it, than do it.”
As Neurotoxin urgently began to plant the explosive charges, Lamphrey sent out a text message via the commlinks, “I’ve taken control of the steel lynxes, but I don’t know if they’ll reach our position in time. I’m going into VR to control them.” At that precise moment, large, stone hands began punching a sizable hole through the wall surrounding the security door, but were immediately halted by Scorpion’s glowing mana barrier. As dozens of rounds continued to batter the security door, the stone statue began ferociously attacking the shaman’s mana barrier, causing the red energy field to flare brightly from the brutal strikes.
“My mana barrier isn’t going to hold up long against the strength of that homonculus,” Scorpion shouted. In preparation for the impending battle, Scorpion called forth her three, bound beast spirits; spirits that once manifested, resembled giant scorpions.
As the mystical barrier protecting the lab fell moments later, and as the stone statue pushed itself the rest of the way through the wall, the three beast spirits immediately intercepted it and pounded on it relentlessly using their pincers and their tails, keeping its attention away from us. They were probably the best at fighting those statues any way; as my bullets would probably have just bounced off its tough exterior. Instead, I focused on making sure nobody else could come through that new entry point. As soon as I saw an intrepid Azzie guard poke his head around the corner, trying to follow in the wake of the stone statue, I plastered him with a long burst. Scorpion then let loose with one of her spells at the homunculus. Between the savage pounding by the beast spirits, and Scorp’s powerful spell, the animated statue suddenly began to break apart, and fell to the ground in a heap of lifeless rubble. Unfortunately, another statue immediately stepped through the breached wall to take its place, and began to attack the beast spirits. The wall on the opposite side of the door also began to give way, as a third stone statue began to tear through the remnants of the wall. The stone statue that was already in the lab raised its arms and brought its heavy fists down hard upon one of Scorpion’s beast spirits, causing it to suddenly disappear from sight. Scorpion let loose a second spell, but it appeared to have no affect. “Crap, that one was countered. And I don’t think the spirit did that. There’s an enemy mage somewhere!”
I quickly scanned for physical, telltale signs of an enemy mage; such as the business end of magesight googles, or a head that managed to poke itself around the corner without me spotting it during the fire fight. I also looked for hidden cameras or fly spy drones that I might have missed; and even checked the vents for fiber optic cable. Nothing. “I don’t see any access points for a mage.” As I said that, two Azzie soldiers started to make their way through the shattered wall. They were immediately greeted by suppressive fire from my assault rifle, which drove them back into the corridor. After I finished firing, I immediately grabbed my meat shield, and scrambled over to the other side of the room, where I took cover behind another work station.
“I’m going astral,” Scorpion declared, as she popped her forearm snap-blades on her left arm, which also happened to be a weapon focus, and dropped to the ground behind me for protection for her meat body. Perhaps if she survives whatever is on the other side, and we don’t make it, it will be more merciful for her if she isn’t in her body when the charges go off. Speaking of which—
“Neurotoxin, what’s up with the charges,” I shouted, as I fired another suppressive fire burst through the hole; emptying the clip the assault rifle. I quickly ejected it, and put in one the spare clips.
“They’re set and armed!”
“Good. Now get your hoop up on the firing line. I’m not going to be able to keep them all back by myself!”
Neurotoxin pulled out his Auto-Assault 16 shotgun, and as a greater numbers of bullets from the Azzies started peppering the inside of the lab, we increased our rate of fire as well. Two grenades flew into the lab from the hallway, and slammed into the workstation that I originally took cover behind. The grenades exploded on impact, and sent debris and shrapnel into the air. I continued firing at the Azzies through the hazy cloud of smoke and heavy particulates that swirled in the air; even as I swapped out my rifle’s empty clip for the last spare clip. During that time, I quickly glanced over at the stone statue. Even during that fierce fire fight, the animated statue continued to dance around, unbothered by the violence that surrounded it, and lashed out at the two beast spirits which were viciously attacking it. Glad they are on our side. Both of the scorpion spirits seemed to have done considerable damage to the statue, having snapped off one of its arms and had punctured it in several places, and looked like they were about ready to drop it. Unfortunately, with one last swipe with its remaining arm, the Stone Spirit smashed one of the wounded beast spirits into the floor and forced it to disappear, leaving us with only one spirit to help defend us.
Great. I am so not looking forward to tangling with those things. I quickly checked the countdown on the timer. Fifty-eight seconds left. I knew we absolutely had to last for a little bit longer, in order to deny the Azzies the necessary time to disarm the charges. Unfortunately, I did not feel confident that was going to happen. This fire fight would inevitably get worse and we were rapidly running out of ammo and spirits.
Suddenly, I watched as three deep slash marks manifested themselves on the stone statue’s face, knocking it off balance and sending it crashing to the ground. Scorpion! As the statue struggled to get up, its head unexpectedly imploded from yet another invisible strike. Destroyed; the remains of the statue crumbled into a pile of rubble. I did not bother to breath a sigh of relief; as I saw the third stone statue muscle its way into the lab, with the fourth statue lumbering into the lab right behind it.
Just as I started to fear that our barricades would finally be overrun by the statues and the soldiers, gun fire erupted in the hallway, causing all kinds of surprised shouts and mayhem to erupt from the Azzies’ lines. The steel lynxes. About time. The Jaguars quickly scrambled in the hallway to deal with the unexpected threats that had caught them unaware from their rear flank, and were firing automatic bursts at them. As a Jaguar carelessly crossed the opening in the wall to deal with the new problem of the captured drones, I seized the opportunity to hit him with a long burst. At the end of the burst, I knew that I had used up all the bullets left for the assault rifle. I set it down next to me, realizing that I might need it again later as a club. I then pulled out my pistol, grabbed my meat shield and I waited.
Meanwhile, the third statue managed to get past our makeshift barricades and started making its way toward me. It stopped a few meters in front of me, as the beast spirit began to attack it. Another invisible strike landed on the chest of the statue; and carved three neat slashes across its stone exterior. The spirit wailed, and threw a punch at its astral enemy that I could not see. From behind me, I heard Scorpion’s meat body shake violently, as if something had struck it soundly. I glanced behind me, and noticed blood flowing out of Scorpion’s mouth and nose. Not good. I shot a couple of rounds at the stone statue, and Neurotoxin did the same, hoping to draw its attention away from Scorpion. However, undeterred by the physical attacks that it did not see as a threat, the statue aimed again at Scorpion’s astral self; and apparently, struck Scorpion again. This time, I heard multiple rib bones audibly snap in her chest. From her biomonitor readings, I knew Scorpion wasn’t going to survive another attack. Scorp; get back to your body, please. You’ve done all you could...
Suddenly, the undamaged statue, walking immediately behind the one in front of me, shattered as if an embedded explosive device had went off inside of it, sending large chunks of rock everywhere in the lab. At the same time, Scorpion’s biomonitor suddenly flat lined. If I had to guess, she overcasted one of her spells at the statue that would have been capable of taking much more punishment from us than the one she had already damaged. Reacting to the loss of its summoner, the beast spirit immediately threw itself at the stone statue in a berserk frenzy, forcing it to take a few steps back from me, as its tail violently punctured its chest.
Even as I cautiously monitored the near-by battle being raged between the two spirits in front of me, ready to get out of their way in a moment’s notice; I listened intently to what has happening out in the corridor. Hundreds of rounds were being exchanged between the drones and the guards; followed by several explosions. I checked once more on the time left on the detonators; thirty-six seconds left. We might actually pull this off...
Without warning, the sounds of gunfire in the corridor abruptly died off, as Lamprey opened his eyes and sat up. He looked obviously disorientated. “Well, so much for the lynxes. They’ve both been destroyed.”
“Can you still fight?”
“Do I even have a choice,” Lamprey asked wearily, as he pulled out his two pistols, and waited for the Azzies to regroup, and to try breaching the lab once more.
Several more moments passed in a relatively eerie calm. The only ones fighting at the moment seemed to be the spirits in the lab. With a final thrust of one of its pinchers, the scorpion spirit snapped off the head of the stone statue; dropping it instantly. With the destruction of the final magical threat that helped to kill its master now gone, the spirit vanished from sight. We were left to wait for the guns that would soon be pointed at us again through the destroyed wall once again.
Twenty-one seconds left.
Without warning, four grenades were shot consecutively into the lab. We attempted to fire back, but like the last grouping of grenades; these were air-timed and exploded on contact. The third one landed the closest to me; riddling me with shrapnel as it exploded. My left arm no longer was the part of my body that hurt me the most, as I was knocked over onto my side. I felt multiple pieces of shrapnel in my abdomen and legs. My right side was left scorched by the explosion. Second degree burns at the very least. I looked over to what was left of my meat shield, which looked more like hamburger than a person at this point. Had it not been for the meat shield taking some of the blast, I probably would have already been dead. “Sound off, everyone, what’s your status?” I croaked; finding it very hard to breathe. I found that my vision was also blurring; I was obvious going into shock.
Neurotoxin whispered to me a few seconds later, “I’m still here, Black out. But Lamprey didn’t make it. Lamprey...is a mess.”
I glanced at the detonator and the charges. Unlike us, they still seemed to be intact. Fourteen seconds left. I listened as Neurotoxin struggled to get back up to a firing position. I started to try and get back up myself, despite the agonizing pain. But as I was doing so, I saw multiple bursts of gunfire explode through the room as they struck Neurotoxin and cut him down once he became visible from behind his cover. Neurotoxin’s body fall lifeless back to the ground; landing with a sickening thud. I stayed where I was; behind cover, considering what my next move would be.
“Whoever is still over there in that corner; do not move! We have you surrounded. Drop your weapons now and surrender,” ordered a voice in perfect English.
Eleven seconds left. Just need to buy a little more time. Slowly and quietly, I crawled along the floor; around Scorpion’s burnt body; and under a large section of the roof that had collapsed from the multiple grenade explosions. Reaching the charges; I leaned my body over the blocks of C-12; shielding them from view. I then tossed out my empty pistols so the Azzie soldiers could see them. “I am unarmed!” And I then waited.
The Jaguars, not only being professional military but also Special Forces, and having been instilled to be cautiously paranoid about their enemy and their motives, did exactly as I was expecting; they took their time, thoroughly sweeping the area of the lab between them and me, looking for booby traps. Hell, I’m sure they were looking for nasty things that they themselves would rig up in the exact same situation. Seven...Six...Five...Four...
I looked up to find two Jaguars standing over me, pointing their assault rifles at me. “Don’t move. Lieutenant, get the medics.”
Three...Two...
"Adios, Mother Fraggers--,” I shouted, as I rolled away from charges; letting the two Jaguars get a good look at what their fate would be. The two soldiers attempted, in their last moments, to flee from the inevitable explosion; but it was a futile gesture, trying to run away from six blocks of C-12. A second later, and after a brilliant flash of light and heat, it was all over, for them, for me and for my team.