I like a good tactic, as long as we're not on the receiving end and that fact that we had used this one two or three minutes earlier only added insult to injury. The last thing I need to be concerned with was getting my ego bruised and the spinning black sphere at my feet spurred the adrenaline again.
I was going to kick the grenades back into the hall, but K'rth proved again that he was far faster and swatted both of them back around the corner. Someone yelled as they rattled out of sight and we dove back behind the machinery where Obie was. I covered my ears and a split second later, hot smoke and debris flushed into the room and metal shrieked past, thunking into the walls and floor. The world around me trembled from the shockwave and I opened my eyes carefully as the motion stopped. In the enclosed space, the grenades had sounded like cannons and my ears were ringing.
Carefully looking up, I climbed over with my Blitzer in front and saw that the wall was smoking and ragged like a tattered curtain. Goop and streaks dripped in steaming streams from the ceiling and I winced. Even with the fading echoes in my ears, I could make out the faint trickling sounds and tell nothing was moving.
"OW!" a deep voice rumbled from behind me. "Dat wuz loud!"
Obie was getting better by the minute and it was a good sign that he was already lucid enough to be bothered by the noise. I leaned back to patt him on the shoulder and carefully made my way through the debris to cross the room. At the door, I quickly leaned out and back again. A moment later, I crouched and repeated but didn't see anything moving either time. What I did see was the remains of the two Interceptors who had been a little too close to the grenades and I shook my head. I wasn't about to lose sleep over that one and leaned around again to cover the hall while K'rth moved up to my shoulder. As I sighted on the far corner, he knelt down to check the bodies and I heard a crack as he snapped the surviving subversive's neck. Suddenly, a pulse of light streaked down the corridor and we both flinched. Everything around us was glowing us and we looked at each other for a moment before relaxing. That had to be another good sign, but it wasn't one we had been prepared for.
"Neither one is the reporter you mentioned," he said as he wiped off his claw and stood up. "Since tracking her beyond this point is impossible, we should concentrate on other objectives."
"Yeah," I answered, not wanting to let any of them get away. He was right as usual and I walked back to check on the 714.
"Nix," K'rth said over his mike. My reception was pretty good, being only across the room, but the response from her mike left a lot to be desired.
"Ysssssshhhhhtttt rang?" her voice came back. It sounded like someone had wrapped her head in cellophane.
"What is the status of the work?" K'th asked as he paced to double-check the bodies and collect weapons.
"ssshsssttttt-ccckck bad -ssshhhhhhh"
I only caught "bad" so things couldn't be looking up.
"Say again," he repeated.
"sshhshhsssssss back up. He's got the security online and there's something you should see," came her response. For some reason, the last half of the message was clear as K'rth's had been to me and I wondered if Theopolus had something to do with it.
Meanwhile, Obie was trying to sit up and I made the mistake of bending down to help him. He looped his massive arm over my shoulders and pushed to stand, but the force was too much and I ended up kissing the floor. On the good side, he caught himself before he fell and stabbed me with a tusk, so I counted myself lucky and helped him sit back. Sometimes, he forgets that the little people aren't nearly as strong as he is and I always seem to be on the receiving end.
"Maybe you should wait a few more minutes before you try again, okay?" I asked.
"Okay," he said, looking tired. Regeneration of this magnitude had taken a lot out of him and his eyes were sunken and heavy as he answered. I knew that once the healing process slowed, he'd get hungry again and then shift to short-tempered and aggressive so finding food would be a good idea. If we got lucky, we'd have this wrapped up before he started eating people. I patted him on the shoulder as I stood up and walked around. So far, I hadn't heard anything from Gael or Angus and wanted to know how they were doing.
"Gael, what's your status?" I asked, not really expecting to hear much beyond static. The signal clarity I got surprised me, especially considering the distance between us.
"Alex," her voice came back with a slight echo. "We've found a guide and are nearly at the Navigator's node. There's a lot of cosmetic damage here and it looks like the crew tried to repel the Interceptors."
"There's more dead bodies here than ya can shake a stick at!" Angus's voice chimed in. "Looks like one of those War Crims tore the hell out of the place, but someone made him into a crispy critter for it."
"Watch yourselves," I added and sat down to wait for Obie to get back on his feet. Already, he was trying to stand up without help and I backed up to give him room. He was the only one capable of getting himself on his feet and I sure as hell wasn't going to try to catch him if he went down.
"Quit worrying, ya baby!" the Frother chided and the link went silent.
When Obie finally could stand, he gave me a thumbs up and I just smirked. He had picked that up from watching Sour Blood, which proves again that T.V. is a really bad influence. I wasn't even sure why he liked that pansy, especially since the 714 could easily kick his ass. Hell, even I could kick that poser's ass.
"Are you ready?" K'rth asked the Chagrin, who slowly nodded and gave him the thumbs up too. K'rth's face twisted with disgust when he recognized the gesture and he spat a "S'btlll'ftlck" under his breath, which roughly translates to "poser." It's good to know that I'm not the only one that thinks that "Contrived Thrillers" are just overpaid actors.
K'rth led the way back, with Obie in the middle, and me bringing up the rear. It took a good ten minutes of backtracking to make up the three or four minutes of running we had done to catch the Chagrin, but at least this time, no one dove off a ledge. It also helped that we had a path of claw marks to trace because they acted as a good road map both ways.
"K'rth, " I asked as I skirted the lip of the drop off. "How many more of them do you think there are?"
At first I didn't think he had heard me, but it turns out that he was just thinking about the answer.
"I am not sure," he answered. "But I would expect the numbers would have to be nearly even now."
I nodded and followed, wondering how many people Bayer could possibly have smuggled up here. When I saw the bodies of the Interceptors lying in the hall, my mind shifted to the present situation. We were getting close and K' rth stopped at the corner.
"Nix," K'rth said over his mike. "We are approaching from your right now."
"Gotcha," came the response and K'rth carefully stepped out. When I followed, I saw that she had broken the sniper rifle out again and had the corner pegged. She relaxed when she saw us and I waved at her as I walked in. The prisoners were still here and I knelt to check their bonds, finding that both alive and breathing. It was sort of reassuring that someone here was having a worse day than I was.
The Chagrin sagged into the wall and let out his breath and I watched with concern for probably a good ten seconds before he noticed me. Obie gave me that damn thumbs up again before he closed his eyes and sat back down, looking a lot like he probably felt. After the regeneration came the exhaustion, and he just needed some time to get his second wind. The good thing was that the damage was almost entirely gone, but so was his most of his strength.
When I finished checking the Interceptors, I sat back to rest and realized how tired I was too. The fatigue was starting to balance out my adrenaline and there was no telling how long I would be able to keep going. It truly had been the longest day of my life and I avoided looking at my watch to see how many hours it had actually been.
I watched Obie carefully as he rested and started to sleep safely out of harm's way and his claws flexed and twitched as he dropped into a light sleep. He was the truly physically toughest operative I had ever known., but tonight he had come against odds that nearly got him killed. It just proved that none of us was unstoppable. Each of us had limits, both physical and mental and he had nearly passed his.
I wondered how close I was to reaching mine.
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