Animus Boxed Set 2 (Books 5-8): Revenant, Glitch, Master, Infiltration Read online

  “Sabotage? Did you shut the systems down or something?”

  “No, they aren’t using very advanced weapons. I simply overheated them,” she explained. “It won’t last much longer, but it gives us a little more time.”

  “Well, look at you—discuss peace but make sure it can be enforced. Here I was, worried that all my teachings had gone over your head.”

  “I’m glad that I could make you so proud.” Her words dripped sarcasm. “I’m still of the mind that we should let them take us in. We could gather important information any way this turns out.”

  Kaiden glanced at the guards, who had figured out the problem with their guns and now vented them. “That’s one way. I say we take them out now and sort it out after. And before you say anything—” He flicked his hand and pointed at her before she could interrupt him. “I’m not only saying that because my trigger finger is itchy. Taking out a group of these guys is one thing, but we don’t know where they will take us or how many others might be there. I doubt they will let us keep our gear.”

  “True, but there is one thing they don’t know about, and even if they did, they can’t take it.”

  “And what would that be?”

  “Me, dumbass,” Chief muttered. Kaiden glanced at the corner of his HUD, and the EI glared at him. “Forgetting my birthday is one thing, but I’m right here.”

  He placed his hands on his hips. “If you will recall, I was in the middle of a gig on your ‘birthday,’ which you seem to think is different from the day on which you were activated.”

  “That’s our anniversary, sweetie,” Chief retorted with mock sincerity. “I was technically born a few months prior to that.”

  “Technically, you weren’t born at all,” he countered with a sigh. “All right, I see what you mean, Chi. But if this bites us, you will take responsibility.”

  “I believe that falls onto the ace,” she said and looked up as Kaiden shook his head. “Pay attention. He’s coming.”

  “Who is?” Kaiden asked and scowled when something pressed against his head. “Well, hello there.”

  “I should simply make a nice hole in your head,” the captain barked and tapped the barrel of his pistol against Kaiden’s helmet. “For not only trespassing on World Council property, but resisting arrest and tampering with our weapons.”

  “Three things,” Kaiden said and held up three fingers to count them off. “One, this is a human and Tsuna colony, so it’s not only under the WC’s control. Two, you’re merely security forces. Resisting arrest would mean you’re cops, and trust me, I know the distinction. And finally,” he pointed at Chiyo, “she was the one who tampered with your weapons, not me.”

  “Thanks for that,” she huffed.

  “Quiet!” the captain yelled and raised his weapon to pistol-whip Kaiden, who simply caught the man’s hand as it was about to smash into his visor.

  “Calm the hell down,” he ordered as the captain struggled to escape his grasp. “We’ll go with you. I imagine you have questions or something if you haven’t already tried to blast us to bits.”

  He released the man’s arm. The captain rubbed his wrist and scrutinized them carefully. “You’d be partially right,” he acknowledged belligerently. “I couldn’t care less who you are, but our superiors are extremely interested.”

  “Well, whoever wants to chat, let’s go and do that,” Kaiden said and began to walk away. “If they take requests, I’ll have a beer when we get there. I prefer whiskey, but I don’t wanna get too drunk when… What now?” He balked when he felt the captain’s hand on his shoulder.

  “Do you think we’re idiots?” the man demanded. Kaiden was about to retort when he saw Chiyo shake her head. “You’re not going anywhere with all that gear on. Strip!”

  Kaiden turned to face him. “That’ll cost you quite a few creds, buddy. I’m high-class goods.” The unmistakable sound of guns priming confirmed that the guards behind him had their weapons functioning again. He was quiet for a moment before he placed his hands on his helmet to remove it. “But I suppose I’ll work it for the crowd. Do any of you have music?”

  They were led to a carrier, their hands in cuffs, dressed in nothing but their underlays. One of the guards slid the cases containing their confiscated equipment into a compartment on the underside of the vehicle. Chiyo stepped onto the platform at the back of the carrier and was led into the cabin.

  Kaiden studied it for a moment before he turned to one of the guards. “Hey, my credit chip is in the compartment of my left leg’s armor. Charge whatever when we make it wherever we’re going in one piece.”

  The guard shoved him onto the platform, and Kaiden shrugged and went in. The doors closed behind him as he took a seat on a bench across from Chiyo. The interior was rather dark with only one light that worked above them. The others seemed to be broken. They heard two thumps on the side of the carrier, and it began to move. Kaiden crossed his legs and leaned back.

  “Do y’all need some light?” Chief asked and appeared between them in a dimmed state.

  Kaiden shook his head. “We should be good for now. I don’t want to let them know about our little stowaway.” He nodded at Chiyo. “Unless the infiltrator is scared of the dark for some reason.”

  “I’m fine,” she answered, and Chief bobbed up and down before he disappeared again. “Chief should remain hidden until we’re actually at the base or headquarters. Then we can see how best he can be used.”

  “Were you able to sneak Kaitō in?” Kaiden inquired.

  She nodded, and her eyes flickered with an unnatural light in the darkness. Kaiden could see the faint outline of the EI’s frame in her eyes. “They aren’t very thorough. I expected to have to hide him within the drive on the back of my underlay.” She tapped the back of her neck for emphasis. “But this will work much better.”

  “I hope this will work, plain and simple,” he pointed out. “We’ve only got till the end of the month to finish this, right? I seriously don’t wanna spend a couple of days in the pokey burning time.”

  “I doubt we’ll be there very long. My guess is that you are right about them being on someone’s payroll. I would guess it’s the pirates we are supposed to eliminate.”

  “Do you hope to find the location of their ship?”

  “It’s a station,” she corrected. “But yes. It would make it much easier to have a proper location than have to trace it through other means. If all goes well, we’ll complete this in a few days rather than a few weeks.”

  “It’s good to see you’re looking ahead,” Kaiden told her enthusiastically. “Still, we could have taken them at the outpost and interrogated the captain.”

  “They could have called in reinforcements or warned the others about our approach,” she countered.

  “Maybe, but that’s why I keep you around,” he said with a smile.

  “To clean up your messes?”

  “Your skills allow me to make a mess,” he responded, his tone conciliatory. “They keep me from falling too hard, like that old parable in that story from the twentieth century, Catcher in the Rye.”

  “I’m not that familiar with it,” she admitted. “But it sounds like a compliment.”

  “Maybe in a roundabout way,” Kaiden said with a shrug. “I certainly intended it that way, but sometimes, the outcome is more important than the intention.”

  “A wise deduction,” she said and a faint smile formed at the corners of her mouth. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll have an opportunity to use your preferred way to solve things.”

  “I ain’t worried about all that,” he stated. “I have a gig tomorrow. I’ll have my fill.”

  “A gig?” Chiyo asked and flashed him a quick glance. “What kind?”

  “A dead-or-alive retrieval mission in Illinois.” Kaiden studied his cuffs and wondered if he could or should break them. “I suppose it’s more like a retrieve-or-destroy mission. Some sort of defense droid was stolen by a gang in the area, the Azure Halo. The dumbasses
stole an experimental droid before it was finished, and it’s missing important things like a proper threat detection system. If they are able to get the thing activated, it’s likely to simply kill anything in the immediate vicinity. Obviously, no one wants that to get too far.”

  “There’s something like that out in the civilian world?” Chiyo asked, flabbergasted. “And they are leaving that up to you?”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” he snarked. “I’m simply the next in line. They’ve thrown mercs and guards at them, but they are stationed in a junker town. The gang owns the place, and it’s turned out to be more difficult than they thought it would be. I think I’m the last one they will try before they request the WCM to go in there and take it. My guess is that they think a small group or a single person can get in and out easier. They hope to keep it as quiet as possible, although I’m sure a hacker gang like the Azures have already posted their catch on the gray net.”

  “I’ll have to check once we get out,” she said, lowering her head in consideration. “Kaiden…it seems rather soon.”

  “Soon for what?” he asked, his attention diverted from his cuffs.

  “It’s only been a couple of months since you were… When you fought that killer.”

  “You mean Gin?” he asked, and she nodded. Kaiden was quiet for a moment and rolled his tongue in his mouth as he thought. “Sure, but I can’t think that I’ll run into a universal threat every time I step out of the city. I took a couple of gigs in Tacoma already—simple ones to get back into the groove. Besides, taking droids out has become something of a specialty of mine.”

  “You shouldn’t treat this any different than the Animus,” she stated.

  He held his hands up. “I get it, Chiyo, I do. But remember where I come from and what I did before I came here. Stuff like this has basically been my job since I was a preteen. I’m smart enough to know that I’ll simply go in there and destroy the thing if it has so much as a flicker in its eye.” He lowered his hands and brushed them over the underlay on his legs. “Besides, what good is staying at Nexus if I’m suddenly gonna crumble to bits every time I do a real mission? I would be useless. I can’t say I have many skills that don’t involve guns and armor anyway.”

  “You could start training to be a gunsmith,” she suggested.

  Kaiden looked at her quizzically for a moment before he chuckled., “I suppose that’s a potential fallback option, along with the piloting, but come on. Do you honestly think I’m gonna be any good at the customer support part of that?”

  She looked at him with real worry, but her demeanor changed slightly when her smile returned. “Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t be able to stick with that for very long.”

  “I’m as likely to be shot doing that as anything else.” He laughed. “I appreciate the concern, Chi, but you have to realize as much as anyone that for anyone in our group, the potential for death will be high in our lives. In a way, maybe it was somewhat fortuitous that my run-in with Gin happened since it really drove the point home.” He leaned back and pursed his lips. “Fortuitous? I’m beginning to sound like Genos.”

  Chiyo’s smile widened. “I’m not sure I would describe it that way, but it also showed that even with our dangerous lives, there is a chance we can make it home despite the dire circumstances.”

  “That’s a good way to look at it.”

  She glanced up for a moment, and the artificial lights in her eyes dimmed. “Do you think there is any way I could help you?”

  Kaiden’s eyebrows went up in surprise, and he raised his cuffed hands to stroke his chin. “Well, I…not really. I don’t think, with how good you are, that you’ll run shady gigs like I do. Okay, maybe shady, but not dirty. Besides, I wouldn’t want you to run with me anyway.” His gaze darted to her, and she stared quizzically at him. “You know I don’t mean that negatively,” he said before she could retort. “I simply mean that… You know, I’m doing this to potentially buy myself out of my contract with the Academy by the time I graduate. There’s no guarantee that I’ll even make enough by that time, especially with all the repairs, ammo, and medical expenses I have. I wouldn’t want you to be in harm’s way when the payoff might not even happen. Besides, even if you convinced me to let you come along, there’s a process you gotta go through to get your mercenary license. You certainly won’t get it in fourteen hours.”

  “Maybe not by traditional means,” she hinted.

  Kaiden frowned at her suggestion. “This is not exactly the group of people you want to give the runaround to.”

  “Do you think they have the ability to catch me?” she asked in a challenging tone. She glared at him, then sighed and leaned back. “It’s all right. I won’t burden you if you are that unsure, but I think there is another way to help you before you set out.”

  “And how’s that?” he asked before he lost his balance and toppled at the sudden stop of the carrier.

  “We’re here!” one of the guards alerted them through the speakers. “Hands up and prepare to disembark.”

  Chapter Four

  When Kaiden was led out of the carrier, he immediately saw that they were back in the jungle, and probably fairly deep, considering the drive. They had arrived at a nondescript building a few stories tall and maybe several hundred yards long, with a faded gray exterior and a few token windows to break the monotone walls.

  “I guess they make sure you guys live easy out here, huh?” Kaiden remarked to the guard who led him to the building. “It’s not exactly a pleasure palace, but I’m sure it has enough closets and rec rooms for you guys to take some time out to get to know each other, right?”

  “Keep quiet,” the man ordered brusquely.

  “I’ll try. Not hard, though. The ride was rough, and I’m curmudgeonly.” Kaiden glanced over his shoulder as Chiyo stepped out of the carrier. The captain of the guard gave orders to the others, and two men returned to the carrier to retrieve the cases with their gear while the other one flanked Chiyo and led her forward to Kaiden.

  Once she stood beside him, the guard told her to wait as he filled the other man in. The captain walked past and barely acknowledged them.

  “So, how do you think your plan is shaping up so far?” he asked mostly sarcastically, but if she had something up her sleeve, he was more than willing to hear it.

  “I’ll let you know more when we actually get inside,” she answered and pushed some of her hair out of her eyes.

  “I have a feeling that it’ll be a little harder to talk when they interrogate us,” he pointed out. “I know it hasn’t really come up, but I’m shit at charades.”

  “And on top of that, they will probably separate us.” She glanced quickly at him. “I’ll be out within half an hour once we get inside. I assume you’ll be able to find your own way out with Chief’s help, but if not, hold out until I can reach you.”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’ll save the damsel thing for a night when I feel like roleplaying,” Kaiden quipped.

  “Do you want me to bring up a catalog? I found a dress in white I think you would look divine in.”

  “This is not the time, Chief,” Kaiden muttered in a low tone. “Besides, good luck finding something to fit over my hips.”

  “All right, you two,” one of the guards growled as he walked up to them. “You’ll go through a checkpoint before we deal with you. If you have any other contraband on you that you wanna give up right now, I recommend it. We would feel rather disappointed if you kept anything from us.”

  Kaiden held his cuffed hands up. “I’m clean unless you wanna take the underlay. But I should warn you that my personal weapon is quite dangerous in the open.”

  “Then to be safe, maybe we should cut it off.”

  “I’m sure that would make a great trophy for the office,” he retorted with a smirk.

  The guard gave an exasperated grunt and turned to Chiyo. “You?”

  “You didn’t take my optics,” she stated as she raised her hands to her eyes and care
fully removed them. “I assumed you didn’t so that I could see, but I don’t want to risk potential issues arising from a bad guess.”

  “You need these to see?” the guard asked as she handed him the lenses. “You haven’t gotten them fixed? What about trading them out for digital eyes?”

  “I have a condition called ‘Biological Xenoaphobia.’ My body rejects augmentations,” she explained. “As for Lasik or visual correction scans, I’ve read reports that they can go rather poorly. I’ve been too frightened to try since I was a child.”

  “And yet you ended up with a job where you run around with guns and fly off to distant planets?” the guard snorted. “Maybe you should give it a shot sometime.”

  Kaiden somehow managed to keep his face neutral, but he had to admit to himself that he was impressed with Chiyo’s ability to lie so easily and thoroughly.

  “I’ll keep these for now,” the man said as he found a small box and placed the contacts within. “But I will say it was smart of you to hand them over. It will spare you from having something unfortunate happen.” He spun and addressed the other guards. “All right, boys, let’s take them in so we can get down to business.”

  After another pat-down and a trip through a scanner, both Chiyo and Kaiden were cleared to enter the facility. He expected it to resemble a jail or a barracks, but it looked more like a reconfigured business center. For one thing, they passed a spacious lobby on the way to the elevators that had a statue of a devil bird in the center. He grimaced involuntarily. It seemed that even in deep space, he couldn’t get away from those things.

  “I can see you guys live a spartan life out here,” Kaiden commented. One of the guards looked back and mumbled harshly, but the others tried to tune him out. “Nice atmosphere and all, but I know you guys have to deal with the harsh stuff, and probably only get lobster on Fridays and beds with sheets that are only one thousand thread count. It’s gotta be the pits.”

  “You should shut that smart mouth of yours,” the irate man warned. “We’ve had to deal with things you probably couldn’t begin to understand.”