"Okay, let's see what we have here." Zavier turned to look past the small, carpeted vestibule they were in. He poked his head around an opening before waving his family over to look. Tess tapped a sign on the wall that read SECURITY OFFICE. He nodded, then surveyed the area beyond.
The vastness of the Security Office hit them like a wave. This wasn't some cramped control room or a tight corridor, like the cubicle maze. It was an expansive industrial space, bathed in cold, sterile light that flickered intermittently from overhead fixtures. The ceiling loomed high above them, disappearing into shadows where metal support beams crossed like the bones of some enormous creature.
The wide area was bisected throughout with waist-high concrete barriers. Guard stations jutted from the walls like sentinels, their bulletproof glass glinting in the dim light. At the far end of the room was a heavy metal door with thick shafts of hardened steel couched into support locks that looked as unbreakable as the door itself. In the center of the door a tablet was mounted, and none of them missed the slight green glow of an active screen.
Zavier's eyes trailed upwards to a half circle of glass and metal above the door - a panopticon from which the entire room was visible. Tess squinted then spoke to them over the group chat.
"No one step on the floor yet. I see something in that station above the door. It looks… I don't know, maybe it's a person? If it is, it's all wrong. It doesn't seem to be doing anything yet."
None of them had her vision but they trusted her assessment of the situation.
"What do we do?" Luna whispered.
Zavier opened his mouth to try to come up with a plan but Cass got there first. "This is just like a video game. Those barriers are for cover - defenders hide behind them and shoot at anything that comes close. You have to sprint and strafe from barrier to barrier, clearing the enemies behind them before moving on to the next. I'm betting the big boss is up there." He pointed to the panopticon.
Zavier nodded appreciatively. "You're the expert, what do we do?"
Cass considered for a moment. "It's pretty simple, really. Run fast, duck and cover, shoot at anything that pokes its head over the barriers. If we're pinned down then someone has to jump the barrier and kill whatever is on the other side. Oh! And watch from above. Something always drops down from above."
Their eyes all traveled upwards to the iron gridwork that was half hidden in shadows.
"Okay then, here's what I propose." Zavier looked at each of them as he called out their roles. "Cass, you're up front. Block anything that comes at us. Don't go super speed on us, but use your speed to catch any bullets that get fired our way. I'll be right behind you on your left with the chain since it's semi-ranged. Luna, you're going to be our superstar here - you shoot the shit out of anything you see. Tess, you guard our rear and watch for anything from above. Got it?"
They all nodded. A small hand tugged at Zavier's and he looked down into big eyes.
"What about me?"
He groaned internally. Fuck, this is going to get complicated. "We need Cass up front so you can't stay behind him. You stay between me and Tess," he pointed her out to the girl in case she hadn't caught her name before. "Whatever you do, stay between us and we'll protect you, okay?"
The girl nodded her head but shook as she stood. Tess stooped again and touched the girl gently on the arm. "Can you be brave for me, like you were before?"
The girl gave a final sniffle before straightening as tall as she could. Her hands clenched into tiny fists and she nodded her head with determination.
"Alright then," Zavier said. "Let's do this thing and hope it doesn't go to shit." Everyone steadied themselves, then the Torres family took off at a sprint.
It immediately went to shit.
The instant Cass's foot hit the marble tiled floor, two turrets emerged from the walls on either side of the room, swiveling his way and launching a barrage of bullets. He skipped out of the path of one and took the other on his shield, the impacts sounding like hail. He angled the shield and the enchantment on the shield launched them back at the first turret in a spray, sparks leaping from it as it was shredded by its own attack.
The second was spinning toward Luna and she yelped, throwing her shield in its path, deflecting the first few rounds. One slipped through before Cass could get to her and she went spinning, blood flying through the air.
Cass turned to run but Zavier stopped him with a shout. "STAY UP FRONT! YOU'RE OUR VANGUARD! TESS, GET LUNA!"
Indecision weighed in Cass's eyes and he paused, just long enough for a metallic arm to reach over the barrier and spear him through the shoulder, lifting him from the ground and pulling him out of sight.
Zavier
"FUCK!" Zavier yelled as he ran forward. He grabbed Fara and threw her in a slide to the barrier Cass had disappeared over before leaping over it himself. On the other side Cass was pinned down by a machine that looked equal parts wasp and scorpion, all metal and plastic and… Is that muscle in there? Zavier's chain was moving even as he noticed it, and he flexed it to change its trajectory. At first glance the thing looked fully mechanical, futuristic and deadly, but he'd noticed what could only be muscle and sinew in the gaps between the metal and plastic plates that formed its exoskeleton. The chain plunged into the space between the plates on the arm-leg thing that was pinning Cass to the ground. He was greeted with a half-machine, half-human sound, the creepiness of the sound only amplified by the dead tone in which it said "Ow. Ow. Ow."
He flung the chain up and down rapidly in an attempt to saw the muscle away. The thing's head turned an unnatural number of degrees to face him and he could see its plastic helmet was a horizontal visor of semi-opaque plastic. Inside, the eyes that looked at him were distinctly human, even though they were surrounded by wires and bare tendons. He jerked back in horror at the sight, ripping the chain free, taking the offending limb with it. His back was to the barrier and he kicked out as hard as he could, but even his System granted strength only pushed it back a few inches. He didn't have the leverage to swing the chain again and was fumbling around his belt for anything that would work as a weapon when the visor exploded in a grotesque mottled gray light riddled through with lightning. It tumbled backwards, crashing heavily onto the floor. He risked a peek over the barrier and saw Luna with her arm raised, blood staining her shoulder.
"Healing pill, just the shoulder," Tess said in a rush as she leapt the barrier, Fara under one arm.
Zavier rushed to Cass and pulled the spike out of his shoulder, tossing it to the side and handing him a healing pill of his own. The family gathered back-to-back and the room came alive around them.
Two more of the guards climbed over barriers with spidery limbs, a third appearing over the barrier at the far end of the room. Cass was in motion again as the forgotten turret found its way back to them. He angled the barrage to take it out like he had the first, but it turned back into the wall before the bullets could strike home, the rain of metal plunking heavily into concrete.
"They're getting smarter!" Zavier's voice carried over the cacophony.
"I think it's him!" Tess pointed at the panopticon where they could all see a hulking monstrosity with orange eyes in an oversized helmet of shining white and silver looking down at them, its too-long limbs moving over a control panel in front of it. Before they could move again the barrier behind them shot into the air, growing straight out of the ground until it was almost high enough to reach the ceiling.
"Forward!" Zavier yelled and they ran. "Keep the bullets off of us! Two sources!" He cried and Cass followed his pointing finger to the wall turret and the guard at the far end of the room. Where the turret had fired conventional rounds, the thing at the other end was firing bullets that glowed with an ominous blue light.
"Oh no!" Tess and Zavier turned to see what had caused Luna's outburst. "My agility just dropped in half!"
Zavier recalled her sheet and cursed under his breath when he realized she would be at a base of five now. That was clumsy even by pre-System standards - almost 50% less than the human average.
"Stay with the girl! Use the gauntlet on anything that comes close. DON'T AIM NEAR US!" The last thing he wanted was her tripping and peppering them with shots imbued with the energy of the homunculus.
She looked chagrined but they had no time to comfort her. She would have to hold her own for the moment.
"Stay near her," Tess said quietly to Fara, then sprinted forward, vaulting over two barriers in quick succession. She was on the two spider-like security guards in moments, dodging between the piercing strikes from their four pointed legs. Disgust welled in Zavier as he saw something he'd missed earlier - their upper torsos sprouted robotic arms with human hands - and they were reaching for Tess.
"Oh no! Up!" Zavier reacted to Luna's cry, spinning in place to see Luna aiming her gauntlet into the air above him. She tripped on her heel and landed hard on her back, Fara staring at her with wide eyes.
On instinct he leapt to the side and into a roll, the hair on the back of his head tugging sharply for an instant as something cleaved through the air where he'd been. His chain was moving before he'd turned, his hearing enough to tell him that something heavy had landed directly behind him.
Tess
Tess was calculating as she sprinted, her conscious mind not even registering the barriers as she vaulted them. Her class, Relentless Predator, sent her instinctual impressions that never reached her aware mind - all of it flashing by in an instant. If they'd been actual thoughts they would have been something along the lines of The legs are fast but limited range, doesn't look like they will be able to balance well while using them to attack. Stabbing strikes. Are those arms? Arms seem strong but the hands are flesh - definite weak point. Why hands if not to carry weap - oh, there they are. Clubs and possible guns. Low range of vision. Body and head swivel beyond human capabilities. Go for eyes joints first, eyes next, hands last.
She could feel the passive benefits of Weapons Mastery and decided not to activate Whirlwind Strike. She wasn't certain she'd need it and didn't want to play a trump card unless it was absolutely necessary. As she approached, her vision was filled with four spiked legs angling straight for her, each of the guards balancing precariously on their rear two as they moved to spear her on the front two.
Low balance. No tactical thought, programmed or instinctual responses.She smiled and turned sideways to slide between the legs of one of them, Claw and a machete slicing into the joints as she passed. Claw sent one limb flying free but the machete got stuck in the joint as the guard reacted. She released it and shoulder checked the thing, sending it skidding backwards in a long slide. She tucked and rolled, kicking off the ground to jump into what Zavier would likely call a 'Trinity from The Matrix" pose if he'd seen it, steel-toed boot smashing hard into its visor, cracking the plastic. Clicking sounded behind her, accompanied by the glitched-out human voice that only said "Ow. Ow. Ow." as it came at her in a rush. Part of her got the shivers from the sound of it expressing robotic pain even as it charged her, but another, more present part of her, felt the thrill of prey crying.
She was in the air, unable to change her trajectory. Her senses were working in perfect concert and she could practically feel the spiked leg moving the air behind her as it aimed at her back. She had no illusions that her kevlar vest would protect against this. Blindly she reached behind her, instinct guiding her hand. Her palm brushed against something cold and rigid, tapering outward even as it slid through her grasp. Sharp metal touched her vest and she clamped down hard, her shoulder twisting in agony as the momentum of the attack was transferred into the limb. Then she was spinning, her grip on the guard's leg giving her a pivot point. When the pierce missed it slapped its arm to the side, opting to bludgeon her with it instead. In the second it took for her to spin around she noticed the handle of the machete that was still lodged in its joint and she released her grip long enough to reach for it.
There! She had it and she was unable to drop the weapon unless she chose to, which meant that the guard was unable to drop her.
She felt like a professional bull rider, flung in every direction, unpredictable and fast. That guard was too distracted with trying to dislodge her to try anything else, so she focused on the one she'd kicked. It had pulled a futuristic pistol from its belt and was sighting her with one hand, the other swinging an extendable metal baton. Her arm felt like it was going to rip from her socket but the only move she had was reacting as the guard facing her started swinging.
Claw danced and metal rang against hardened bone, its magical edge bending the baton a little more with each strike. I might have this if I can take its hand. The thought was interrupted when she felt two hands grab her by each ankle. Suddenly she was being pulled in three directions, her entire body stretched out like a medieval torture victim. If she'd been capable of fear in that moment it would have blossomed inside of her from the way the guard stepped back and took aim. Instead she focused on the hand holding the weapon and the movement of its trigger finger.
Suddenly the moment felt right and she released the machete, pushing off of it to drop her knees and bend forward at the waist. Shining blue projectiles shot over her head and the hands at her ankles released even as an explosion of plastic visor rained down on her. She didn't waste the motion of looking back, instead kicking off and angling Claw to deflect the gun that was training down on her, then upwards into the opening at the bottom of the guard's helmet.
"Ow-w-w—-w…" then it clattered to the ground in a heap.
Cass
Cass felt like he was everywhere at once, yet doing nothing. He flashed in every direction, deflecting bullets from the turret and the guard at the end of the room. Their barrages were nonstop and he was beginning to feel winded, even with his speed activated. Don't these things ever run out of ammo?
He checked his pool of speed and saw that he was a little under halfway to the end. Some deep part of him understood that there would be no breaking past the limits of his pool today, the border of that inexhaustible power felt fragile and brittle. He didn't know what would happen if he shattered it, but he knew it wouldn't be good. He had to finish this quickly.
"Stop going back into the wall!" His frustrated scream was met with cold concrete as the turret once again dodged his attempts to destroy it with its own attack. He sighed when he saw more shots from the guard streaking toward his dad. He wondered if he should help him fight the one that had dropped from above but shook the idea away. He couldn't spare a millisecond to anything other than guarding them. He'd even tried taking out the guard himself but the instant he moved toward it the turret swiveled - and it had line-of-sight on Zavier and Luna both.
"Just focus on me! I'm the threat!"
His challenge went unanswered and he realized why. The turret wasn't thinking for itself, that thing up in the guard tower - what had his dad called it? Panopticon. The thing in the panopticon was controlling it and it was smart enough to not give him a chance to engage.