Haywire (37 page)

“
Tell you what,” Roe said, a small grin struggling to warm her face, “stop those Titans that are coming, and I’ll consider us even.”

A loud grunt and clang of metal caused everyone to turn toward the back wall. Through a doorway stepped Artemis, a bundled collection of canisters in her hands. Behind her came a man Alex hadn’t met yet in person, but whom he’d heard all about. Doctor Hofstadter had two canisters in his arms, and he wheezed as he struggled through the door. Alex stepped forward to help him. As they entered his arms, he gasped. If they weren’t twenty kilos each they were within a gram of it.

Hutchins laughed. “Need some help?”

“
No,” Alex replied with a grunt. “I got it.” He lowered his legs until the canisters touched the ground with a weighty clink.

“
Is that it?” Shawn asked.

Artemis and Hofstadter nodded in unison.

It was an impressive collection, but Alex had no idea if it was enough. “Do you think this will do the job?”

Artemis started to nod, but then she shrugged her shoulders. “I think so. Dr. Groesbeck’s notes said it’d only takes a small amount of Zeus to break down a Titan’s nanites since they self-replicate using the very nanites they destroy, but I never leave Murphy’s Law out of the equation. For all we know the Hezrin virus could have changed our nanites to the point where Zeus won’t have any effect at all. We won’t know until we use it.”

“
Speaking of which,” Hutchins said, “what’s the plan? How do we get all this to Thanatos and his people? Do we just… shoot it at them?”

Artemis lowered her bundled canisters, and the floor shook when the load touched down. “We-e-e have to get them somewhere as remote and unpo-o-opulated as possible if we want to have any hope of containing them. I think our best bet is Hygeia. That whole area was pr-r-retty well evacuated thanks to the marines and pirates, and I’m guessing it’s still fairly em-mpty. Once we get them there, we lure them into the mining station and shoot Zeus through its environmental system. That should... that should put an end to things.”

“
Do you…” Shawn began to ask before his lips stopped working. The boy was armored head to toe and could tear through vacuum steel like it was made of rice paper, but he looked scared, unprepared. After a moment he said, “Do you think Zeus will just unmake their nanites, or will it... you know, kill them?”

“
Even Dr. Groesbeck was unsure on that point,” Hofstadter replied. “Zeus targets only Titan nanites, so in theory it would leave all human tissue unharmed, but there are a great number of physiological changes that the nanites create within the body, and we don’t know how they would react to sudden nanite removal. They could continue on, or… or it could all collapse. We just do not know. I’m sorry.”

The doctor’s words didn’t seem to alleviate Shawn’s troubles, but the boy nodded and squared his shoulders as best he could. Alex admired that. Not many people would be able to do the same. He was a stronger person than Alex had anticipated him to be.

“
So how do we get Thanatos to come to Hygeia?” Alex asked, hoping to draw the conversation to something they could move forward on. “I know he’s crazy, but is he crazy enough to be led into a trap?”

“
They’re driven to k-k-kill,” Artemis said, her armored hands twitching until she slapped them against her sides. “The stronger their opposition is, the mo-more they’ll want to destroy them. All we have to do is give them a target they c-c-can’t refuse.”

“
And what’s that?” Alex asked, though he already knew the answer. When he looked over at Shawn, the hangdog expression he wore said he knew it too.

“
Me.”

Artemis nodded. “Yes, you. More than that, though, it’s wha-a-at you represent. You’re a new generation of Titan, something no-no one’s seen in a century. When Thanatos arrives, we’ll show you to him and tell him you’re just the f-f-first of a new army being readied on Hygeia. There’s no way he’ll be able to re-e-esist that bait.”

“
How can you be so certain of that?” Hofstadter asked.

Artemis flicked her eyes at Shawn, and in her gaze was something Alex couldn’t quite put a finger on. There was sadness, yes, and he thought maybe even a little guilt, but something else lingered in her eyes, and it took him a few seconds to realize what it was – affection. That surprised him, but he couldn’t tell just how far that feeling went. A moment later she shook her head, and the lines on her face deepened.

“
Because every time I l-l-look at Shawn, part of me wants to rip his throat out and tear his armor to pie-e-eces,” she said.

Awkward silence fell on the house, but Alex knew they had to move on if they wanted any hope of carrying out the Titan’s plan. He coughed into his fist to break the stillness, then said, “If this is everything, then we should go. How are we carrying–”

Shawn grabbed the canisters he’d just tied together, about ten from the look of it, and hoisted them onto his back without any trouble. Alex’s knees ached at seeing that much load being carried on one back. Artemis grabbed her two bundles and swung her arms up to do the same, but she barely moved a muscle before her body convulsed and she dropped to the floor. Her eyes rolled back into her head as her neck and back arched. Her armor jittered and spiked, and a mewling sound escaped her lips in a long keen. No one knew what to do, so they stood back and waited. If she lost control of herself and succumbed to the virus, no amount of running or hiding would matter.

After a minute her armor hardened and her lips closed. She didn’t immediately stand back up, but when she opened her eyes, they looked clear.

“
It’s getting worse,” she said, stating the obvious. “I-I-I can’t hold out much longer.”

Alex stepped forward and started undoing the ties on one of her bundles. “Then let us help so we can get out of here.”

Artemis didn’t thank him out loud, but the look she gave him was a grateful one. Once on her feet she managed to take a bundle and hoist it over her shoulder while the SWAT team broke the other one down and distributed them out. Hofstadter packed a tablet into a case and locked his fingers around the handle.

“
Everyone ready?” Alex asked. When the group nodded, he nodded back and moved to the door. The way ahead wasn’t long, but every second counted. A clock was ticking inside the Titan, and its steady beat grew louder and louder in his head.

General Harper was zipping up his pants when the comm wrapped around his right ear chirped, the bright sound echoing sharply off the tiled walls and floor.

“
Harper, go,” he said as he turned to a wash basin, leaned over, and put his hand under a soap dispenser.

“
General, we’ve got problems,” Major Fuqua said.

Water poured from a faucet, and Harper rubbed his hands together under it, washing them just like his mother had taught him – thoroughly. “Tell me something I don’t already know, Fookie.”

“
Titania Naval Base has been destroyed.”

Harper’s hands went limp, and the water shut off automatically as he stood up straight. “Come again?”

Fookie grunted, and his breathing was harsh, like he was walking somewhere quickly. “I said Titania Naval Base has been destroyed. It’s nothing but debris, as is every ship and sailor stationed there.”

The general opened his mouth, but nothing came out of it. For the first time in his life, he didn’t know what to say.

“
We also got a distress call from Splendor, but it was cut short, and we haven’t been able to raise them since. A recon ship is burning its way there now.”

Harper picked up a small towel from the basket next to the sink and dried his hands with it. “Do we know who’s responsible for this?”

“
Titania sent a flashcast to FLEETCOM before they were destroyed, and from the data we’ve got it looks like they were attacked by a Hezrin dreadnaught.”

Harper’s hands jerked and dropped the towel as he recalled his studies at the Alliance Naval Academy. Hezrin ships had been monstrous, all of them capable of terrible destruction, but none had been more feared than their dreadnaughts. Several kilometers long and bristling with enough cannons to decimate entire colonies all by themselves, they were beasts no human ship had ever taken on successfully. Not even carrier strike groups had posed a threat to them. Only nuclear warheads had been powerful enough to take them out, and even then it had required more than one.

Having a dreadnaught return now was bad news on its own, but what made it even worse was that no Alliance or Union warship carried nukes any longer. In the decades following the war, the still smoldering scars of what humanity had done to itself compelled them to shit-can their greatest weapons. “Never again,” the public had cried when the Hezrin threat was a distant memory. “Never again will those fires burn.” And, like a parent wanting to comfort their stupid children, the governments patted their citizens on the head and capitulated.

“
Damn it to hell,” Harper said. “So now we not only have Titans and pirates to worry about, but now the Hezrin are back too?”

“
It’s not the Hezrin,” Fookie replied, the sound of shoes hitting floor tiles stopping. “The people that launched from the dreadnaught and decimated Titania were Titans. They... they tore through the base like crazed animals, ripping it apart from the inside out. The sounds they made, the blood and . . .”

Things had to be bad for Fookie to lose his calm demeanor, which didn’t improve Harper’s mood one bit.

“
Keep it together, Son. Do we know where they are now?”

After a few seconds, the major said, “No. We don’t know where they came from, or where they’re going. Analysts are working on that as we speak.”

“
Alright,” Harper replied as he turned to the bathroom door and opened it. “Meet me in my office.”

“
Already on my way, Sir.” Fookie’s breathing increased again.

As Harper left his private bathroom, a dark cloud gathered over his head, and every pounding beat of his heart sent lightning flashing from it.

“
And the hits just keep on coming,” he grumbled to himself.

“
The targets are entering the lift,” a voice said into Major Hill’s ear through a comm link.

“
And the Titans are with them?” Hill asked, anger and excitement rising in his chest.

“
Affirmative, Sir.”

Hill closed his eyes and breathed deeply. His quarry was nearly in his grasp. All he had to do was wait for it to drop into his lap. “Good. Once they’re in the lift, head back up via the emergency stairwell. Hill out.”

Hill looked at the HUD in his helmet and made sure his trap was fully set. In the center of his map was the lift leading down from Bellona to the nethers. It was a large elevator, capable of moving lots of cargo and people. But, because it led to a place few cared to travel to, there was little traffic to worry about, and false detour notices around the few pathways that led to the lift meant the area was clear. His people, all of them encased in heavy powered armor, paired off into two-person fireteams and positioned themselves in a circle around the lift, hidden by buildings and bulky city maintenance equipment. Along with their thick armor they also carried rifles large enough to be classified as cannons, and bombs were planted down any path the Titans might use to escape. The only way their targets were going to get away was if they made it though several city blocks of explosives and falling debris. He didn’t think even Titans could pull that off.

“
Okay, folks,” he said, the mic at his throat irritating his skin, “this is it. They’re on their way. No one move until I give the signal. Clear?”

“
Sir, yes, Sir,” came back to him in a chorus.

He didn’t doubt his team. He blamed their earlier failure on lack of intel and plain bad luck. The EM grenades should have worked. But the Titans were too strong, too fast. Their armor was a marvel. And the fact that he’d had to take on two instead of one had thrown the biggest wrench of all into his plan. But now, despite being in enemy territory, they were ready. This time he had more than bullets and grenades. Much more.

From his left the nether lift gave out a bright ding. He crouched down behind a curved water pipe. Next to him, his partner did the same. When the elevator doors opened and one of the Titans stepped into view, blood pounded in his ears. He felt like a horse locked in a stall waiting to be set free. After the Titans and agents were out of the lift, along with an officious looking older man who seemed incredibly out of place in their ranks, all of them carrying some sort of containers in their arms, the door closed behind them, and that was his cue.

“
Everyone stop where you are and surrender!” he said as he peeled away from the water pipe and dashed toward the Titans, the boots of his heavy powered armor hitting the ground like hammers. On his HUD he could see the rest of the people following suit, their numbers closing like a thick metal noose around their targets. The Titans and federal agents tried to drop their burdens to defend themselves, but they were too late. It was over.

“
Don’t any of you make a move,” he continued, the barrel of his large bore rifle adding weight to his words. “You’re surrounded. Give up now, and no one needs to die.”

It was a lie, but they didn’t need to know that. Sometimes a faint glimmer of hope was all people needed to do as they were told.

The female Titan laughed. “You expect us to believe you after Hygeia.”