Mistrunner 3 - Chapter 45 - Overdoing It

When Mira told me she was on the moon, I half expected her to tell me that use that as an opportunity to escape the situation on Earth. But in retrospect, I know that doing so never even crossed her mind.

Patrick Ward

Still cloaked in Stealth, I stalked forward until the Pacificians came into range of Misthack. However, when I tried to infiltrate one of their systems, I got quite a surprise. The moment my awareness touched the Mistwall, it surged forward and enveloped my consciousness. It was only through a quick use of Rewind that I managed to avoid being completely overwhelmed.

It seemed that my enemies were prepared for a fight with someone like me. Perhaps they’d discovered my handiwork back in the communications hub. Or maybe their new defenses were raised the moment the alarm had been sounded. Whatever the case, using my {Mistrunner} abilities were not an option.

Which meant that I had no choice but to do things the old-fashioned way.

I stared across the hangar at my destination. It was a blocky ship that looked completely incapable of flight, which suggested that it was never intended to enter Earth’s – or any other planet’s – atmosphere. Instead, it was a spacefaring ship whose designers never had to worry about drag or aerodynamics.

But they could’ve at least made some concessions to cosmetics. Instead, they’d been content with designing a ship that looked like nothing so much as a trash can with a giant jet engine strapped to one end. Shaking my head, I reasoned that there was no accounting for taste.

Or maybe Pacificians, with their android bodies and pseudo-collective consciousness, didn’t put much stock in appearances. Either way, the way the thing looked didn’t matter much for my plan, which consisted of tearing through a few hundred Pacificians, boarding the ship, and breaking free of the base. After that, I intended to put as much distance as possible between me and the facility before blowing it to smithereens. Once that was done, I’d contact Alistaris so he could come pick me up.

Simple, right?

But also difficult, considering that the Pacificians were obviously ready for me. Originally, I’d hoped to take them out with a ghost like Time Bomb, but with whatever was blocking my access to their interfaces, that was just impossible.

As I’d thought before, there was no real choice but to do things the old-fashioned way. And I couldn’t take my sweet time while doing it, either. Every passing second meant that they were that much closer to discovering my bombs. Those explosives weren’t sophisticated enough to resist attempts at disarmament, either. So, if they were found, all my efforts would have been for naught.

No - I needed to get through that crowd of Pacifician warriors, and I had to do it with some urgency.

Fortunately, I had plenty of experience with that kind of thing. So, without any further hesitation, I retrieved a few spherical objects from my arsenal implant, and, with an underhanded through, sent them bouncing across the polished hangar floor.

The sound of those metallic devices hitting the floor was loud in the comparatively silent hangar, and in an instant, a hundred Pacifician weapons were aimed in their direction. However, they clearly hadn’t expected a few silver balls, and as such, they hesitated before opening fire.

It was precisely the delay I’d hoped for, and soon enough, the balls rolled into position and exploded.

However, they had never been intended to hurt the Pacificians. Instead, because I was worried about damaging the ship that was my way out of the facility – and because I’d used most of my explosives to cobble together the bombs I’d left throughout the base – I’d chosen to use a trio of smoke bombs I’d had in my arsenal implant for months.

Usually, I didn’t use them because they didn’t really offer much utility that I couldn’t get more easily with my abilities. But this was an opportunity for the little bombs to shine.

They exploded into dense, white smoke that quickly spread throughout the hangar. A few Pacificians panicked and fired their weapons, but by that point, I was already among them, slashing out with my nano-bladed sword when I got close enough for them to detect my presence.

For the first dozen feet, it worked incredibly well, and, for a moment, I thought I’d make it to the ship without issue. However, that hope was dashed when, suddenly, the drones came alive with a buzzing sound that echoed throughout the hangar. A moment later, the smoke – or fog, really – began to dissipate as the Mist that powered it was drained away.

I was still cloaked in Stealth, but that too, dropped away only a second later when the drones emitted a piercing screech that forcibly cancelled the ability. I stumbled at the shock of it all, but I turned that into a roll as I stored my blade away, exchanging it for the Dragon.

Wheeling around, I let the weapon roar.

A dozen Pacificians fell to that initial burst, but these aliens were a cut above my typical enemies. So, even though the weapon was devastating, they quickly adjusted by deploying a series of directional Mist shields that looked like panes of blue glass. The Dragon’s issue still tore into them, and I saw the shields waver before its might, but I knew I’d never get through them before reinforcements arrived.

So, I tossed a handful of flashbangs out before stowing the Dragon and sprinting forward. As I did, a few of the Pacificians took aim, and I felt a series of shots thud into my hip. A quick glance at my health readout told me that those rounds hadn’t made it through my Infiltration suit or my subdermal armor, but they’d significantly undermined the integrity of my defenses. Only a few more hits, and they’d start doing some serious damage.

As I closed on the line of Mist-shielded Pacificians, I summoned my oft-ignored scattergun. Without aiming, I let it loose, sending a web of lightning crashing into those shields. It wasn’t enough to bring them down, but it had the distinct benefit of sending hundreds of ripples across the shields’ blue surfaces, obscuring my enemies’ vision.

I leaped, then, when I reached the apex of the maneuver, used Double-Jump. Rare was the opportunity to use the ability, mostly because it was far inferior to using Teleport. However, it had the distinct advantage of costing almost no Mist, which was a feature Teleport certainly couldn’t claim. Even so, there weren’t that many situations where it would be useful, so, like my scattergun, it was usually ignored.

I sprang off a cushion of Mist, doubling the height of my jump, which allowed me to sail over the first line of Pacifician defenders. As I did, I pulsed Balance and twisted in mid-air before summoning my assault rifle and aiming at my enemies suddenly exposed heads. The weapon barked, tearing through them without difficulty.

I knew it wouldn’t kill them. They were far too durable for that. But I also suspected that they would have trouble seeing if their heads were half-destroyed. And if they couldn’t see, they’d have a hard time shooting me.

After all, I didn’t care about taking them out. The bombs would take care of that. Instead, all I wanted was to get through them. To that end, when I landed, rolling with my momentum before coming to my feet at a dead sprint, I didn’t even bother looking back. Instead, I juked left, then right, zig-zagging my way across the hangar as I sprayed bullets at anyone in front of me.

At the same time, I continued to toss out various grenades. None were meant to do damage. In fact, most of them were just prototypes I had stored in my arsenal implant in hopes of working on them in my downtime. Quite a few of them didn’t even work properly. However, they all added to the chaos as I steadily sprinted toward the ship.

When I drew within range, I was very nearly decapitated by a blade that I only saw a second before it took my head off. I dropped to a slide that quickly became a roll. I found my feet just in time to see my attacker.

On the surface, he looked just like every other Pacifician I’d encountered. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. A perfect façade for the robotic monster beneath. However, unlike his fellow androids, he wore a smirk on his handsome face.

He also held the largest sword I’d ever seen.

“Compensating for something?” I managed to say before he launched himself at me with an overhand attack that was so fast that it bordered on teleportation.  I dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack. The blade crashed into the floor, cutting a long groove in the metallic surface.

He yanked the blade away, but before he could recover and attack me again, I raised my rifle and sent a burst of gunfire his way.

That got a flinch.

Just a simple shudder as the bullets hit him. Nothing more.

“Shit,” I mumbled.

He didn’t respond. He didn’t even acknowledge my gunfire. Instead, he rushed me, swinging that giant sword like it weighed no more than a feather. And it was everything I could do to avoid being cut in half. Over the next few moments, I used every point of my enhanced Constitution to keep from being hacked apart. I used every ability I had at my disposal as well, but he countered everything without difficulty.

I used Disengage, putting some distance between us, but that first clash had made something abundantly clear: I was completely outmatched.

And even those few seconds of delay had given the other Pacificians time to recover. Already, they’d started to close. In a moment, they would bury me under a barrage of gunfire. I needed to change the dynamic of the encounter. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have a chance.

So, after glancing back toward the swordsman – who’d begun to advance – I came up with a plan.

That’s when I turned and ran.

That seemed to surprise him, but that only lasted a second before he poured on the speed. In barely an instant, he caught up to me. But I was ready for it. When he reached me, I summoned my nano-blade and activated Riposte. When my blade met his, I felt the force of it drive me into the ground. However, my ability endured, and I used that momentum to my advantage by letting it spin me around. My sword lashed out, neatly slicing through the tendon at the back of his ankle.

He stumbled.

And once again, I ran.

This time, though, I didn’t use my feet, and I certainly didn’t intend to keep going in the same direction I’d gone before. Instead, I used Teleport.

Instantly, I was standing at the ship’s entry hatch. I yanked it open and dove inside, dragging it shut behind me, locking it the moment it was closed. Only an instant later, something hit the ship with enough force to nearly tip it over. Clearly, the swordsman had recovered, and he was very unhappy with the turn of events. Another impact sent a tremor through the ship, but I ignored it as I raced toward the controls.

As I’d expected, they were alien, and I had no idea what I was looking at. I didn’t even know how to turn the thing on. Thankfully, I had a way around that. Even as a third impact hit the ship,  I yanked my personal link from the Hand of God and jammed it into the ship’s terminal.

Its defenses were laughable, and a moment later, my abilities translated the ship’s controls, and I ignited the Mist engines. Thankfully, they spun to life within a couple of seconds, and I took off.

My next hurdle was the hangar doors, which remained shut. I solved that issue by taking control of the ship’s weapon systems and creating my own exit. Even as I flew free – with a good deal less grace than if I was flying the familiar Leviathan – I heard another impact.

Clearly, the swordsman wasn’t going to give up just because I’d escaped the facility. He was also obviously resistant to the extreme temperatures and lack of oxygen. Did androids have to breathe? Apparently not, as evidenced by his continued attempts to break into the ship.

I gained altitude, racing across the surface of the moon as I put as much distance between myself and the base. Still, he continued his assault, banging against the door with enough force to send tremors through the ship.

I knew it could only take so much, but I also knew that I didn’t have time to deal with him. So, I continued to pour on speed until, at last, I reached what I deemed to be a safe distance. I pulled the detonator from my arsenal implant, then pressed the appropriate series of buttons.

When my bombs exploded, the first thought that crossed my mind was that my idea of safe did not really correlate to reality.

A massive shockwave swept across the surface of the moon, catching the ship in its momentum. If I’d had a skill like Patrick, or if I’d been using the actual flight controls, I might have managed to keep it steady. But I didn’t. And so, the ship went spinning through the thin atmosphere before colliding with a barren mountain.

It didn’t stop there, either.

For miles, the ship tumbled across the lunar landscape. I tried to hold on, but at some point, my grip failed and I was sent banging across the interior of the ship until, at last, I was knocked unconscious.

When I awoke a few minutes later, I was assailed by the sound of an alarm klaxon. Red lights flashed, and I saw cracks spreading across the front window. Clearly, the integrity of the ship’s hull had been breached, and it was only a matter of time before it failed entirely.

I picked myself up, noting that I was riddled with contusions, and I had more than a few broken bones. Most distressing was that my shin felt like it had been snapped in two. I didn’t take the time to consult my interface, but I suspected that I’d have to take some drastic measures if I was going to avoid a lengthy recovery time.

Pushing those thoughts out of mind, I limped toward the ship’s controls and, once again, tapped into the terminal. Once there, I found the communications array and used it to establish a Secure Connection with Alistaris.

“What did you do?!” he screamed, the first time I’d heard him lose his composure.

“I did what I said I was going to do,” I stated as calmly as I could manage. It wasn’t easy, given the amount of pain I was in. I also suspected I had a concussion, which made things even more difficult.

“You blew up half the moon!”

“Good. That means I got all of them,” I said, though I was more than a little distressed by his characterization of my efforts. I hoped he was overstating the damage. “Look – I don’t have much time. Can you track this signal?”

“Yes, but –”

“Okay. When you get here, I’m going to be in a barrel,” I said. As I spoke, I dragged the stolen barrel out of my arsenal implant. “I don’t have that much oxygen left, and when my ship’s hull fails, I won’t have much protection from the atmosphere. So, you’d better hurry up if you intend to save me.”

“I should just let you die,” Alistaris said. “The ramifications of what you just did…”

“Your choice. But think about what I just did. Think about pointing me at your enemies,” I said, popping the top off the barrel. “Like I said before, I’m in. You want me to fight a war for you? Well, this is just my first step.”

I heard him sigh before he said, “Fine. But let me know if you want to blow up any other celestial bodies.”

“No promises,” I said as I climbed into the barrel. Just as I did, the hull finally failed, and the oxygen within the ship raced out into the atmosphere. I pulled the barrel closed, dragged my respirator out of my arsenal implant, and settled in to wait. It was a few more minutes before the cold started to seep in, but it wasn’t long after that before I felt my muscles start to lock up.

After about ten minutes, I felt the barrel jostling around, indicating that Alistaris had found me. However, only a few moments later, I heard muffled gunfire before everything went silent.

Soon, the motion of the barrel once again started, and, only a little time later, the cold began to dissipate. Finally, the barrel popped upon, and I pushed myself to my feet. I knew I made for a gruesome sight. I’d been through quite a battle, and the effects of the cold couldn’t have been pretty. Still, I managed a smile when I saw Alistaris.

“Thanks for the pickup,” I said.

Then, I collapsed. I didn’t lose consciousness – I wasn’t going to let that happen when I still wasn’t entirely sure of the Dingyt’s intentions – but I definitely wasn’t completely aware as someone dragged me onto a stretcher.

“I have no idea how you’re still alive,” the gnome said as he loomed over my prone form.

“Just lucky, I guess,” I mumbled before coughing up blood. Where that had come from, I had no idea. Clearly, I had some internal injuries.

But I had survived, and I stuck the first real blow against the aliens. That was a comfort. I coughed again, splattering blood all over my chin.

A small comfort, but a comfort nonetheless.