Chapter 69

Option number three called for some ingenuity and improvisation. My quick peek through the door showed me that the lobby beyond the stairwell door was defended by a robot that we hadn't encountered before. That robot was twice the size of the largest robot that I'd fought so far and it was on tracks which made it highly mobile. It was also situated in such a way in the lobby that even my helmet trick would probably not work on it. Anyone trying to engage it from the landing of the staircase would have to expose themselves to direct fire from the robot if they wanted to get a bead on it and that was just too risky. The robot would just empty a few thousand rounds at the shooter and I didn't think that even my armour or more importantly bones could stand up to that kind of concentrated fire.

I did send a runner down to see Richards but I knew that I really couldn't wait for him to come through for me. I was impatient and I was still looking for a little personal revenge for what had happened to Kola and Goiania and to all the others who had died in the last few days. I knew that somewhere behind that robot, hiding on that floor were the people who were responsible and I wanted them dead and to achieve that I needed to do something right now instead of later. So I did just that. Leaving the bulk of my forces on the stairs I started heading back down towards the floor that contained all the living quarters. With me I took Dork and Nimue and Rory and seven other men and women. I had a use for them.

"Strip every bed of its linen," I shouted aloud as we stormed into the floor below, "and search all the cupboards and closets for more."

"Why are we doing that?" Dork asked looking at me with surprise on his ugly mug.

"Because we're going to make ropes," I told him bluntly, "so we can rappel down off the top of this complex and when we do, we're going to blast holes in the windows on that floor so we can get in and get behind that fucking robot."

"Yeah," Rory cheered in response to that idea, "I'm with you on that."

"Me too," Nimue exclaimed happily. "You can count me in."

Dork just grunted and smiled in response and nodded his head and then headed off to do what I had said.

I was in charge of making the rope. I put half my people on stripping the beds and finding the bedding and the other half in cutting the bedding into long strips that could be first tied together in lengths that were a few hundred feet when combined. I then had those lengths braided together and then tied off. In the end we made four lengths of rope that were all just over two hundred feet in length. They weren't the best ropes in the world but for what I wanted them for I was certainly hoping that they would do the job.

That took us just over a half hour of hard work. After that I ordered my troopers to pick up the coils and follow me. Our next problem was getting to the roof. I had a good idea on how to achieve that so I led everyone over to the elevators. With a little help from Dork and Rory, I forced the doors to one of the elevators open. The elevator was not there. It was in fact somewhere below us which worked out for my purposes. The elevator well was lit with emergency lighting and with the illumination we were able to make out a service ladder that went up the wall of the well. I pointed to it and then I pointed upwards.

"We're climbing," I told everyone, "and I'll lead the way."

I quickly slung my rifle and then I checked my gear. Once everything was secured, I tied an end of one of our homemade ropes about my waist. Then with a powerful leap I jumped from the open doorway to the ladder. With my enhanced strength and agility I had no problems making the jump. Once there I started climbing. After climbing a dozen feet of more I paused for a moment and then I untied the rope that was tied about my waist. Taking it in hand I quickly retied it to a rung on the ladder. Now anyone following me could tie themselves off before they jumped to the ladder and with luck, if they missed the ladder the rope would save their lives. Once it was secured I told Nimue to start sending people across.

I didn't hang about to watch the fun and games. Instead I headed upwards towards the roof. I didn't pause for a second as I passed the next level. There was no way I was going to try and breach the elevator doors on that level. What I was planning to do was risky but given the robot on that level or possibly the robots there waiting for us it would be madness to try exiting there. Instead I pressed onward and upward until I reached the top of the shaft. There I found the service access panel that would allow us out of the shaft and onto the roof. To my surprise it wasn't even locked. I guess nobody expected anyone to make use of it and I soon found out why. While the panel moved, it moved stiffly like something that hadn't been used in years. It was heavily rusted and it took a little muscle to get it open. When it was open enough, I crawled out of it and onto the roof.

The roof was a risky move for us considering what we could have found out there. I'd decided on taking the risk after seeing all the nice green trees that dotted the landscape around the complex and the white sandy beach that was off in the distance. I figured that if they were there then the atmosphere around the complex must be breathable. It was a roll of the dice but it quickly proved no risk at all. The air around the complex was fresher than anything I'd smelled on Game World.

It only took a few minutes for the rest of my people to join me. Once everyone was on the roof, we headed over to a side and started searching for the best place to tie off our ropes. To make certain the lines wouldn't undo Dork and I played tug-of-war on each line before agreeing that they were safe. That didn't take very long and once we'd found a spot, we quickly anchored all four ropes. After that came a quick course in impromptu rappelling.

As always I led the way. I quickly took my rifle off my shoulder and changed out its magazine to make certain that I had a full magazine. I then chambered a grenade round and slung my rifle about my neck so that it would be accessible when I was ready to use it. I then wrapped the rope about me in such a manner that I could essentially walk down the side of the building. I then stepped over the railing at the edge of the roof and I played out a little line. As I did, Rory, Dork, and Nimue prepped themselves to follow after me. With a smile and a whispered good luck I was off.

The rappel worked perfectly. I walked my way down the window slowly, moving backwards as I let out the line behind me. Within seconds I'd dropped down to the floor that we wanted to access.

My arrival however did not go unnoticed. When selecting my descent point, I'd picked a point far enough away from the lobby where the robot was holed up with the hope of entering the floor without getting taken down right away. I had hoped as well that if there was anyone near where I wanted to enter, they would be human and not robotic. Regrettably I got both. As I got level with the point on the windows where I wanted to force my way in, I spotted a few people running about on the other side of it. Then I noticed two standard security robots. The mechanical men had come to a halt about fifty feet from the windows and they were bringing up their rifles in a move to engage me. I cursed loudly and then kicked myself out into thin air and away from the glass of the windows.

I got lucky again. The glass of the windows was tougher than ordinary glass and the sub-calibre ammunition of the weapons used by the robots simply splattered against the glass and did nothing but leave a whole bunch of pock marks. I let out a sigh of relief and swung back in towards the window. As I did, I grabbed the pistol grip of my assault rife. By that time Dork, Rory, and Nimue were down with me.

"Kick out," I shouted at them as my feet hit the window, "and fire towards the window as you swing out."

They all did as I told them. I launched myself out first and they all followed my example. As I swung out I opened up with a burst of 10-mm grenades. The impact of the rounds and the resulting explosions blew the hell out of the window. My friends and mate did the same. Within seconds the window was completely gone and we were all swinging through the window. As we did, we kept on firing.

The robots did the same and they were just as accurate as we were. Most of their rounds hit us in the chest but all of us took a couple of stray rounds as our own grenades hit the robots and destroyed them.

We ended up in the building and safely through the windows before any more trouble came our way. We landed awkwardly and all of us except Nimue took a tumble as we hit. Thankfully there was plenty of line dragging behind us and we had no problems rolling away from the windows. As I came up off the floor I grabbed my magazine and switched it out again for a fresh one. I needed more grenade rounds for what I knew was probably coming our way.

There were people screaming with fright in the room that we'd entered. There were at least a dozen of them and most were cringing behind furniture and low lying structures. One didn't bother trying to hide. That one was armed with a laser pistol and the moment we stopped rolling and we started to pick ourselves up, he started shooting.

His first shot went wild and ended up going through the broken window that we'd just come through. His second shot was a little more accurate. The laser blast from his pistol clipped Nimue as she spun around to engage the man with her assault rifle. She never got off a shot. The laser beam actually hit the metal stock of her rifle and it cut through it like the metal was butter. The stock saved Nimue from a serious wound but she didn't escape with out injury. The beam 'bounced' after impacting the metal and part of the energy grazed her upper right arm. The injury caused Nimue to cry out in pain and to drop to her knees.

The man didn't get another chance to fire at us. All three of us – Dork, Rory, and I reacted without thought and we all put a grenade round into him. As you'd expect, there wasn't anything left of him after that. As the man disintegrated into thin air, I turned my attention to securing our location and to seeing to Nimue's injuries.

"Rory, Dork," I called out sharply, "watch the access points and cover me. I'm checking on Nimue."

In response both men grunted their acknowledgement.

I dropped to the floor beside Nimue and immediately checked her pulse. My little elf was still alive and from what it could see she was still breathing. She was however unconscious and she had a nasty looking wound on her right upper arm along the outside of it. The energy from the laser beam had cut along the surface of her arm in broad path of travel that looked to be at least two inches wide. It had burnt through her outer tunic and her chainmail sleeve, and the padding beneath it. It had just touched the surface of the skin but the damage looked severe to the naked eye. There was a long leathery grey patch of flesh and the area looked dry. She'd taken a very serious burn.

I didn't have any real time to take care of Nimue beyond checking her vitals and making certain that she wasn't in shock or having any other problems. Within seconds of me reaching her, my two friends had come under fire and I was needed to help them out. I did take a quick look about before moving and I made certain that there was no immediate threat to my mate. I quickly noted that the rest of the cringing humans had moved further away from our location, and that they were still cringing. Seeing this I turned my attention to what was happening with my friends.

We'd been charged by a bunch of security robots. Rory and Dork had taken care of them with ease but now they were being pinned down by the big brute of a robot. The thing was parked in a doorway and it was spraying rounds at where Dork and Rory had taken cover. The rounds were quickly chewing up the wood and furniture that they were hiding behind. Amazingly the robot hadn't even bothered with me. I quickly wrote that off to the fact that while I was checking Nimue's wound, I had laid down my assault rifle and I was technically unarmed and therefore not a threat to the robot. That situation didn't last long. Seeing that I was in a perfect situation to engage the robot, I grabbed for my assault rifle and then rolled to one side.

My action immediately drew the attention of the robot and it started to pivot its torso towards me so it could lock onto me and gun me down with its chain gun. It was a good plan but the robot wasn't as fast as me. I was already up on my knee and firing grenade round after grenade round into it long before it had a chance to get a bead on me. To make matters worse, both Dork and Rory popped up and started firing the moment they heard me open up on the robot. Their rounds joined mine and in seconds the robot was torn apart by the destructive force of multiple hits. All that was left of the metal contraption when we stopped firing was its lower body and track unit.

Dork grunted in response to seeing the robot's remains and then stood up and loaded a fresh magazine into his weapon. While he did, he glanced towards me and then to where Nimue was lying.

"How's the little elf?" He asked in a low, concerned voice.

"She's out of it," I told him and Rory bluntly. "The laser hit scorched her upper right arm and the pain must have knocked her out. Hopefully we'll be able to get her evacuated to a proper medical facility soon because beyond that I don't know how she is."

Again Dork just grunted and then looked about. With a sigh he glanced at the cringing humans in the room. On seeing them he spat on the ground and sneered at them. Then he glanced over at me and spoke once more.

"I'm going to check and make certain that tin can was the last of the robots while you stay and watch over Nimue," Dork told me. If I don't run into any trouble I'll send another runner off to find Richards. Hopefully by this time the man will have found a teleportation centre and we can get a doctor here to tend to the elf. I'll let you know what I find out."

"You want Rory to go with you?" I asked, looking over to where Rory was standing. At that moment he was sort of standing guard over the bunch of cringing humans that were hiding from us while Dork and I chatted.

"Nah," Dork replied with a shake of his head, "you keep him for now and I'll call for him if I run into trouble."

I nodded my acknowledgement and then watched the big guy head off. He crossed the room we were in and then stepped past the ruined robot and out the door. There was no sound for a second or two and then I heard his voice boom from several feet away. The man shouted, "Clear".

I took that as a good sign and turned my attention back to Nimue. Hesitantly I walked over to where she was lying. As I moved I kept my eye on the people at the far end of the room. When I got there I knelt down beside my mate and checked her vitals again. I sighed softly when I found that her breathing was fine and that her pulse was steady.

"How is she?" Rory asked when he heard me sigh.

"Still breathing and still unconscious," I told him in a flat voice. "Keep an eye on those bastards for me and if one of them moves even a hair, kill him. I'm going to move Nimue and put her on a couch. She should be more comfortable there."

Rory did what I told him while I tended to Nimue. Fortunately for the people cringing at the far end of the room, Rory didn't take me literally. He still kept a close eye on them.

I had just laid Nimue on a couch when a couple of my troops came through the door with their weapons ready. I nodded to them as they looked about to see what was happening where we were.

"You two," I yelled at them before they could do or say anything, "get over and relieve Rory. I want those prisoners watched until we can get them searched and tied up. Rory get over here."