AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Fucking Pan,” she groaned.
“Eden,” called out A.’s voice suddenly, “there used to be a large interchange in place of that door, according to the twenty-first-century maps. The bridges’ columns should be in reinforced concrete and steel, they might be fine. I’ll send you the columns’ positions, but it might be worth checking if they didn’t withstand the blows.”
Eden nodded, and the next second, she felt her SIN react.
“SIN, show me the data received.”
Immediately, her view changed to display a filter over what she was seeing. Now, Eden could actually see some three-dimensional representation of what this place used to be. On top of the wall they were now fighting, she could see what used to be a large highway, and a bit on her right, the columns that were supporting the former highway. A. was right. The Core had probably built the wall by simply filling between the raised highway and the one on the ground, but the columns were most likely still there, simply trapped in the construction.
“Thao, try firing a bit more to the right!” Eden shouted, pointing in the direction of the column.
The first shot was made right next to it, and the edge of the already-blown hole was probably almost exposing the column. If they tried blasting a couple more times, it would reveal it...
The Rat nodded and gave orders to her men, the tank’s cannon shifting a few inches to the right where Eden had pointed. They resumed blasting shot after shot, and while she did her part shooting at the incoming drones, Eden kept an eye on the growing hole. Soon enough, the columns appeared, damaged but withstanding the blows better than the rest of the wall. Moreover, they were close enough to the door that if Eden left this way, the Core may not notice!
She exchanged a glance with Dante, next to her, who nodded, before pointing his guns toward the sky again.
“The north door has fallen! Ghost, they are sending human soldiers up there too!”
That was good news, but it was also too soon. Even if the doors had fallen, without Eden deactivating the Core’s control barrier, no one with a corrupted SIN would be able to step inside. She had to go in first, alone.
“Ghost, they are sending more robots our way!”
She grimaced. The more robots they sent, the more men they would lose on this side. There were perhaps two or three hundred of Thao’s and Dante’s subordinates, but a lot of them were forced to hide because of the murder drones and the tank’s blasts. They were losing time, and there was another issue that would be on the table soon: oxygen. With everyone forced to wear masks, it meant they were using a lot of stocked oxygen, and running around would make them consume more and more. Eden glanced up. The large ventilation fans at the top of the walls were barely damaged at all, and still releasing all sorts of toxic gas and carbon dioxide on their side of the wall.
“...Loir, can we hack the fans?”
“The fans? My Kitty is one hot lady! Let me see...”
“It’s not like no one’s tried before, Ghost,” groaned Pride. “Those things only have a command for the speed force, there’s nothing to do! They can’t even spin enough to blow the other way!!”
“...Their own circuit means they need to have at least a portion of the physical system here.”
“Oh, I like how my Kitty thinks! Get me in, get me in! A lady needs her fan, and I’m about to blow one tornado over the Windy City! Hurricane incoming, you bad bees!”
Eden began to run toward the wall, far enough that the tank’s repeated blasts didn’t risk harming her. The sounds were deafening and she couldn’t see anything farther than an arm’s length ahead because of all the dust, but at least she didn’t have to worry about breathing in anything bad.
“Eden!” Dante called out as she ran farther away from him.
“Just cover me!”
Whether he agreed or not, Eden kept running, looking for a portion of the collapsed wall she could climb. It was dangerously close to the tank’s fire, but she had no choice. They needed to attack the fans to buy some time for everyone and even the odds.
“We can’t hack them,” protested Greed. “There are over two hundred of those fans all around the Core, and–”
“I’m in!” exclaimed Loir.
“What?”
“You newbies are so narrow-minded! It’s like a game of dominoes! One after the other, and boom! Boom! Boom! All down like dominoes!”
“What the heck is that crazy saying?! Even if you’re in, we can only move these things side-to-side, or change the rotors’ speed!”
“Badabadadadadadadam!” Loir was shouting in their ears, clearly overexcited.
Eden could hear him furiously typing on his keyboard, and his hysterical laughing didn’t sound good at all, but one thing she was confident in was his crazy genius. Crazy for sure, but still genius. She finally found a decent enough pathway among the rocks and began climbing, as fast and safely as she could. Each of the tank’s blows just a few meters away made every piece of concrete tremble and threaten to collapse around her, but she didn’t have time to stop. She was thankful for her boots: the leather and soles were allowing her to grip a bit better against the rock, especially since she didn’t have to bother about damaging or tearing them.
“Even if you get there, we can only control thirty of them at best! We can’t focus so many hackers on the fans!”
