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“…They used a Hell Bomb.”
The voice had come through a lot of noise, as if it was from too far away. Eden frowned.
“Who is that? …Greed, is that you?”
“Yeah… I just logged onto one of our Dive Hacker’s SINs to see the last seconds of his feed. They used a Hell Bomb, Ghost. There’s no one left there.”
An icy chill ran down Eden’s spine. There wasn’t anyone part of the Zodiac or the Edge that didn’t know what a Hell Bomb was. It wasn’t even the real name, but a nickname everybody gave to that weapon, as if its effects needed an emphasis. They were supposedly forbidden by all Core Governments, at least officially. Those things were one of the worst weapons ever created and had been rendered inhumane and illegal to use by several foreign governments. The mere use of that thing was considered a crime against humanity and anyone who did use it would have been sentenced to centuries of imprisonment. Eden had only heard about that thing, but the little she knew was enough to give her nightmares. The Hell Bomb was a weapon dedicated to genocides and to ending human lives. It was a mixture of acids, fire, and all sorts of gasses, meant to not let its victims escape in any way, while causing less damage to anything non-organic. Perhaps the houses and streets still looked the same over there. That bomb could disintegrate flesh and bones in a blink, and leave absolutely nothing behind.
It was terrifying to think of the void that had become of the place their allies stood just one second before. Eden wanted to vomit, but she couldn’t. Instead, those feelings of shock, horror, and disgust remained stuck in her throat. She glanced around at the stunned expressions.
“…Let’s keep moving.”
Dante’s words felt like they were dragging everyone away from a strange nightmare. Many heads turned toward him, including Eden. He was right, of course, but his ability to overcome the sudden threat of instant death was mind-blowing.
“How many of those do they have?” gasped Nekhbet. “If they use them, they will be able to wipe us all out in just a few seconds!”
“They probably hoped to scare us that way.”
Eden shook her head and turned her heels first. She was the first to resume running toward the building, closely followed by Dante once again. Many followed their lead. This time, the threat of the fighting robots had become secondary. The fear of a Hell Bomb was a hundred times worse; if the Core launched another one of those things here, they’d be wiped out without even a second to fight back. They had already lost one of their three groups in a blink. A third of all the people they had brought had been killed in an instant, with no chances of survival. She didn’t want to imagine what the scene looked like on the ground, in the south, for the sky to have become so dark over there. It was that scary.
“…They can’t possibly fire more of those,” she muttered. “Not within their Core.”
“Those bloody bastards just did!” shouted Tanya. “We’re going to be next!”
“No, Ghost is right,” muttered Michael. “First, they must have gathered a lot of unwanted international attention for using that thing. Second, they will have to justify the use of a mass murder weapon within a citizen safe zone. Finally, those things are much too expensive and rare for them to use two of them on us. They probably hoped to scare us with that, and thought we’d quietly go back if we realized they had such weapons. But you guys should be close enough to the Arcadia Tower, so don’t slow down! That’s one place they will never dare touch.”
“He is right,” added Tanya with her famous accent. “I am not taking my boys back to tell them this was all for nothing. I’m sorry for the Old Man and Joaquin, but the show must go on. Ghost’s group is our current priority, and they both knew that.”
Eden nodded. She was impressed with the Zodiacs’ self-control and calm, given the situation, but she had to admit they were right: they had to keep going. Forcing the Core to use such a bomb was perhaps what would save them.
“Everybody hold on tight then,” sighed A, “but Tanya’s right. If they resorted to using a Hell Bomb on their own territory, that means we’re seriously scaring them. It’s a good sign.”
“Say that to all the people who just died,” grunted Circé, bitter.
The reality of the hundreds of deaths was still hovering over their heads like a silent threat. Eden was trying hard not to think about it too much, but it was impossible. Old Man Long, who had seemed so invincible before, had been killed in a blink. Even the hot-headed, heavily armed Joaquin. They really must have forced the Core to react… Were they trying to reduce their numbers and scare them in one go? Or was the Core scared by all the weapons that were coming from the south? Did they want to make an example out of them? There was no telling. Either way, the message was clear: there would be more casualties if they wanted to achieve their goal, and neither side would back down.
“Let’s just get there,” grunted Nebty. “Their admission lobby is already ours, there was nothing the System could do to stop us. After that, though, I have a feeling things will not be that simple, so let’s get ready, everyone.”
Even if she hadn’t said so, Eden had no intention to stop or give up. The doors of the Arcadia Tower were just ahead of her now. That was the final stage of the fight, where they would have to climb up toward their victory. Because of the sirens and red lights all over the Core, people had most likely been evacuated already, except for the leaders that would be taken to the secure spaces, just as they had observed. Eden felt her fist clench as she sprinted for the last steps to the front door. She was almost there, and ready to uncover the truth. About her dad, about Pan, and finally, what had happened to her mother. She wanted to know why her family had been shattered, and why so many people had to suffer in the Suburbs. She had grown attached to those running alongside her, and she felt sorry for those who had died on the way here. She didn’t dare to stop to count the casualties, but they were many. Eden could tell just from how the feed had been more silent than before, many voices had been lost on the way here.
“Let’s go, my Kitty!”
She smiled, and jumped forward, ready to slam the door open with a kick.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Their group barged in loudly, using firearms to force the doors open. Eden and Dante were some of the first to enter the Arcadia Tower, weapons drawn and ready to fire immediately.
To their surprise, they only found an empty lobby. The very entrance of the tower was completely deserted; not a single person was around. Eden had expected a bit of a fight, perhaps a few soldier bots, but there was literally nothing. She looked around, as confused as everyone else. The ground floor was clearly a commercial hall. Dozens of closed shops were lined up around them, all with their curtains drawn, some barricaded. Because of the lobby’s high ceiling that was four or five floors tall, she could even see shops far above her, with some decorations still hanging on the rails of the balconies and advertising screens.
“...They really did evacuate the place,” scoffed Circé.
“Makes sense,” sighed Malieka. “According to the data we have, there are at least ten floors of only business, leisure, and commercial spaces. The Core probably thought there was no use losing some of their defensive lines on those floors and gave them up. I bet you’re going to have much more of a challenge upstairs.”
“Then let’s establish a defense line here first,” said Thao. “I’m staying down here. I bet they won’t be late to send reinforcements toward the tower now that we’ve gotten here.”
“Perhaps even the ones that were fighting south,” muttered Greed. “Our people died, but the machines might have made it...”
