“How about you empty that beauty at the armored people up the hall?” I said. “Make some racket. I’m going through.” I pointed at the wall to the next room.
“I’m on it, Li’l Girl.”
True to his word, he began to fire over the cheap plywood barricade.
I extended the tiny jigsaw on my tool glove and cut through the wall into the next room. It was empty, an office like the one we were in. I crawled to the far wall and made another hole, this one tiny, only big enough to get a cam in. The noise of shooting from inside hid the noise of the saw.
On the other side were three standing humans and a dozen or more dying. I widened the hole enough to fire through. Had just enough charge in my blaster. As the others fired into the hall, I killed them, one after the other. When they were down, I made my hole bigger and crawled through. Everyone was dead. I gathered all the weapons, mags, and ammo I could, passed them through the hole, and pulled a table over to block it. I backed into the room where Bengal still fired, and pulled a table on its side over that hole too. It wouldn’t protect us if someone bothered to look, but in a pitched battle, it wasn’t likely they would take the time. I gave Bengal three mags for his new weapon, each with some rounds left. He grinned at me like a rich kid on Christmas.
“Mateo?” I asked. “ETA?”
“He’s coming down the steps, Sugah,” Jolene said. “Amos, Cupcake, and backup warriors from the surface are clearing a corridor on Level Two. All of them have picked up some goodies on the way and are handing them out like beads at Mardi Gras.”
Goodies. Weapons. Got it.
On a vest-cam screen, I saw Cupcake mowing down enemy fighters. Jolene accessed another cam and showed me Mateo’s longer limbs telescoped up inside, dropping his height so he’d fit into the human-sized stairwell. All around him were dead rats and happy humans, our people changing out ammo and weapons Mateo had lifted off the fighters he’d killed.
Mateo said, “Am in position to fire a rocket into the nest on three. Then in twelve seconds, down the hallway. One.”
“Get down,” Jolene said. “As Bengal said, fire in the hole.”
“Two.”
We all dropped.
“Three.”
The boom shook the walls and floor. Shrapnel flew. Dust and smoke filled the corridor.
My head felt the concussive wave from the nest as if I’d climbed a mountain in seconds. I started to get to my feet, and Bengal laid an arm over my back. In moments there was a second boom, this one much closer. I’m pretty sure I screamed.
Bengal and I struggled to our feet. I worked my jaw, trying to pop my ears.
The world was oddly silent. Muted. Muffled.
Jolene said, “Armored enemy reinforcements are moving down stairways toward the nest. Defensive positions. Make ready to fire.”
Mateo scuttled down our corridor, pausing at each doorway, dropping off weapons from the dead along with their unused ammo. He looked at me as he dropped two fully charged blasters into my hand and released a bag of ammo to the floor. Maarsies flew around his head.
“Various calibers,” he said, “though I see you have some of the new stuff. I’ll clear your six again and come back. We can take the nest together.”
The warbot lumbered on down the hall. When he reached the end, one of his three short limbs produced a gun barrel and initiated sustained fire for two seconds. Then he trundled partway up the stairs, firing short bursts. There was another massive boom. Mateo tumbled back down the stairs, cursing.
The smoke cleared.
He was missing an arm, wires and cable and bits of metal sticking out of the carapace. Cursing, he opened sustained fire again. “I’ll hold them here. Get Warhammer,” he said. “Jolene. Take over the Maarsies.”
At either end of the hallway, among the dead enemy, I saw Bengal’s unarmored people dead on the floor.Myunarmored people.Bloody damn. I should have brought more armor.
We raced, crouched, weapons ready, toward the nest.
Three armored enemy combatants appeared at the nest doorway, crouched, partially hidden behind the bodies of their own people.
I fired, but they didn’t go down. From the doorway, more warriors emerged. Our team separated again, seeking cover, and entered doors to either side of the hallway. “Jacopo?” I asked. “There have to be weak points on the armor. Can you hit them?”
Softly, Jacopo said, “Yeehaw, motherfuckers.” He stepped into the hall. Extended two weapons in front of him. He fired combustion weapons aimed mid-waist, so fast I couldn’t follow his motions. He got lucky, and one of the three armored enemy went down. The others ducked back.
Spy and Maul raced along the hallway with the last batch of Maarsies above them. The cats leaped over the pile of bodies and into the nest. The Maarsies flew along their trail.
