Multiplayer (36 page)

“Yeah, real money. GoreFiendHell is being paid to use the Reavers to defend this place. You mean, he didn’t cut you in?” Of course Hector knew Gore wouldn’t have.

“So that’s what this is all about,” said a merc he didn’t recognize. A large, dull gray behemoth with standard Mk.II armor. “Been standing here for two weeks for nothing, while GFH is getting paid!” He spooled up his chain gun and fired a stream of tracers into the sky toward
Uber Pwn
. “
Jerk!
” he yelled. “I hate that choad.”

“Guess he’s not sharing it with you.” The guards were closing fast. “So you going to help me?”

“You know Gore’s got a price on your head,” said R1ng0. “And Darxhan’s, too.”

“How much?” asked Izaak.

“Hundred dollars on you. Two hundred on Darxhan. Real money.”

Deion nudged him in the side and grinned. “I’m higher than you!”

Hector turned back to his screen. “Why’s Darxhan’s higher than mine?”

“Well, he did kill GFH,” said the dull-gray mountain.

“Stop calling him GFH,” said one of the other mercs.

The guards came running up. “Seize him,” said the one in the lead.

Cygnus stepped forward. “Why should we, choad?”

They were vanguards, as were all the guards, with the khaki uniform and the tight, close-fitting white turban. It seemed more like they were trying to duplicate actual policemen than be competitive
Omega Wars
characters, which made sense from the standpoint of war games. They wore only light body armor and were armed with standard weaponry. “Because… he is a thief!”

“No, he’s a vanguard,” said Cygnus.

“
Omega Wars
doesn’t even have a thief character-type,” added the gray merc, and Hector caught on to their ruse.

“Yeah, they call it a smuggler,” said R1ng0, also catching on. “Thieves are like in
World of Warcraft
.”

“No thieves in WOW,” corrected the gray merc. “That’s a rogue.”

“
Hand him over!
” demanded the leader. “He is a criminal.”

“Do we get paid, too?” asked Cygnus.

“Yeah, why are they paying GFH and not us?” asked the gray merc. “We’re doing all the work.” The guards backed away a few steps and just stood there.

“
ESP!
” said Cygnus, and the three friendlies opened up with their heavy weapons. In seconds, the guards were nothing but a smudge. The other two mercs stood awkwardly to the side.

Izaak said, “Thanks Cygnus. R1ng0. Gray dude.”

“I’m called Rhin0,” growled the big merc.

Izaak thanked them all again, asked them to watch his back, and turned to leave. “Hey, Izaak,” called Rhin0. “What’s your clan?”

“Spartans,” said Izaak. “We’re the Spartans.”

“Mind if I join? I’m sick of the Reavers. GFH is a dick.”

“Me, too,” said Cygnus and R1ng0.

“You guys can’t do that!” said one of the other mercs.

Oh yes they can! thought Izaak excitedly. And it couldn’t have come at better time.

“Gore’s going to freak,” said the other.

“GFH
is
a freak,” said Rhin0. “Why don’t you come with us? You’re pretty good in a fight.”

“No way! Reavers rule!” they cried.

The fight was short but intense. “I guess Reavers don’t rule,” said Izaak, looking at the charred and blasted bodies of the two mercs. “Let’s blow.”

“Just a second,” said Rhin0.

Izaak watched as the Reaver symbols faded from the armor of his new converts. Three clan requests appeared at the bottom of his screen and he granted them. On the armor of each emerged the deep crimson inverted-V as if it were burning into place. The lambda-symbol of the Spartans. “Welcome to the club, boys,” said Izaak. “We’ll do the oath later.”

Ch. 32

As he ran through the city with his new comrades, Hector tried to keep up with events back at their base where T-Reg organized the defense. Several dozen mercs, vanguards, smugglers and techs from various clans all over
Omega Wars
had gathered behind the high, earthen ramparts at the front tunnel entrance for what was shaping up as a final, epic battle. The Reavers had attacked just about everyone at one time or another, and had made a lot of enemies. Shah was there with his merc, Osman, from the
Janissaries
. There were
Minutemen
from North America and
DreadNaughts
from England, standing shoulder to shoulder with Russian
SpetsNazis
and Japanese
Pokemen
and
BushidoBoyz
, all looking to dole out some payback. c’Irith was at the top of the hill and yelled back down that the Stryker had disappeared into the city.

“We’ve got to start distracting again,” came T-Reg’s voice over the comm link. “Or they’re going to see Alkindi. Or G0dd4rd. Or whoever it is this time!”

“We’re not going to last long,” said Shah. “Not with
Uber Pwn
up there.”

“It doesn’t have to be for long,” said T-Reg. “Just long enough for Alkindi, I mean G0dd4rd, to get through to Izaak. It is still Izaak, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” said Hector.

“But if we get killed, they’ll know who we are!” cried c’Irith.

“They can’t kill us all,” said Deion, maneuvering Darxhan through the long, dimly lit corridors of
Uber Pwn
. “Even if we are just a bunch of kids. Cause everybody knows…” He stumbled on three techs in a corridor. “… that kids…” His auto-cannon targeted and eliminated them before they got off a clean shot, “…rule on video games.”

Back at the tunnel, they saw a white puff of smoke emerge from
Uber Pwn
.

“Merc torpedo incoming,” said Shah.

The disc-like control section of
Uber Pwn
sat atop a long, narrow dorsal fin that launched mercs like gigantic aerial torpedoes. They could see the pods coming in, two dark shapes hurtling toward them. And since mercs were anywhere from eight to twelve feet tall, the drop pods were well over twenty feet long. At the last second they deployed speed brakes, pitched over, and augured into the ground where they stuck fast. Then the sides popped off and out of each emerged two fully-armed mercs.

“You’re going to have to take that merc dispenser offline, Deion,” said Shah, as a huge merc in Mk.III armor battled through their defenses before Shah engaged and destroyed him in a quick but vicious melee.

Everybody in Sanjar’s game room took a moment to watch as Darxhan smashed through a hatch and emerged on the top of the wing. There were Reavers on the edge, shooting over the rail. It was almost like a flying castle. They were all to busy to notice he wasn’t a Reaver, so he ran across until he arrived at the base of the fin and plunged through a hatch.

Inside were two tall stacks of merc drop pods like bullets in the magazine of a pistol. At the top of the stack was a platform where a dozen mercs were waiting to enter drop pods. After each one launched, a big piston at the base of the stack lifted the next pod into place. Darxhan watched as a merc climbed in high above and the hatch closed. An instant later, there was a thud as the pod was launched away. Everyone’s eyes went to Shah’s screen where they saw the mercs arcing through the air toward the defenders.

“Limpet mine,” said Hector.

“Exactly what I was thinking, Izzy.” Darxhan slapped one of Izaak’s limpet mines on the motor that lifted the next drop pod into place. He was just setting the timer when he heard, “Hey, you’re not a Reaver!”

He turned and found a MetroGnome cybertech staring at him. Like most techs, he was a cyborg and had electromechanical enhancements on his limbs and head. Eliminating him was trivial, though Darnxhan’s auto-cannon attracted attention.

“It’s Darxhan Gideon!” Someone cried from the platform. “Two hundred bucks!” yelled a second. “And fifty from Val!” Cried a third. They started down the stairs toward him.

Darxhan set the timer and jumped back. It exploded a few seconds later and disabled the loader. He had solved Shah’s problem, at least until the MetroGnomes could fix it, but had created a new one for himself. So he targeted the stairs and sent a volley of cannon rounds into them. They collapsed into a twisted heap on the deck with the mercs enmeshed in them. The mercs were not dead but they would take a moment to twist their way from the wreckage.

“You better get out of there,” said Hector.

“Too high to jump,” Deion replied.

“Make for the loading ramp,” quipped Hector, trying to pay attention to his own screen. “That’s your best bet.”

Ω

GoreFiendHell lounged like Captain Kirk in his throne-like chair on the bridge of
Uber Pwn
. He could see the remains of Vera-2 smoking in the distance and the weak resistance clustered around the base of a nearby tunnel. His personal bodyguards clustered around him and MetroGnomes bustled at the controls. He thought about the scene from
Empire Strikes Back
when Imperial Walkers were advancing across the snow, except now,
he
was the general. “Increase forward velocity,” he growled. “Continue dispensing assault force.” A moment later, the entire structure shook as the six massive propellers that pushed
Uber Pwn
pushed harder. Two drop pods launched out and arced into the distance. An instant later there was a muffled explosion.

“What was that?” barked GoreFiendHell. “Something hit us!”

One of the MetroGnomes ran to a message board. “Problem with the torpedo launcher,” he said, studying the board. “A saboteur! He’s disabled the launcher.”

“Find him,” said GoreFiendHell to his bodyguards, and they hustled out.

“It’s Darxhan Gideon,” squeaked the MetroGnome.

Gore jumped to his feet and his head nearly scraped the ceiling. “Don’t let him leave the ship,” ordered GoreFiendHell. “He’s mine. Continue the attack! Take no prisoners.”

Ω

Izaak and his team picked their way through the devastated city. The Reavers had cleaned out most of the scarobs and the few remaining thorks had either been killed or fled into the mountains. It was like a real life war zone.
Uber Pwn
passed slowly over their heads, blotting out the sun. The drone of its engines was like a squadron of bombers. They crouched instinctively, but its attention was focused to the west, exactly as the Spartans had planned, but there were still Reavers on the ground to contend with.

“Where are we headed?” asked Cygnus.

“We’ve got to find a place where we can sit down and copy this list,” said Izaak. “A basement or something.”

Bullets whizzed over their heads and a rocket streaked past and exploded against the side of a building. Izaak and the others ducked into an abandoned structure and returned fire. Two mercs came down the street, plodding along like Abrams tanks, launching rounds into the building they’d taken refuge in, blowing off chunks and filling the air with digital dust and smoke.

“Return fire!” Izaak cried, and the mercs beside him exploded into action with auto-cannons and mini-guns. Someone launched a missile. The mercs in the street started losing pieces and took cover.

Izaak loaded his shotgun with armor-piercing sabot rounds. It wasn’t Vera, but it would work well up close. He started shooting as soon as they were in range, adding to the artillery coming from his companions. One of the mercs exploded. The other one limped into the remains of a high-rise condo across the street.

Izaak noticed it was held up by thick concrete posts. “Concentrate all fire on that front support,” he said. The concrete post quickly eroded and the entire second floor collapsed on the hapless merc. Izaak could see him struggling under the weight of tons of digital concrete. He ran across the street, fed a shotgun shell into the chamber and placed the barrel against the merc’s head.

“Come on Ersatz,” said the merc, who Izaak recognized as Maelstorm. “Give me a break. Don’t make me spend a week in the tank.”

“Fine,” said Izaak, and smashed his fusion cells, trapping him there permanently.

“Thanks a lot,” said the merc.

“Don’t mention it,” said Izaak as they trotted away.

Izaak had decided to head north. He hoped there would be fewer Reavers in that direction. And it might be possible to lose himself in the foothills. He did remember scarobs had been very thick in the north, but maybe the Reavers had taken care of them. So they made for the mountains, trying to stay under cover as much as possible among the crumbling high-rises and hulks of buses, trucks, and automobiles.

They had only gone a city block when R1ng0’s head suddenly exploded in a red mist. The huge body toppled to the ground like a felled tree.

Only one weapon could do that. “
Vera!
” said Izaak. So Mal-X was tracking them.

“Where’s it coming from?” said Cygnus, just as one of the high energy rounds hit him in the chest and completely eliminated his shields. “That way!” he said and dove behind cover.

“We could use an empath,” said Rhin0.

“Yes,” said Izaak, wondering where Sabrah could be. “We sure could.”

Ch. 33