The Gremlin Sergeant’s eyebrows furrowed. He’d arrived at Facility 3 about five minutes prior, but it seemed his assistance was unneeded. According to the Facility’s Foreman, the Facility’s assignment had just been completed and sent to Warmaster Seerus just as he was arriving.
The Sergeant and the Foreman had been waiting in the Foreman’s lookout post among the lower rafters, but for some reason, the pair that had been tasked with compiling and sending the data regarding their assignment had not returned. Depending on the file size, it could take a minute or two, but even at its worst, Gremlin technology was never this slow.
The Sergeant's patience was wearing thin.
“I’m sure they’ll only be a moment more, sir,” the Foreman insisted, wringing his clawed hands.
“Of course,” he replied dryly. He gazed out over the construction area below them, watching the dozens of Gremlins pack up for the night. They had successfully completed their mission, even if it had been a little late for the Warmaster’s liking.
The Sergeant took a swig from his flask, eager to shut away for the night himself. As he went for another taste, a muffled horn could be heard coming from below. He choked as the warm liquid went down the wrong pipe, and looked angrily at the Foreman.
“Sir! Are you alright?” the Foreman asked. The Sergeant nodded, but kept coughing as he repeatedly pointed down below. It took a moment for the Foreman to realize the wordless gesture. “Oh, do not worry about that, sir. That’s probably from the storage room. We wanted to show you the results of our efforts, so I had some workers ready another batch of targets. They’re a bit ahead of schedule, but it’s no matter,” he explained with a dismissive wave. “You know, our task was not easy, let me tell you! Getting the visualizers to adjust to any light conditions, developing a recognition program to recognize any Gremlin in any situation, and creating a prioritizer to focus on preventing friendly fire while maintaining wanton destruction; quite the task for a Facility streamlined for building simple Constructs, but we did quite well I think. Probably enough to warrant a promotion for the one in charge, even?”
As the Sergeant’s coughing subsided, he grabbed the Foreman by his collar.
“‘Probably’?”
“S-Sir! I didn’t mean to presume! It’s just, given the difficulty of my job overseeing–”
“No, you fool! What do you mean ‘probably’ from the storage room? Was that an alarm or not?”
“No, Sir!” the Foreman shook his head. “That’s just the sound the remote cages make when they–”
The Foreman stopped. He was grateful his goggles hid the realization in his eyes.
“When the cages what?” The Sergeant tightened his grip and pressed the Foreman up against the railing of the rafters. “Are you hiding something? If so, you can forget about a promotion. A demotion is all but guaranteed. And if I were Seerus,” he said, pointing above them, “I’d have you tossed from the upper rafters to make an example of you as well!”
“No, no please!” the Foreman cried. “It’s just… that’s the sound for when the cages are opened. I requested a firing test to show you our success, but the targets aren’t ready to be released just yet…”
“So what are you trying to say?” The Sergeant’s grip loosened slightly. The Foreman took a deep breath and opened his mouth to speak when an alarm sounded.
“What? I didn’t give the order to let loose the targets yet!” the Foreman said, straining to look down at the construction zone below. Sure enough, some automated scuttlebots had moved into position, ready to chase out the arriving creatures the Gremlins kept trapped in their storage area.
“Foreman. Do you or do you not have control of this facility?” the Sergeant asked in a low voice, just audible over the blaring alarms. “And be very careful with your answer. Warmaster Seerus has no tolerance for thieves, traitors, or incompetence.” The Foreman hesitated a moment, looking down at the construction zone, and turning back to the Sergeant.
He nodded.
BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM
The whole facility shook as explosions rang out. The Sergeant stumbled and released the Foreman, who turned and looked towards the ventilation systems around the walls. The West vents were set aflame, dark smoke billowing out from them.
“The ventilation traps have been triggered!” the Foreman shouted to the Gremlins below. “Move to intercept the intruders!” The workers below began scrambling, dropping their tools and picking up their weapons.
“Ventilation traps?” the Sergeant asked.
“The vents are large enough to bait intruders. We’ve laid traps in them for instances such as this!” the Foreman said with a grin. There was a commotion on the construction zone as a platform rose from the ground. The cages it held were all unlocked, and the beasts within leapt out, attacking the Gremlins and running amok, looking for an exit. “What are the targets doing loose? You fools!” the Foreman shouted. “Fine, open the gates and prepare the weapon!”
“Foreman?” the Sergeant asked, grabbing the Foreman by the back of his head, turning him to look at the direction of a new platform. This one held cages as well, but two more figures could be seen as well. “Would those happen to be the intruders, you mentioned?”
* * *
Lance quickly took in their situation. Flames and smoke were billowing from the vents, beasts were running rampant, and a mix of Gremlins and Constructs were attempting to corral the beasts towards an opening gate.
“Back off, rat-dogs!” Zimthose shouted at some nearing Gremlin Thwackers. The Gremlins stood in the way between them and the opening gates, and Lance kept his eyes moving, searching for an opening.
“Got any bright ideas?” he asked the Striker on his right.
“Well, it’s not exactly bright…” Zimthose replied, returning his blade to its sheath on his left. A whirr of energy could be heard coming from the weapon. Lance nodded, understanding Zimthose’s intention.
The Gremlins inched closer as they held their hammers at the ready, and Zimthose slowly moved his right hand to his left hip. “Don’t let that one draw his sword!” one of the Thwackers shouted and charged, and another followed right next to him. Zimthose smirked as he brought his hand back out, pointing his weapon at his attackers.
BANG!
The right barrel of Zimthose’s shotgun unloaded, the mass of pellets hitting the two Gremlins and suppressing the Thwackers behind them. “I said back off!” The other Gremlins dove for cover, and Lance took off running, with Zimthose close behind him, returning his shotgun to the inside of his coat.
More Gremlins and constructs moved in to engage, but the rampaging beasts kept getting in their way. Wolvers howled and tore through the Scuttlebots’ armor, while hordes of Dust Bunnies gnawed, bit, and tackled the Gremlins, dozens finding purchase on each Gremlin and pulling them to the floor. The slightly more docile Chromalisks kept eating various tools while changing colors to fit their new environment; in the ever increasing commotion, the hard-to-see lizards kept causing the chasing Gremlins to trip and stumble.
“Lance, the gate!” Zimthose shouted. A Gremlin stood by a large lever on the wall and was holding it down, the massive gate letting the beasts out closing just a few meters away from him.
Lance quickly drew his Prismatech pistol, firing two energy bolts at the Gremlin. The first one hit the ground, bouncing up and hitting the Gremlin in the side of the head. The second was a direct hit to its left shoulder; the elemental weapon wasn’t effective against Gremlins, but it was enough to make Lance’s target retreat. The gate stopped shutting, but now a shadow loomed on the other side. It looked like a massive, walking tree, with three glowing eyes in the middle and an extremely thick branch on its left side for an arm.
“Lumber!” Lance shouted. Zimthose shot past the Tech Knight, steadying his sheath with his left hand and resting the other on the hilt. The whirring of his charging weapon was drowned out as the Lumber let out a groan, its club-like arm rising straight up to crush the two knights.
“Go…Silent Nightblade!” Zimthose shouted, pulling the weapon free. The shadowy blade almost blended in with the backdrop of the night outside, but the explosive waves of darkness it threw forth seemed to absorb any remaining light as they traveled through the Lumber, tearing its arm off. Imbalanced, the construct fell backwards as steam erupted from the massive hole in its side. The two knights kept running, not looking back.
* * *
“I see them!” Balldrick shouted to me. After hearing two different alarms from inside the facility, we tossed some blast bombs into the ventilation system to split the Gremlin’s attention. The bombs triggered explosions larger than expected, and gun puppies were deployed around the area in response. We made short work of them, and took out all the facility’s floodlights to keep them from easily spotting us. We made our way back to the forestline north of the facility, and had since been waiting for Lance and Zimthose to make it out.
Now, our squadmates were running at full speed out of the smoking facility, a mix of beasts, Gremlins, and constructs right behind them. At the top of the facility, I noticed two familiar blue lights glowing, as even more familiar alarms could be heard blaring.
“Shit, they’re gonna fire those cannons again!” I shouted, quickly turning on my radio. “Zim, Lance, those cannons are about to open fire! Prepare evasive action, and get your shields ready,” I ordered.
“We’ll be fine, Blast,” my brother replied. “We took care of it!”
“Took care of it? What’d you take care of?!”
“Just trust us,” Lance replied. I wanted to ask more, but that was probably all they could manage while running at full speed. I turned to Balldrick, and he nodded silently.
Well, here we go then.
As soon as we felt that Lance and Zimthose were close enough, Balldrick and I started running as well. I looked over my shoulder and saw the Gremlins had begun slowing down, letting the constructs continue the chase in their stead. A few moments later…
KTHUNKKTHUNKKTHUNKKTHUNK
The familiar percussion of the cannons sounded. I could hear the whistling of the shells, but instead of bracing with my shield, I kept running. I’ll trust you guys know what you’re doing. Just don’t make me regret it, please!
Four explosions sounded a ways away from us. They were close enough to send my ears ringing, and my steps grew slow and unsteady under the rocking of the earth. But I kept on, glancing quickly to make sure my squad was right behind me. I was surprised to find my brother right on my tail, with Balldrick and Lance bringing up the rear just a bit further back.
“Keep moving! Don’t stop till we reach the elevator!”
“How far?” my brother asked, fully caught up to me.
“Just a few miles, straight ahead,” I said, loud enough to make sure Balldrick and Lance could hear.
“Miles?” Lance shouted, already breathing hard.
“Pump the knees, Tech Knight!” Zimthose shouted over his shoulder, where a ball of fur was resting.
“Grrrwoghp!”
* * *
The Gremlin Sergeant watched the horizon where the knights had made off into the cover of night. The Foreman had brought him to the roof to watch, as he’d put it, “the fruits of Facility Three’s endless labor,” but all he’d witnessed was the failing of the weapon’s targeting system that Facility Three had been tasked with creating.
“That’s… this is…”
The Sergeant looked down at the Foreman. He held the Foreman off the edge of the Facility, claw tightly clasped around his throat.
“I told you. No thieves. No traitors. And no incompetencies.” He squeezed hard, letting go just before breaking the Foreman’s neck. As the Gremlin’s body faded from view, he turned and marched over to a couple of Thwackers examining the cannons. “Well? Do you have a good excuse, or will you be joining the Foreman?”
The Thwackers jumped, standing at attention.
“Sir!” one of them said, his head high, not meeting the Sergeant’s gaze. “The intruders seem to have messed with the cannons’ rotation systems. They worked just as programmed, but the physical alteration prevented them from aiming properly.”
The Sergeant marched over and inspected the cannons himself.
“I see… but why?” the Sergeant asked aloud. The Thwackers glanced at each other, but didn’t respond. The Sergeant began pacing back and forth. “Why? Why would they alter our weapons? They had clearly infiltrated under your noses no problem, and according to the two fools found in the Archive terminal’s closet, they were here for information, not sabotage. So why go out of their way to reach the roof and mess with our artillery? Why not just sneak out after obtaining the data?” He stopped pacing and gazed into the distance, where the vermin had run off. “Were they just toying with us? Trying to make us look like fools? Did they want us to question the validity of the Facility’s program and research? Are they looking down on the masterpiece that is Warmaster’s Project R?” His shoulders heaved in anger, and he whirled on the Thwackers. “And how did they get in to begin with?”
“I thought it was the vents, sir?” One of the Thwackers raised his hand as he replied.
“No, you moron, that was a distraction! For the ones who had already made it in!”
“O-oh, of course! I’m sorry, sir.”
“Apologies will get you nowhere. Now you, fix the cannons ASAP. And you, you’re the new Foreman. Begin an internal investigation as to how your predecessor allowed this failure to happen.” The Sergeant sighed, rubbing his temples. “I’ve got a very bad message to relay to Warmaster Seerus…”
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