clawing at
Forty-Two’s arm. “Corvan!”
The docking bay’s siren abruptly fell silent, reverting
instead to a dull, red flashing light that cast Thanatos in bloody shadows.
“Let her go,” he ordered, his low growl cutting into the heavy silence, his
pulse pistol targeting Forty-Two’s forehead. “Now.”
“I have two missions to complete, Thanatos,” Forty-Two
stated, ignoring the writhing body in his grip as he kept his molecular
disruptor trained on the assassin. “Return the bio-weapon known as M.E.Lii to
the GU Interplanetary Alliance Council, and terminate Unit Zero agents Thanatos
and Proserpina.”
“Then you’re about to fail both.”
“And how are you going to stop me? I have disengaged my
external emergency deactivation function. Apart from the pulse pistol in your
hand, I detect a strafer on your right thigh, a neural disruptor in your right
boot, a synaptic neutralizer at the small of your back and a neo-energy gutting
blade on your left biceps. None of these weapons are sufficient to destroy an
R42 military-combat ’droid.”
“I won’t need any of them.”
Forty-Two narrowed his eyes, scanning the man again. His
composed confidence was unpredicted. Unexpected.
[zero undetected weapons]
[bio-rhythms fluctuating]
Tightening his hold on the still-squirming bio-weapon,
Forty-Two returned his attention to Thanatos’ face. What was he missing?
“Corvan?” The soft sob scraped at Forty-Two’s aural senses.
The assassin’s stare slid to the bio-weapon and he gave it a
small smile. “Remember my promise, Emylie,” he said, voice calm, soothing.
“Remember, I will never break my word to you.”
“Very touching,” Forty-Two said. He abruptly released his
grip on the bio-weapon, letting it free fall for a fraction of a second before
closing his fingers around its neck to hold it dangling above the floor, its
feet thrashing wildly in the air, its small hands clawing at his large one. “But—”
[alert]
[bio-rhythms fluctuating]
[temporal shift detected]
[temporal displacement detected]
“But your time’s up, Metal Man.”
The low snarl to Forty-Two’s right snapped his head around.
His gaze locked on a pair of very angry silver eyes almost level with his own
before, point zero zero four seconds later, a second Agent Thanatos pressed a
strafer to his forehead and fired.
A spreading wall of concentrated deax energy penetrated his
teratanium skull, raining fire through his neural net. His sensory receptors
exploded with impulses. Molten heat flooded his system. The fingers clenched
around the bio-weapon’s neck sprang open. It squealed, falling toward the floor
before he snatched it from the air again with his left hand and yanked it to
his side, keeping his molecular disruptor extended and charged.
He spun, swiping his right arm at the second Thanatos, his
locked fingers tearing across the man’s cheek, gouging the flesh even as his
logic circuits denied the man’s existence.
A sizzling bolt of deax energy struck his neck, and for a
micro-second his whole system froze.
[ alert one system shutdown]
[alert one system shutdown]
[redirecting power to secondary processors]
[E.S.O.U.L rebooting ]
A shudder racked Forty-Two’s frame.
“Corvan!”
[E.S.O.U.L online]
A child’s petrified scream snapped Forty-Two’s visual
sensors back online. He turned, fear and rage and guilt abruptly flooding
through him, just in time to see the original Thanatos aim and fire the pulse
pistol directly into his face.
The blast registered as a wall of white code roaring through
his positronic matrix.
[ secondary processors offline]
[E.S.O.U.L offline ]
“Pain” spiked into his rebooting core processor. He
staggered backward, squeezing the squealing bio-weapon harder to his chest.
Without his exo-battle armor he was more vulnerable than anticipated. He needed
to halt the attack of the two men before his entire system shut down. He
clamped his fingers over the bio-weapon’s
Forty-Two’s arm. “Corvan!”
The docking bay’s siren abruptly fell silent, reverting
instead to a dull, red flashing light that cast Thanatos in bloody shadows.
“Let her go,” he ordered, his low growl cutting into the heavy silence, his
pulse pistol targeting Forty-Two’s forehead. “Now.”
“I have two missions to complete, Thanatos,” Forty-Two
stated, ignoring the writhing body in his grip as he kept his molecular
disruptor trained on the assassin. “Return the bio-weapon known as M.E.Lii to
the GU Interplanetary Alliance Council, and terminate Unit Zero agents Thanatos
and Proserpina.”
“Then you’re about to fail both.”
“And how are you going to stop me? I have disengaged my
external emergency deactivation function. Apart from the pulse pistol in your
hand, I detect a strafer on your right thigh, a neural disruptor in your right
boot, a synaptic neutralizer at the small of your back and a neo-energy gutting
blade on your left biceps. None of these weapons are sufficient to destroy an
R42 military-combat ’droid.”
“I won’t need any of them.”
Forty-Two narrowed his eyes, scanning the man again. His
composed confidence was unpredicted. Unexpected.
[zero undetected weapons]
[bio-rhythms fluctuating]
Tightening his hold on the still-squirming bio-weapon,
Forty-Two returned his attention to Thanatos’ face. What was he missing?
“Corvan?” The soft sob scraped at Forty-Two’s aural senses.
The assassin’s stare slid to the bio-weapon and he gave it a
small smile. “Remember my promise, Emylie,” he said, voice calm, soothing.
“Remember, I will never break my word to you.”
“Very touching,” Forty-Two said. He abruptly released his
grip on the bio-weapon, letting it free fall for a fraction of a second before
closing his fingers around its neck to hold it dangling above the floor, its
feet thrashing wildly in the air, its small hands clawing at his large one. “But—”
[alert]
[bio-rhythms fluctuating]
[temporal shift detected]
[temporal displacement detected]
“But your time’s up, Metal Man.”
The low snarl to Forty-Two’s right snapped his head around.
His gaze locked on a pair of very angry silver eyes almost level with his own
before, point zero zero four seconds later, a second Agent Thanatos pressed a
strafer to his forehead and fired.
A spreading wall of concentrated deax energy penetrated his
teratanium skull, raining fire through his neural net. His sensory receptors
exploded with impulses. Molten heat flooded his system. The fingers clenched
around the bio-weapon’s neck sprang open. It squealed, falling toward the floor
before he snatched it from the air again with his left hand and yanked it to
his side, keeping his molecular disruptor extended and charged.
He spun, swiping his right arm at the second Thanatos, his
locked fingers tearing across the man’s cheek, gouging the flesh even as his
logic circuits denied the man’s existence.
A sizzling bolt of deax energy struck his neck, and for a
micro-second his whole system froze.
[ alert one system shutdown]
[alert one system shutdown]
[redirecting power to secondary processors]
[E.S.O.U.L rebooting ]
A shudder racked Forty-Two’s frame.
“Corvan!”
[E.S.O.U.L online]
A child’s petrified scream snapped Forty-Two’s visual
sensors back online. He turned, fear and rage and guilt abruptly flooding
through him, just in time to see the original Thanatos aim and fire the pulse
pistol directly into his face.
The blast registered as a wall of white code roaring through
his positronic matrix.
[ secondary processors offline]
[E.S.O.U.L offline ]
“Pain” spiked into his rebooting core processor. He
staggered backward, squeezing the squealing bio-weapon harder to his chest.
Without his exo-battle armor he was more vulnerable than anticipated. He needed
to halt the attack of the two men before his entire system shut down. He
clamped his fingers over the bio-weapon’s
Similar Books
