Mistrunner 3 - Chapter 9 - Amid Chaos (Patreon)

I’m not a [Cybernetic Engineer]. That much became obvious the longer I tried to learn the skill. From a rational standpoint, I understood it well enough, but I knew from the very beginning that I was missing something vital. That little spark that separated someone meant for a skill from everyone else. Cy had it. And so does Mira with her skills. But me? I was meant for something else.

Patrick Ward

It only took a moment for me to realize that I might’ve bitten off more than I could chew. As the combat bot rose to its full, fifteen-foot height, I raced along the top of the wall. It was only six-inches wide, but with the proprioception modifier associated with [Acrobatics], it might as well have been a sidewalk for all the narrow width affected me. By the time the combat bot came fully online, I was almost forty feet away, but I still questioned whether it would be enough.

Nearby, the patrolling gnomes dropped their concealment and whirled around, looking for an external threat. They were truly tiny creatures – maybe three-feet tall – with bulbous noses, huge, pointed ears, and broad faces. They might’ve passed for tiny humans if it weren’t for their wide eyes, each of which bore twin irises of varying colors. Arrayed in concentric circles, they made for a truly disconcerting sight that marked the creatures as the aliens they were.

As they searched for whatever had tripped the alarm and activated the combat bot, the huge mechanical figure took aim and opened fire. Thunder filled the air – both the natural sound of a lightning strike as well as the rattling report of the huge gatling guns’ that were the bot’s main weapons.

The Dingyts never stood a chance.

I watched in mingled horror and satisfaction as the first two patrols were ripped to shreds, their crimson blood misting as their flesh flew in every direction. One reacted quickly enough to avoid the first burst of gunfire, but a second later, it met the same fate as its comrades.

For a moment, a heavy silence filled the air, broken only by the sound of the gatling guns winding down and the heavy whir of the bot’s servos. It rotated, looking for any additional threats, and when its perception passed over me, I couldn’t help but hold my breath. Maybe I would survive such a barrage, but I suspected I wouldn’t fare much better than the gnomes. No – I needed to avoid notice.

That’s when I noticed a tiny hitch in the robot’s whirl. I knew what that meant. It had noticed me. Perhaps it wasn’t sure, but then again, under the effect of Rage, it probably wouldn’t care so much for certainty. It would likely adhere to the fire-first, look-later mentality. So, right before it would inevitably open fire, I used Distraction.

An instant later, a high-pitched sound not unlike a woman’s scream echoed from the opposite direction. And the combat bot reacted just as I’d hoped, wheeling around and opening fire. It didn’t bother aiming. Instead, it blanketed the entire area in concentrated gunfire from its twin gatling guns. Even as bullets ripped into the buildings, sending concrete and plasti-steel flying, I leaped from the wall and ran deeper into the compound.

My heart was beating out of my chest as I turned a corner and sprinted down a narrow corridor before turning again. And again. Before I knew it, I was on the other side of the facility, my breath coming in ragged pants. In the distance, the combat bot continued to fire, but the other combat bots had finally responded, and the air was filled with the deafening sounds of their explosive battle.

I knew it wouldn’t last long, though. The combat bots were doubtless very durable, but with four going against one, the one I’d hijacked would soon be cut down to size. So, I quickly calmed myself and moved on, creeping along the side of the main building until I found a door. Once I had, I used Misthackto open it, then darted inside. Fortunately, no gnomes were present in the entryway. Still, I maintained my Stealth as I slowly made my way through the compound.

It had been built with the short Dingyts in mind, so I was forced to crouch – especially as I passed through the doors – but I was fortunate enough that I didn’t run into any of the occupants. As I moved, I cast my {Mistrunner}senses out, looking for the security terminal as well as any surveillance or security devices. I found none of the latter, but after only a few seconds, I found a signal that I expected was the terminal.

It was on the second floor, so I wasted no time before finding a stairwell that took me to my destination. Unfortunately, that’s where most of the Dingyts were stationed.

Cursing my bad luck, I slowed down and positioned myself in a corner where I hoped my abilities would keep me unseen. None of the passing gnomes were paying attention to me, though. Instead, they were wholly focused on the catastrophe outside. My hijacked combat bot still hadn’t gone down, apparently, and the gnomes were panicking.

“What happened?!” screeched one as it raced by. Its voice was high-pitched and whiny, reminding me of a petulant child. “Those things are supposed to be foolproof!”

“I don’t know, Garix,” grumbled the one trotting alongside the first. “I’ve told you that a hundred times. I won’t know anything until we take it apart. I think…”

Their conversation faded away as they turned a corner, and I took my chance to dart down the hall. I didn’t stop until another set of gnomes barred my way, but they didn’t stay in one place for long. Like Garix and his companion, they were in crisis mode, and they had jobs to do. So, I waited until they had passed along before I continued my creeping journey deeper into the facility.

I was tempted to explore, to see if I could pick up anything of note. These aliens were clearly advanced. Even without their reputation, the quality of the combat bot was proof that they had high-grade technology at their disposal. Who knew what I could find if I poked around a bit? However, I knew that the crisis would soon pass – if it hadn’t already – and so, my window to acquire the information I’d come to retrieve was quickly closing.

Still, I was sorely tempted, even if I had the self-control to keep my avaricious tendencies in check.

Like that, I kept going, leapfrogging between different groups of gnomes. Thankfully, I remained completely undetected all the way up to the room that was my destination. Less fortunately, it was locked, and I could tell that there were at least two of the gnomes inside. Grinding my teeth, I considered my options.

I could go in, guns blazing, and I felt certain that I could win the battle. However, coming out on top of one fight wasn’t really the goal, and it would almost assuredly leave me vulnerable to a response. As effective as my distraction had been, I didn’t think I could get away with gunfire within the facility. And besides, I needed to remain in the shadows; the plan was for the infiltration to go undetected. Anything else would likely result in the gnomes changing their plans, rendering the information I’d come to steal ineffective.

So – an assault was probably out of the question. I wouldn’t kill anyone unless it became absolutely necessary.

That left me with two options. The first was to upload one of my Ghosts and hope I could put the gnomes down for long enough to do what I wanted. The problem with that plan of action was that I had no idea what kinds of personal defenses they had in place. For all I knew, they had Mistwalls as thick as mine, which would mean trying to Misthack into them would take time I didn’t think I had.

The other option was to find somewhere to hide, observe the gnomes, and pounce when I thought I saw an opening. They weren’t infallible. Nobody was. And over the course of the last three years, I’d assaulted a number of alien bases. During that time, I’d learned many things, but the one takeaway that had stuck with me over everything else was that the invaders really weren’t all that different from humans. They got bored. They lost focus. They slacked off. And I was positive that the Dingyts were no different.

So, with that in mind, I retreated from the door to a ventilation duct I’d passed a few dozen feet down the hall. Once I’d found it, I summoned a wrench from my arsenal implant and removed the bolts, then the vent itself. I leaped, grabbing hold of the duct’s lip, and hauled myself inside. Once I was securely in place, I replaced the vent and awkwardly reattached it.

Then, I let out a sigh of relief that I quickly cut off when I heard a trio of footsteps echoing down the hall I’d just vacated. A moment later, three gnomes marched through, obviously in a hurry to get somewhere.

I shifted backwards, slithering along until I reached an intersection. Then, I turned in the appropriate direction as I tried to make my way back to the room containing the security terminal. It took a while as well as quite a bit of backtracking, but eventually, I reached my destination. And just as I feared, when I looked down at the room’s occupants, I saw a single guard and a technician of sorts. The warrior held a rifle that looked huge in his hands while the technician was plugged into the security terminal via her personal link. Neither noticed me perched in the duct above.

So, I settled down to wait.

Over the years, I’d been forced to surveil hundreds of targets. Back in Nova City, I spent days just watching Nora from a neighboring building, and in the time since the city’s fall, my attacks on dozens of alien encampments had always been accompanied by a good deal of observation. After all, preparation is the best way to ensure survival, and preparation is nothing without proper intelligence. So, my patience had been trained nearly as thoroughly as the rest of my abilities, and lying there in a too-small air duct, I exercised that patience to its fullest extent.

For hours, I remained completely motionless, watching the pair of gnomes. A few times, the guard shifted his position, but the technician remained almost completely motionless. I’d experienced much the same thing when jacked into a terminal; in those situations, it was so easy to lose track of the rest of the world.

After a few hours, Patrick checked in via our Secure Connection, and I sent a message to him that I was fine, adding, “Everything’s going according to plan.”

He knew me well enough that he could tell that I had little interest in holding a conversation. I could have done it, but I didn’t want to lose focus for more than a few seconds. If I did, I’d run the risk of missing my opportunity. I knew myself well enough to recognize the risks of distraction, so it was easier to cut that off before it had a chance to bloom.

So, I continued to wait. And watch.

Eventually, the female gnome – or at least that was my assumption, based on her long, pink hair and feminine figure – disconnected with a sigh, saying, “I need to use the facilities, Dig. You want to come with?”

“We’re on duty, Gretha.”

She batted her eyelashes at him and said, “I won’t tell if you don’t. Come on. All that commotion got me all worked up. Just a quickie in the bathroom. Nobody ever has to know.”

In my experience, men were fairly simple creatures, and rare was the man who’d turn down an offer like that. And it seemed that male gnomes weren’t so different from their human counterparts, at least in that respect. So, it didn’t take much more persuading to get poor Dig onboard, and in only a few seconds, the pair scurried off on their amorous adventure.

I Misthacked the door, commanding it shut before I quickly unbolted the duct’s vent and descended into the room. In seconds, I’d retrieved the black-and-gold cord of my personal link from the Hand of God and jammed it into the security terminal’s access port. Instantly, I saw the system’s security looming before me, represented in a series of nodes containing a wide variety of puzzles and equations I’d have to solve before gaining access.

I tore into the first layer of defenses, and when it only took me a few seconds to tear my way through, I couldn’t help but smile slightly. A couple more seconds, and the second node toppled. Then, the third. On and on I went until I’d overcome all fifty, and in only a minute or so. Still, I knew I was up against a time limit, so I wasted no time in self-congratulation before diving into the system and navigating to the information packet I needed to steal.

That took another minute or so, and I knew my time was growing shorter by the second. I had no idea how quick a quickie really was, but I suspected I didn’t have much longer before the two returned to their post. Finally, I downloaded the appropriate packet – along with a couple of others that looked interesting, sequestering them in a quarantined corner of my interface before climbing my way back into the duct. I’d just attached the final bolt when the door slid open.

“Did you close the door?” asked Gretha, looking flustered. Her clothes – which consisted of a purple jumpsuit – were rumpled as well.

“Maybe?” mumbled Dig. “Probably. Yeah, no – I’m sure I did.”

“Oh. Okay,” Gretha said, shaking her head. “Don’t do that next time. It’s against protocol.”

“Affirmative, you saucy little reakinx,” he said with an exaggerated wink of his off-putting eye. Gretha clearly appreciated it, because a blush that came close to matching her hair bloomed on her cheeks.

As the two settled back into their roles – after a little more flirting – I slowly inched my way back to my original access point. Once I saw that it was clear, I descended from the vent and slowly made my way back through the halls and out of the building. It was more than a little nerve-wracking, and I was forced to stop more than a few times, but I still managed it without being detected.

By the time I was outside, the rain had ceased, which meant I’d have that much less cover. No matter – I could just vault to the top of the exterior wall, Misthackthe Mist shield, and then be on my merry way.

As it turned out, things were a bit more complicated than that because I had to avoid a few patrols as well as a couple of drone swarms, but I managed it all the same. Along the way, I did catch a couple of glimpses of the wreckage my distraction had left behind. Whole buildings had been destroyed, and the walls that were left standing were pockmarked with bullet holes. The destroyed combat bot was being examined by a few technicians – all wearing the same purple jumpsuits Gretha had worn – but I felt confident that they wouldn’t find anything. Once my Ghosts ran their course, they were undetectable.

At least as far as I knew. Perhaps there was something out there that would prove to be the exception to the rule, but I’d yet to encounter anything of the sort. And until I did, I felt confident in banking on my Ghosts’ undetectability.

Once I got over the wall, it was child’s play to retrace my steps back to where I’d left Avery. Sure enough, she’d remained encamped in the same hollow, and though she looked miserable, she was unharmed.

Once I got close, I dropped Stealth and said, “You really should pay better attention to your surroundings. Someday, somebody with ill intentions will sneak up on you and make you pay for your lack of attention.”

Flinching away from my voice, her hands twitched to her guns. However, it only took a moment before she settled down. Trying to pretend that she hadn’t lost her composure, she pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, asking, “Did you get it?”

“Of course,” I said. I was a little annoyed that she hadn’t followed my instructions and gone back to the camp after two hours, but I didn’t mention it. Likely, she had different orders from her own leaders. “And I’ll go ahead and tell you right now – if you’d have gone in there, you would have died.”

“I think you underestimate me.”

I shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, there’s no way you get to that security terminal without raising the alarm,” I said.

“I disagree. I’ve snuck into better secured compounds,” she stated.

“Sure. Keep believing that. But if you want some advice –”

“I don’t.”

“Well, you’re going to get it anyway. My advice is to stow your pride and try to learn,” I said. “Maybe you’re as good as you think you are, but I doubt it. At some point, you’re going to trip on something you can’t handle. If I wasn’t here, that’s what would’ve happened in there. That combat bot would’ve ripped you to shreds.”

“I can handle myself,” she huffed.

I looked at her for a few silent seconds, then realized that nothing I could say would get through to her. She’d already made up her mind, and there was little I could do about it. It seemed that some lessons needed to be learned first-hand. I just hoped she had the ability to survive when she found her limits.

“Fine. Whatever,” I said, summoning my Cutter. Once it had materialized, I threw one leg over the fuselage and added, “You coming? Or did you want to walk back?”

I didn’t need to flare Observation to hear the grinding of her teeth before she took a deep, steadying breath and climbed on behind me. Once she had her hands on my waist, we took off across the muddy desert.

The first part of the plan was in the books. Now, we just needed to execute the remainder.