Mistrunner 3 - Chapter 14 - Fallibility (Patreon)

For a while, I thought it was love. Cy treated me like an equal. We talked. We had things in common. We were doing great, important things. But Mira was always in the back of my mind. The moment I admitted that to myself, I realized that I could never have a future with Cy. For both our sakes, it had to end. I just wish she saw it that way.

Patrick Ward

“Not bad,” I said, kneeling atop a sand dune and watching Rex plant his explosives. He clearly knew what he was doing, and I recognized a fellow enthusiast in the man. There was a difference between someone with a skill and a job and someone who truly enjoyed his work. With Rex, that difference was obvious in the care he took with each charge, in how precisely he placed them upon the would-be killing field.

He stood, taking off his broad-brimmed hat and wiping his forearm across his head. With a long exhale, he squinted toward the horizon where the sun had begun to set. It cast the sky in a spectrum of colors ranging from orange to purple. I didn’t think I’d ever get tired of such sights.

That was one of the advantages of being away from civilization – I got to see wonders I’d never thought possible. Sure, sunset was a thing back in Nova City, too, but it wasn’t nearly as impactful as it was in the wilderness.

“Glad to have your approval, your majesty,” Rex muttered, sweeping his hat down and across his waist before bowing. His attitude had softened since the train heist, probably because he was well aware that I’d probably saved his life. Maybe he could have made it out alive on his own, but I doubted it. Clearly, he did too. He grinned, adding, “I’m guessin’ you know your way ‘round a bomb, eh? ‘Course ya do. Ain’t there nothin’ you can’t do?”

“I don’t really cook,” I said, rising to my full height. I held the R-14 with the stock against my waist. “But if it involves killing or blowing things up, I’m probably your girl.”

“That an offer?”

I snorted a laugh. “That’s a big negative, cowboy,” I said.

His face wrinkled in distaste. “Don’t have ta sound so dismissive,” he muttered, climbing the dune to join me. He replaced his hat on his head and squinted toward the horizon.

“You’re old enough to be my father,” I stated, following his gaze. There was nothing there, but soon enough, a caravan of trucks would appear. Once that happened, the job would start. Hopefully, it would go off without a hitch, but I couldn’t help but expect a few surprises. After all, Askar’s and Isaac’s intelligence seemed incomplete when it came to the train; who was to say that wouldn’t be the case with the caravan? I had plans for most possible scenarios, but even I couldn’t think of everything.

Rex went on, “Is that what you like? You got daddy issues, eh?”

“Not even remotely. I barely knew the guy,” I answered with another laugh. “You’re barking up the wrong tree here. Not interested. Will never be interested. And if you keep going the way you’re going, I might shoot you. Where that shot goes depends on how annoyed I am.”

He raised his hands in surrender. “Just offerin’ is all,” he said. “Can’t blame a fella for takin’ a chance, yeah?”

“I can if that ‘fella’ keeps it up.”

“Alright, alright. I get it,” he said.

I nodded, then said, “Guess we should get back to the others. What’s your range on the charges?”

“S’posed to be up to three-hundred meters, but I keep it down to two-hundred just ta be safe,” he said. Then, he grinned, conspiratorially offering, “Plus, that’s close enough to feel the shockwave.”

Definitely a man who enjoyed his work. I could relate. There was nothing like being buffeted by the wind of your own shockwave.

After that, the two of us headed back, giving the field of buried explosives a wide berth. The last thing I wanted was to set them off early because I stepped on the wrong spot. That wasn’t supposed to happen, but bombs were notoriously finnicky. Sometimes, they went off for all the wrong reasons, and every bombmaker learned early on not to tempt fate with disrespect.

Soon enough, we reached our assigned position, which was a hole that had been dug in the coarse sand and concealed beneath a few layers of subterfuge. The first was a simple earth-colored tarp, the second was a layer of sand, and the third was a holographic display set up by Askar. In the field, it was just about as hidden as we could get.

Of course, my skills were probably better, but most people couldn’t boast such powerful abilities as Stealth and Camouflage. As Rex and I ducked under the tarp, I saw the familiar forms of Askar and Avery resting with their backs against an earthen wall. They’d clearly been in the middle of a conversation, which cut off the moment they heard our approach. In that moment, I was shocked by how similar their mannerisms were.

It wasn’t definitive proof, but the pair were clearly closer than they’d let on. The only question was whether they were lovers, kin, or just a pair of close friends. Any of the options were possible, but I hoped it wasn’t the first. If Avery was more than twenty years old, I would’ve been surprised, and given that Askar, despite his appearance, was at least as old as my uncle had been, that sort of situation just struck me as wrong.

Not uncommon, but wrong all the same.

I hoped they were somehow related, though that seemed unlikely as well. By this point, Askar was exiled from his people, which meant that finding a mate among the others who’d been sent down to Earth was extremely unlikely. And I didn’t think his kind could conceive a child with a human woman.

But what did I know? The universe was a vast place, and there was every possibility that such a human-seeming alien could do just that. Either way, Avery represented a pressure point that, if necessary, I could needle. I still didn’t know Askar’s capabilities, so cataloguing every avenue of potential attack was just smart.

“Hot as balls out there,” Rex growled, grabbing a bottle of water from the small cache of supplies sitting nearby. Next to it was a portable security terminal.

“Are the others in position?” I asked, ignoring the cowboy.

Askar answered, “Ready and waiting. The bombs set?”

“Them bastards won’t know what hit ‘em,” Rex answered before taking a long, deep drink. Water splashed down his chin, but he didn’t care, so long as most of it went into his mouth.

Askar continued to stare at me, and I said, “Everything’s set. Your plan should go off without a hitch.”

“Good. Very good,” he said. “And you two know your roles, right? You know the plan, don’t you?”

“Convoy passes us by,” I said. “We blow the explosives once the last few trucks are in range, blocking retreat. Train’s blocking the way forward. We swoop in, disable the defenses, and take what we need. Patrick lands the Leviathan, we load everything up, and then we retreat.”

“Skeedaddle,” said Rex, slapping his hands together with a grin. “No trace, no pursuit. Like ghosts in the goddamn wind.”

Askar nodded. I had to respect his plan, if for no other reason than because of its simplicity. Sure, there were a few moving parts, but he’d taken as many variables as possible into account during the plan’s formation. Hopefully, that would be enough.

For the next few minutes, I remained outwardly silent while talking to Patrick over the Secure Connection. We didn’t discuss anything important – just idle chat to distract us from our impatience to get things started. Waiting was always the worst part for me. I was so used to moving. To acting. To making things happen. So just sitting still and waiting for my target to come to me was an exercise in torture. Patrick’s voice helped mitigate some of that, but the wait was still more than a little frustrating.

Soon enough, the sun set and night fell over the desert.

“Wish I could see the stars,” I said, glancing up at the tarp.

“Me too,” Patrick answered, his voice full of awe. He’d often spoken of leaving the planet, of traveling through space and seeing all the amazing things he’d read about. Apparently, astronomy was one of his other hobbies, and given half a chance, he would wear my ears off with tales of supernovas and comets. For my part, I didn’t much care about any of that. Sure, it was all probably amazing, but I was more interested in traveling to other settled planets.

Partly, I wanted to take the fight to the aliens’ home turf. They’d invaded my planet, so it was only right to return the favor. However, even I knew that was a route to ruin. I couldn’t stand up to whole civilizations. Instead, my desires were mainly influenced by a need to leave Earth – and its wholly disappointing populace – behind. I didn’t hate my own people. But I was frustrated with them. Perhaps I could find somewhere better out there.

Somewhere I could fit in without feeling like a freak.

Because, on Earth, that’s what I was. If there were more than a hundred people on the planet – not including the aliens – who could rival my power, I would’ve been surprised. The combination of my advanced skills and inflated attributes sometimes made me feel like a wholly different species. Most of the people I met would be dead in a few decades. But me? I’d live for hundreds of years. Maybe indefinitely. That made friendships a tricky prospect.

More, it made it easy to understand why my uncle had kept himself separate from everyone else. Aside from Heather, Nora, and me, he hadn’t really been close to anyone. And I understood it. Getting close to someone meant enduring the pain of inevitably outliving them.

“It’s time,” said Askar, yanking me from my thoughts. I blinked, and he looked up from the security terminal, adding, “The convoy is a little bigger than expected.”

I sighed. “And let me guess, the defenses are stronger.”

“There’s no way to tell for sure,” he answered.

“That’s a yes,” said Rex, checking the hand cannon at his hip. Avery was doing the same with her dual pistols.

“Shit,” I muttered. “How many more trucks?”

“Nine extras. Two have profiles that suggest armored –”

“Dammit!” I growled, slapping my hand against the ground. Then, I forced myself to calm down. I pushed myself to my feet, saying, “Okay, here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going out there. I’ll take care of the extras. The rest of you follow the plan, okay?”

“You do understand that they probably have –”

“I understand perfectly well,” I spat, interrupting Askar. I jabbed a finger at the alien, saying, “You’ve had bad intel from the very start. If I wasn’t here, your little heist would have already failed. So, if you’ll kindly just step the fuck back and let me do my thing, I’ll pull your ass out of the fire. Then, we can go our separate ways. Got it?”

I hadn’t wanted to take over. I had fully intended to simply play my part and hope for the best. But that wasn’t really in the cards. The problem was that I’d assumed Askar knew what the hell he was doing just because he was an alien. Clearly, he was just as amateurish as the rest of his crew, and he covered that up with his backstory and cool demeanor.

But if I wanted this thing to happen, I needed to take control.

Which meant showing my cards.

“Goddammit,” I growled into the Secure Connection. “New plan, Pick. When shit goes down, I need you to swoop in and open fire with the cannon.”

“Uh…on who?”

I loved him for not arguing with me. He trusted my judgement, God bless him.

“You’ll know it when you see it,” I said. I had an inkling of what to expect, but only because of some of the files I’d glimpsed during my infiltration of the Dingyt satellite camp. I’d hoped I wouldn’t need the information, but now, my hopes seemed silly. From the moment I’d discovered its presence, I knew I’d end up facing it.

A part of me even looked forward to it.

But if any of the others faced off against what I suspected was coming, they’d end up dead before they even had a chance to react. If they were going to survive, I was their only real chance.

Patrick and the others confirmed that they were onboard, and I slipped out from underneath the tarp. Immediately, I embraced Stealth, masking my presence in the process, and started moving forward at a jog. I knew that an observant watcher would notice my passage, but I trusted that none of those were around. Soon enough, I reached a short cliff overlooking the would-be site of the ambush. Once there, I pulled my Pulsar out of my arsenal implant and extended the stabilizer arms. With that done, I took a prone firing position, and searched the horizon for the dust that would announce the convoy’s arrival. I had to flare Observation, but I found it a couple of seconds later.

“Half a mile out,” I said over the communications channel reserved for the crew. “ETA forty-five seconds.”

“Understood,” came Askar’s terse response.

I could practically see Rex’s grin as he pulled the detonator from his pocket. At least I’d get a good view of the fireworks while he was tucked away safe and sound under a giant tarp. Silver linings and all that.

The caravan’s lead truck came into view, and I was a little surprised to see that it had Mist vents where I’d expected wheels. Keeping that stable must’ve cost a fortune. I knew because I’d had to feed my Cutter a handful of Rift shards every time I wanted to take it out in a Mist-dense territory. Doing so for a truck the size of the one slowly closing in on my position had to have been incredibly expensive.

A second truck followed the first. Then a third. And a fourth. In the end, almost thirty trucks had come into view, speeding across the desert. The last nine trucks were subtly different from the others. Reinforced frames gave them a much bulkier appearance, and I could see that they were equipped with thick armor that would stop anything short of my BMAP.

The sight of those bulky trucks verified that my prediction had been correct.

“This is going to get really messy,” I said over the crew’s channel. “I can’t guarantee everyone’s going to make it through.”

“They’re just gnomes!” came Huascar’s voice. A couple of others agreed.

“Yeah. Sure. I just thought I’d give you fair warning,” I said, resisting the urge to argue. They had no idea what was coming. For my part, I had only read a few lines on a file, but even that was enough to tell me not to underestimate what was in store. The crew had no such warning, and even if they’d seen what I had, I suspected they wouldn’t have reacted appropriately. They just weren’t serious people. “Head’s up. Arrival in five, four, three…”

I finished the countdown, and a second later, the lead truck in the convoy passed the explosives. The others raced along behind it, and, soon enough, the tail of the caravan moved into position.

Suddenly, a series of explosions rocked the desert, sending sand and bedrock flying into the air. Trucks were torn asunder, flipping onto their sides as the explosions ripped their occupants to shreds.

Or that’s how it should have gone.

But the back nine trucks were too heavily armored to succumb to the explosions. In the wake of the blast, I heard tiny, high-pitched shouts of alarm, pain, and despair. I ignored them as I watched the mostly-unharmed trucks, hoping against hope that I had been mistaken.

As I watched, Rex let out a crow of victory that carried over the communication channel. The idiot had no idea that his actions should have signed the entire crew’s death warrant.

“Are those trucks moving?” asked Patrick over the Secure Connection. “How are they still standing?”

“They’re not trucks,” I said.

“What?”

Just as he asked the question, one of the trucks flipped over on its back and sprouted a hundred metal appendages. It skittered toward the next truck and through some mechanical process I could scarcely track, attached itself to the other. The new, much larger vehicle repeated the process, absorbing the next truck in line before moving on to the next. And the next after that. In less than half a minute, the nine vehicles had combined into a huge clump of mismatched metal parts.

And then it started to shift.

First came the legs, retracting into the thing’s bulk. Then, it folded in on itself. Once. Twice. Three times. Over and over until only a cube remained.

“What the fuck is that?” cried Huascar over the communication channel.

I ignored him as I watched the thing sprout a pair of arms. Then legs. The cube slimmed out into a torso, and a head emerged from the body. In only a few seconds, a sleek, humanoid form stood in the center of the battlefield. Composed of shiny metal, it looked like a featureless mannequin. But I knew that, beneath that mostly benign exterior was the most advanced combat bot I’d ever beheld.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said, taking aim with my Pulsar. I embraced Empowered Shot. “I’ll take care of it.”

A second passed, and I squeezed the trigger. A moment later, a ball of superheated plasma tore into the robot’s chest, melting through it with ease. And just like that, the battle was joined.