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Karim flew. Yamamoto manned the radio. In the rear, the rest of the team reorganized and readied their kit. Karim dedicated half his brain to controlling the Sentinel, the other half monitoring the radio.<\/p>\n
\u201cControl to all callsigns, be advised, two active killers reported at Singularity Network, Shard One. Witnesses report two suspects inside the building and at least ten casualties. The suspects are Husks, say again, Husks. TAC is en route. All units respond Code Three.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cControl, this is Black Watch,\u201d Yamamoto replied. \u201cWe\u2019re taking the call. TAC, pull back and support us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRoger that, Black Watch. Good hunting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBlack Watch, this is Car One Adam Three-One. We are on scene and are about to make entry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCar One Adam Three-One, negative, do\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0make entry,\u201d Yamamoto said. \u201cForm a cordon. We are five minutes out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBlack Watch, we can\u2019t wait\u2026 Holy SHIT!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOne Adam Three-One, what happened?\u201d Control demanded. \u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSpiders! Hordes of spiders! Shots\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n His voice died in a liquid scream.<\/p>\n \u201cOne Adam Three-One! What happened?\u201d Control asked. \u201cCome in!\u201d<\/p>\n No response.<\/p>\n \u201cAll stations, all stations, two officers down at Singularity Network Shard One. Street cams show a\u2026 a horde of spiders. Large spiders crawling all over the street. They\u2019ve overwhelmed One Adam Three-One. Spiders are to be considered armed and dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAllah Yarahamuhu<\/em>,\u201d Karim whispered.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re Muslim?\u201d Yamamoto asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI was. But Allah isn\u2019t here. Not in the mosques, not in this world. Only the New Gods.\u201d He sighed. \u201cStill, some habits are hard to break.\u201d<\/p>\n Yamamoto made a soft sound, almost inaudible over the thunderstorm.<\/p>\n \u201cCould you repeat that?\u201d Karim asked.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n Yamamoto\u2019s hands danced in front of his eyes. Every motion was fluid and precise, just enough movement to trigger the augmented reality controls, but no more.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is going to suck,\u201d Yamamoto said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m streaming the street cams. There\u2019s an army of spiders surrounding the Shard. We\u2019ll have to burn them all down. Boomer, break out the GPMG. Rookie, spin up the miniguns.\u201d<\/p>\n Karim gulped and flicked a switch.<\/p>\n The six-barrel side-mounted miniguns whirred to life, their high-pitched whine audible inside the cabin. A red crosshair appeared on the windshield. Karim glanced at the ammo count and the status display.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m taking the guns,\u201d Yamamoto said. \u201cRookie, focus on flying.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCopy,\u201d Karim said.<\/p>\n The neatly-planned grid-like streets and blocks of Tech Town spread out before Karim. The beating heart of Babylon\u2019s innovation economy, it was the natural habitat of the Singularity Network. Shard One, the first Shard, was a former Old World church, repurposed to serve a machine god waiting to be born. Surrounding the two-story building was what appeared to a large, black, moving mat.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t. It was spiders. Spiders as large as dogs, their huge purple bodies pulsing wetly with an ethereal glow. Their heads were covered in eyes, human eyes, staring out in every direction. They strode about on ten massive legs, huddling protectively together even as they spread across the road. A trio of specimens sprawled over a police car, illuminated by its flashing sirens. Nearby, a gang of spiders gathered in a circle, jaws tearing and legs stomping.<\/p>\n They were feasting.<\/p>\n \u201cBoomer, you’ve got top cover,\u201d Yamamoto said. \u201cEveryone else in the back, get on the gunports. Rookie, orbit the Shard. We\u2019re going on a thunder run.\u201d<\/p>\n Karim slowed down, aligning his vehicle with the road below. The spiders looked up at the vehicle, clacking their jaws and pawing at their air with their terrible legs. Yamamoto turned his head left to right, up and down, taking it all in, the crosshairs mimicking his every motion.<\/p>\n \u201cCan they hit us from here?\u201d he wondered.<\/p>\n Bright green dots danced across the windshield. The glass darkened immediately, shielding against the glare.<\/p>\n \u201cWarning, laser strike,\u201d the gravtruck\u2019s AI announced. \u201cWarning, sensor pod blinded.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s your answer,\u201d Yamamoto said. \u201cAt least they\u2019re just dazzlers. Black Watch, keep your visors down. Going in hot.\u201d<\/p>\n A terrible sound filled the world. It was a liquid ripping, the sound of shredding canvas filtered through water, the air tearing apart under two thunderous assaults. Fire flowers bloomed in the night. The gravtruck\u00a0slowed<\/em>\u00a0down.<\/p>\n Twin lines of blazing red tracers seared across the road, so fast and so thick they were solid scarlet laser lines. Everything they touched died. The rest of the operators added their guns to the firestorm, Connor on the top hatch with his general purpose machine gun, the others shooting through the gun ports.<\/p>\n It was madness. Absolute madness. Karim had seen the aftermath of some high-profile STS cases in his previous lives, but it didn\u2019t come close to flying a hurricane of fire and steel.<\/p>\n And yet, deep within, he heard his blood\u00a0sing<\/em>.<\/p>\n As Karim banked around the Shard, a black bolt shot past the window. Then a second. And a third.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re shooting back!\u201d Karim cried, and increased power to the gravity mirror.<\/p>\n The world vanished in a dizzying blur. The city lights swam clockwise away from him, the falling rain slanted to his right, red and blue sirens blinked and flashed, automatic fire thundered through the world. Yamamoto worked the guns like an artist, running his crosshair from one concentration of spiders to the next, his fingers squeezing imaginary triggers in momentary bursts.<\/p>\n Round and round the Sentinel went, Karim flying purely by instinct, making a dozen minor adjustments a moment to avoid crashing into the nearby buildings, barely missing them by inches. A couple of black blobs splashed against the windshield, but the rains quickly washed it off, and Karim barely noticed it.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t see any more movement!\u201d Connor reported. \u201cI think we\u2019re clear.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPut us down by the front door!\u201d Yamamoto ordered.<\/p>\n Karim brought the Sentinel around to the main entrance. Dozens of spider cadavers buried the road, their unnatural lifeblood mingling with the rain. Karim picked a clear spot and began the descent.<\/p>\n \u201cBPD call signs, this is Black Watch responding to incident at SN Shard One. We\u2019re in the Black Maria. Do not, say again, do not shoot us.\u201d<\/p>\n The second the Sentinel touched down, Yamamoto jumped out. Karim grabbed his gear, popped the door and climbed down the vehicle.<\/p>\n His foot crunched on a spider leg.<\/p>\n Wincing, Karim shut the door and scanned, carbine ready. The monstrous spiders around him were pulped and blown apart, most still, some still twitching. They were all dead. Probably.<\/p>\n The team took up security positions around the truck. Near the rear of the Sentinel, Tan fiddled on his control panel, directing the bot to scan the corpses.<\/p>\n \u201cThe drone\u2019s threat profile\u2019s been updated,\u201d Tan said.<\/p>\n \u201cExcellent,\u201d Yamamoto said. \u201cBreach, bang and clear. Bot goes first, Boomer second, everyone else next. Rookie has the banger.\u201d<\/p>\n The team stacked on the door. Connor cradled his general purpose machine gun to his chest, the barrel still smoking. He was carrying an absurd amount of equipment\u2014his breaching kit, his carbine slung around his neck, his GPMG in both hands, his ammo, his armor\u2014but his exoframe bore the extra weight without complaint and he moved lightly on his feet.<\/p>\n Karim retrieved a flash-bang from a pouch\u2014his last banger\u2014and pulled the pin. Fox and Connor forced the double doors open. Karim tossed the banger and looked aside. Light and thunder assaulted his senses.<\/p>\n The bot raced through the doorway. Connor was in next and stepped left. Karim followed Connor, passing through the smoke, and raised his carbine.<\/p>\n It was a slaughterhouse. Corpses\u2014men, women, children, spiders\u2014lay sprawled across the floor, all of them shredded. More spiders swarmed across the dead, making a beeline for the door, their glistening eyes locked on Karim\u2019s, so many of them he could barely count. At the far end of the starkly-lit room, their mother awaited.<\/p>\n A monstrosity among monstrosities, the gargantuan spider-thing tottered on ten huge legs, its fur-covered body brushing against the ceiling. Enormous fangs dripped clear fluid that sizzled on the floor. Rising above its thorax was a second head, a human head, the head of a woman with neck-length hair, eyes staring blankly at the world.<\/p>\n Then Connor fired.<\/p>\n A red riot gushed from the assembled flesh. A blizzard of bullets cut through the spiders and kept on going, penetrating and tumbling and fragmenting, disintegrating everything before it. Connor fired from his hip, unleashing a stupendously long burst, aiming with augmented reality, the exoframe compensating for the recoil. The drone fired also, spraying down the swarm.<\/p>\n Karim planted his red dot sight on the spider\u2019s head, the woman\u2019s head, and pressed the trigger.<\/p>\n The carbine bucked. The Husk\u2019s head snapped back, blood spraying outwards from a halo. But the thing was still up, and he blasted her main head once twice thrice. Connor\u2019s GPMG passed over the rest of the body, still blazing, and the Husk vanished in red mist.<\/p>\n Karim lowered his carbine and beheld the remains of the spider. She had died hard, died ugly, and after that kind of damage there was no coming back.<\/p>\n Suddenly the shooting stopped. Connor transitioned to his carbine and kept moving. Following the wall, Karim scanned the fallen corpses, checking for signs of life. The floor was awash in blood and corpses and brass-colored polymer cases. As the rest of the team flowed in, the operators put finishing shots into the spiders.<\/p>\n The lobby terminated in a T-junction. Connor and Karim met in the middle and swung out, Connor to the left, Karim to the right.<\/p>\n Through the red dot sight, Karim saw a blank white corridor. White doors in black frames ran down both walls at regular intervals. And, at the far end, a gigantic turtle. A turtle standing on two legs, with a pair of clawed hands, and an iron beak for a mouth.<\/p>\n \u201cContact!\u201d he cried, thumb flipping off the safety\u2014<\/p>\n It opened its jaws\u2014<\/p>\n He stroked the trigger\u2014<\/p>\n The monster jerked\u2014<\/p>\n Purple light seared across his sight. The wall beside him exploded, the shockwave hammering him down. He tucked his chin automatically as he fell, curving his spine. When he hit the floor, his pack and pouches slammed into his back<\/p>\n \u201cRookie!\u201d Yamamoto yelled. \u201cAre you okay?\u201d<\/p>\n He hurt. His back hurt. He didn\u2019t know if he could move. But he had to anyway. He tried to sit up but hot electric pain radiated down the muscles of his back.<\/p>\n A male voice, proud and strong, filled his mind.<\/p>\n Today is not your dying day. Stand and fight!<\/em><\/p>\n Fresh strength surged through him, chasing the pains away. He pushed himself back up, balancing himself against the pitted wall.<\/p>\n \u201cHey! You okay?\u201d Yamamoto repeated.<\/p>\n There was a huge crack across his ballistic goggles. The shrapnel from the blast had ripped shallow tears across his uniform. But he was all right.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m fine,\u201d Karim said. \u201cLet\u2019s go!\u201d<\/p>\n Sprinting down the corner, carbine ready, Karim peered into the Aether and saw a trail of bubbling brown acid, curving sharply to the left at the end of the corridor. Pale auras, blue and yellow and silver, curled up in the rooms lining the corridor. Karim ran in the monster\u2019s wake, feeling hot sticky immaterial stuff cling to him and willed himself to ignore the sensations.<\/p>\n The left turn was a stairwell. Karim charged up the steps, finger on the frame, thumb near the safety catch. Heavy footsteps pounded above him. Arriving at the landing, Karim turned right.<\/p>\n Another long, narrow corridor with many doors on his right. The turtle was out in the open, hand curled around a door knob.<\/p>\n \u201cSTS! FREEZE!\u201d Karim shouted.<\/p>\n Roaring, the monster turned to him, opening his mouth.<\/p>\n Karim fired.<\/p>\n Advancing on the creature, he hammered it in the chest one-two-three-four times. The thing bellowed and turned away, facing a huge stained glass window on the left side of the corridor.<\/p>\n Karim raised his carbine an inch and a little bit, found his head, pressed the trigger. The carbine bucked and roared, the sight picture settled, and the Husk was still moving and\u2014<\/p>\n It crashed through the window and disappeared from sight.<\/p>\n \u201cHoly\u00a0shit!<\/em>\u201d Connor exclaimed.<\/p>\n Karim raced to the shattered window and peered out. The monster had landed far from the door, just past the field of corpses. Gunshots rang out, police-issue pistols and a patrol rifle. The Husk ducked behind the Sentinel, out of Karim\u2019s sight. He swore, crouching and shifting, trying to get a bead on the monster.<\/p>\n The turtle roared again.<\/p>\n And with a metallic crash, the eight-ton Sentinel tipped over on its side.<\/p>\n \u201cEl Shaytan alaykom!<\/em>\u201d Karim swore.<\/p>\n The cops kept firing. Karim lowered his goggles and peered out into the night, but he didn\u2019t have an angle on the monster.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happened?\u201d Yamamoto demanded.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sonofabitch tipped the Sentinel over!\u201d Karim said.<\/p>\n Yamamoto\u2019s jaw dropped. And shut just as quickly. He peered out into the night.<\/p>\n \u201cDammit,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Previous part:\u00a01<\/a>,\u00a02<\/a>,\u00a03<\/a>,\u00a04<\/a>,\u00a05<\/a><\/p>\n If you like stories that blend sci fi, fantasy, horror and authentic combat, check out my latest novel\u00a0HAMMER OF THE WITCHES<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Cheah](\"https:\/\/steemitimages.com\/0x0\/https:\/\/cdn.steemitimages.com\/DQmcSX4MiYdPvqUChc7eBRiaSvNLAb2vT71wFubG75cArg8\/Cheah%20Git%20San%20Red.jpg\")
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