32 The Light Suit
It was a chilly night for this year's last day of October. The artificial lights of the Moon colonies shone from above the sky, illuminating the entire mountain in a sporadic manner. It was during this supposedly calm and tranquil time that a figure flashed through the mountain at breakneck speed, being so fast that the security cameras placed all over the quarantine zone could only capture a blurred out, pixelated image before the figure vanished again within a nanosecond, seemingly like a phantom or a ghost.
If this was still in the era where people believed in the supernatural and the peculiar, the sight would have spooked most of the people viewing the security feed the day after. However, in this era, nobody would believe something as unscientific as ghosts, even when the day was Halloween, a traditional night where ghosts would proportedly come out from their slumber and haunt the living men and women of Earth.
Since the figure had appeared and left the camera's field of vision so suddenly, the security guard in charge of the cameras didn't even notice anything wrong even as the figure passed by many of these devices consecutively. Though, unlike the security guard, an AI system like Minerva with a processing speed million times faster than a human brain would instantly be able to detect that something was wrong.
Without a warning, Minerva directly dispatched the nearest satellites toward the quarantine zone in order to try and capture an image of the unknown figure, trying to ascertain whether the figure is a friendly or hostile force before sounding the alarm.
Unfortunately, by the time the nearest satellite arrived, it was already too late, the figure had directly approached the entrance to the nuclear bunker in a straight line, blasting the carbon nanotube reinforced thick wall to bits as the figure continued down the long corridor beyond the entrance, descending down the mountain quickly just as Minerva finally sounded the alarm system, waking up everyone within the entire quarantine zone.
****
[Master, shouldn't you use the electromagnetic pulse function of your suit and disable all electronics within the quarantine zone before commiting your crime? Now look what you've done! All your crimes have been recorded by Minerva!]
"If I had used an EMP, it would have directly disrupted the machine that operated the force filed around the quarantine zone. With Minerva being unable to see what's going on, it would directly enter the worst case scenario and enter the highest alert level within a nanosecond! Even if I could break into the nuclear bunker and somehow retrieve some adamantine, by the time I ran back to the entrance, there would be at least an entire mech squadron waiting for me outside." Daniel sneered and explained within his mind as he continued to fly down the corridor faster than the speed of sound.
"Though, if Minerva was able to detect me instead, it would not increase my threat level directly and gather information first. Within a few seconds, it would be able to notice that the perpetrator is simply operating a mech unit, which is much less threatening than a situation where it wouldn't be able to see anything inside out."
[So you're saying that this way, there might actually be a chance for you to get out of this alive, even when you might instantly get identified and discovered?]
"Yes." Daniel gritted his teeth and reply. "Although I don't like this situation either, it's not like we have a better choice right now!"
Concurrently, just as Daniel continued down the corridor, four androids which Daniel had seen a few hours ago had directly entered combat mode when they received Minerva's command. Without even waiting for Daniel to arrive, they directly fired their lasers through their fingers, sending them straight towards Daniel!
<Incoming laser detected! Impact in 3, 2, 1! Brace for impact! Force field depleting! 90%, 75%, 50%...>
Daniel gritted his teeth and barged his way through even though his shield was weakening by the second. Since the corridor is a confied space, there is literally no where to dodge from the 40 laser beams fired at him at the same time, from each of the android's fingers far away. The only thing that Daniel could do was to fly close enough and disable all the androids before his force field is depleted.
However, it looked as though he didn't have enough time for that!
"Sh*t!" Daniel cursed. "I really wish this suit is equipped with a sniper rifle, or else I wouldn't be in such a situation right now!"
To increase the compactness of the suit, which can be broken up and placed into a backpack unlike that of the bulky giant mechs that Daniel had operated back at EUMA, the Batsu*t had lost many functions that were available to other mechs, such as the fact that it only had one functioning force field and one beam saber strapped behind the spinal cord of the suit. Though, it was also because of this that Daniel was able to sneak in the suit through security checks without any problems.
Knowing that he would be burnt into a crisp if things go on like this, Daniel could only give out a disgruntled snort and said to himself, "I was originally going to use this only as a trump card, but since you've forced my hand, there's no choice but for me to release it now. Take this!"
Daniel suddenly took out an object from a compartment within his utility belt. The object was small enough to fit into the palm of a child's hand, but one shouldn't underestimate the damages it can cause.
Immediately after throwing the spherical object out, Daniel suddenly expelled many foldable metal mesh stands and instantly started unwrapping each of them one after another. Although each mesh stands could open on their own, it wasn't fast enough so Daniel could only connect these mess stands to each other manually before wrapping the finished product into a cylinder, covering the top of his head to complete his own encasement.
Within seconds, Daniel managed to create a Faraday cage for himself!
At the same time, one of the laser beam finally managed to impact the original cylindrical object Daniel had thrown earlier. The second the ray touched the object, the object instantly became energized and exploded into tiny pieces! However, unknown to the robots, an invisible electromagnetic pulse was generated from the object, directly expanding outwards for a kilometer in radius.
The four robots directly short-circuited from the impact and instantly fell dead on the ground. Meanwhile, since Daniel managed to stay grounded within the Faraday cage just in time before the EMP, he, or more importantly, his suit managed to come out of this unfazed.
After waiting for a few more seconds just to be sure that there were no lingering effects of the EMP, Daniel started detaching the mesh, folding them back into bite-sized chunks before fastening them back into their positions hidden within the metal arms and back of the suit.
Only after that did he start running again, jumping over the corpses of the four robots as he passed by.
***
After blasting open the interior entrance with another energy beam, Daniel found himself facing a row of soldiers before him. Each of them held a machine gun directly aimed against his own body, with many red lasers pointed all over his vital parts.
Fortunately, the remaining robots within the nuclear bunker were all knocked out by the previous electromagnetic pulse, although the soldiers were okay since their biochips were well protected within their bodies, not causing any problems even as the EMP passed by.
"Raise your hands up to the sky and get out of your mobile suit now!" One of the soldiers shouted towards Daniel. The man seemed to be the commander of the platoon, since he stood at the very middle and exuded a deep hostile aura that differentiated him from the rest of the military personnel, even though he wore the same uniform.
Daniel subconsciously made a move in response. However, the second his hand moved by even a milimeter, the soldiers immediately cocked their gun and looked ready to shoot at any time. It was then that Daniel decided the best thing to do was to delay the soldiers for a few seconds while he communicated with the system inside his head.
"Hey system, are you able to will the adamantine over and have me absorb it from here?" Daniel asked within his mind.
[That's impossible, Master. You know that with your psychokinesis skill, you wouldn't be able to move objects from such a far distance.]
"Then what am I going to do?!" Daniel shouted within his mind, obviously panicking from inside his B*tsuit. Unfortunately, the system inside his head wasn't able to offer any good suggestions for him so he could only scour his brain as fast as he could trying to think of a solution for his problem.
