Perfect World VR (10) - Command and Conquer

There were three battles taking place currently. One was with the main force of the Red Wing Thunder Squadron clashing with the Scorpion units.

The second was Elena and Gary against the 8 cannons protecting the Crawler. The third was Tanya trying to survive against a swarm of Drones.

At this moment, a fourth battle was about to begin. Nathan and Leah made their way through the hatch that was barely big enough to fit a person.

If not for their relatively slender physiques, they would have long since been stuck with no way to retreat or move forward. They managed to crawl their way through and exited at the other end.

Once in, they found themselves in the production chamber of the Crawler. They quickly moved away from the hatch and hid behind what looked like barrels.

It was roughly the size of a large house with several cranes and production bots moving about to make the place somewhat lively.

"That should be where the energy from the node is being stored." Nathan pointed to a transparent pillar that ran from the roof of the room to the bottom.

It seemed to be charged with electricity as occasional bolts of electricity would flash from it. Within the pillar, purple energy glowed with a certain shimmer and seemed to be flowing like a stream of water.

"Nate, look at that," Leah called his attention to something else, pointing downward. Nathan glanced over to find that the production bots were currently working on something. It looked a lot like a tank but with thicker armor and larger size as well as more cannons.

"That should be the new unit that the Crawler is preparing to send out to face the others. Judging from how it looks now and the speed at which it's being built…."

"It would take a little over three minutes for it to be completed." Leah finished Nathan's sentence with the latter looking over at her, both staring at each other in silence. "Yeah." Nathan slowly nodded as he pulled away from the exchange.

"We should leave before…" Just as he was about to finish his statement, what he dreaded occurred. [Intruder alert!!!... Intruder alert!!!... The enemy has infiltrated the ship, Intruder alert!!!.]

"Oh no…" Leah muttered. Before they had a chance to recover from the alarms set off, a second shock would cause them to enter into a state of panic. The objects that they thought were barrels suddenly moved.

"…Nate, I think this just moved," Leah said as she slowly backed away. Nathan put up a brow but followed after her. "What do you mean it…"

The barrels suddenly stirred and before they had a chance to react, it grew wheels and its top pushed up to reveal a space between the rest of the body and the lid. In that space, a pair of red slits appeared.

Nathan and Leah gulped simultaneously. The barrel turned around and faced them. It seemed to scan them for a brief moment. [Intruders detected. Commencing extermination!!]

"Shit, run!!" Leah did not need extra incentive as she rose to her feet and charged away from the barrels. Nathan was not an exception as he bolted with her, that is, not before shoving the barrel and causing it to knock into its companion.

Unfortunately for them, the assessment that the barrels had made was spread across the entire Crawler. They had been found out and would be exterminated if caught, things were certainly not looking up in their favor.

"Over there." They ran towards what looked a lot like an exit. Nathan instinctively glanced back only to find that not only the two barrels that had spotted them, but several others had also joined them and were currently racing towards them.

"What the fuck is this!!" Before he had a chance to curse just how badly things had devolved, another piece of bad news floated into his ears. "I can't open it."

His eyes went wide as he turned to Leah. "Sorry what." Leah faced him, a worried expression firmly plastered on her beautiful face. "It doesn't have a handle nor does it have a card scanner. I can't open it even if I wanted to hack it."

"This… Why is this so fucking hard!!" He had to yell at the top of his lungs. "Nate, we don't have much time." Leah had to remind him, at the moment, she felt quite hopeless, a little useless as well.

"I have to use that." He clicked his tongue. "Leah, stall them." "How?" She had to ask, she had no special skill up her sleeve to make use of.

"Just hold them back." He moved up to the exit and placed his right palm on it. Leah was left to figure things out on her own. She had to keep the enemy at bay, long enough to allow Nathan to crack open the exit.

There were not a lot of resources to make use of. She pulled out what was an upgraded form of a pistol. A tachyon-charged pistol with a design that meshed a G18 and a Revolver into one crazy-looking artillery.

In place of a cartridge was what looked like a tube. It was currently empty. The enemy was twenty seconds away from them. She had eighteen seconds to do something else they get blasted to oblivion and fail the test.

She bit down on her lower lip. "What would Aunt do in this situation?" She suddenly pulled out the cartridge and closed her eyes. She tightened her grip around the cartridge, proceeding to focus completely on it.

At first, there was nothing, but then a reaction occurred. The cartridge began to glow a distinct blue tone. She could feel the energy from her tachyon core leaving her body and entering the cartridge.

She kept this up until it was full but then… She didn't stop. She continued until the blue tone began to turn violent, almost as though it were about to explode. "Now."

She opened her eyes, the barrels were five seconds away from them. She threw the unstable cartridge at them and turned away, crouching low as she covered her ears.

***Boom***

There was an explosion. She fell to the side and Nathan slammed headfirst into the door. "Ouch." He turned back to find that the area they had run through had collapsed with a few barrels gone as well.

Leah had just succeeded in not only cutting off the barrel's route to reach them… She had also taken out a few of them as well. "Nice one, girl." Nathan was obliged to remark. He was thoroughly impressed. This was a result of quick thinking, it was beautiful, to say the least.

Leah turned over and after taking in the sight of her handiwork, she heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness it worked. I was worried that it wouldn't be enough." "You did well."

"Thanks." "How much did that take out of your core?" Nathan felt the need to ask. "A little over thirty percent."

Nathan nodded as he turned back to the door. "I understand. Leave the rest to me now." [Transfer Window activated.]

[Would host like to transfer Eyes of Laplace from passive skill template to active skill template?] [Yes] [No]

Nathan did not waste a breath. "Yes." [Transfer will now commence. Loading….. Transfer completed. Would host like to activate Eyes of Laplace?]

"Yes." It only took a moment for his vision to change. A world of numbers was laid bare before him. At the same time, the barrels on the other side had already communicated with the Crawler mainframe.

They were unable to reach the target, other measures had to be put in place. Leah watched them silently and the moment they turned around to leave, a new sense of foreboding came upon her.

***Whir***

She looked up to find Drones emerging from hatches, heading straight for them. "Nathan!!" She rose to her feet and rushed to Nathan, hugging him from behind. At the same time, a bluish hue spread out from her and covered both of them.

The Drones rushed at them and once they were in range, they opened fire. Almost simultaneously, several plasma beams headed toward them. They crashed into the bluish hue causing Leah to buckle in response.

The hue acted as a shield as it absorbed the impact of the beams. Unfortunately, Leah was not in good condition as blood emerged from her nose and the corner of her mouth.

"Nathan, please be quick." She muttered in a tired voice. Nathan was not aware of what was happening around him as his eyes thoroughly scanned the door before him. He soon came across seven points that could be exploited to open it.

He pulled out his pistol and aimed at them. He shot each area with such precision, that one would think he were a marksman. Of course, this was because the eyes allowed him to pinpoint the exact location to shoot at.