53 Chapter 53

"Don't worry all of your people's memories will live on in my genetic code. Honestly, I'm doing all of you a favor by removing the one weakness you still possess," Loyd explained.

After a brief grimace, the old man spoke up. "And what weakness is that?"

Loyd smiled. "Your humanity."

Pained shrieks echoed throughout the icy caverns as Loyd forcefully assimilated everyone aboard the barge. Beast also made sure that all of their food was turned into more biomass for himself.

Loyd walked up to the radio and tuned it to the city's frequency. "This is ice barge Olympus calling Bunker City. How copy?"

"Good copy Olympus. What is it? Over," the radio spat back.

"We've come under heavy attack and need to return for emergency repairs. We'll be trying to reach our sister barges on our way back as well. Over," Loyd lied.

"Roger that. You should be able to come at us from surface level along the eighty-degree arc. Heavy swarmling activity throughout everywhere else. They seem to be trying to learn the city's automated defenses so watch yourselves on the return trip. Over," the radioman warned.

"Roger that Bunker. We've got several wounded aboard from a structural collapse so have some paramedics on stand by for our return. Over."

"Understood Olympus. We'll have as many medical personnel as we can spare waiting at the dock for you." The radioman paused. "The commander wishes to know how many souls are aboard and what happened to the old man. Over."

"We currently have two uninjured and thirty-seven either wounded or missing. No other confirmed casualties as of yet. Over," Loyd stated, eyeing his abominations.

"Roger that and what of the old man? Over."

"He's one of the missing." Loyd paused, before smirking. "We've got another attack wave coming this way! Get us moving! Head towards the eighty-degree arc and head towards the city! We can outrun them if we surface!"

"Olympus come in! You've got more incoming? Do we need to send some escorts your way? Over."

"Bunker this is Olympus, they've got fliers with them but we should be able to outrun them if we surface! They'll take out any escorts you send our way. Oh shit, they're-" Loyd smashed the radio with a swift kick. "And now we head at them full speed."

"Yes, sir!" the abominations shouted in unison before spreading out to their separate posts.

The barge lurched upward as the engines kicked into overdrive. Loyd turned to Beast.

"If our lie is to be believed we need something obviously broken."

Beast grinned his metal grin before thrashing around and breaking everything deemed unnecessary.

"Now we sit back and-" Loyd felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. "Argenti."

"What is it, master?" Beast asked.

"Something happened in Russia. When we get back from killing this Prime Sentient, we'll have to kill someone," Loyd announced angrily.

"Then, let's hurry on to this city," Sara said.

Loyd turned to see her sitting on one of the consoles with Madeline, Argenti, and one of the younglings.

"Griffon went mad and took over, didn't he?" Loyd asked, already aware of the answer.

"Yep, and ever since we died, we've been stuck here on earth," Argenti declared with annoyance.

"That would be the ghosts I implanted in each of you. They were weaker than the one that tried to possess me but it looks like they didn't need to be," Loyd admitted smiling. "You can possess one of the abominations around here if you want to. Otherwise, I'll be the only one who can see you."

"You've grown really evil, Loyd. You know that, don't you?" Sara asked.

"Alignment is subjective. But I see what you mean. I've been letting my swarm decide how I act rather than my rational side. But both sides of me are in agreement that I need more sheer mass to win this battle. And that's if my will is strong enough, to begin with."

"You're going to let it take control of you then?" Jim asked, taking his seat next to Madeline.

"He killed you off too?" Madeline asked.

"I've been dead for two days. Tiny had me helping him with Loyd's fighter if you remember. Turns out that's just where he's keeping that female Crystalid, if she can still be called that," He responded with a hint of disgust.

"That was my doing actually. I told Tiny that if he could succeed in true hybridization, he'd finally feel emotions. I guess he's broken as well now though," Loyd admitted, leaning against the broken radio.

"You'll need our help to fix Griffon and Tiny, but before we can do that, we need to take care of both the swarm and the nukes," Argenti said.

"We're on our way to take care of both of those problems. We're going to hack into and redirect each of the nukes to the Prime sentient. Kill two birds with one stone and all that. But that'll leave a major portion of it still unharmed. It's got enough biomass that the nukes can't burn through it all with a single blast," Loyd explained.

"So, we can stagger the detonations and fix that issue, right?" Jim asked.

"That won't work either. The damage would be roughly the same if not less than the single blast as the pressure waves will also cause some major internal damage."

"So, dropping the sun on this thing won't kill it? Then what about your flamethrower idea? Would that work?" Madeline asked, going over the original plan in her head.

"We have enough oil to replace that thing's blood with enough to spare."

Jim smiled. "So, your plan was actually to set the whole thing on fire at once from the inside out. Figures you'd think of something that insane."

"At the time I was unaware that it was able to move at all. Now that I know that it's more than just a big relay and information storage site, I realize that plan was probably pretty stupid."

"Well, then it looks like we've got to get inside that there facility. Hack us some nukes. And convert a population to our cause." Sara smirked. "And then we get to fight an enemy that outnumbers and overpowers us roughly tenfold. Not to mention they're the ones with the reinforcements."

"We're surrounded by enemies on all sides, except down, and even there is dangerous. So, instead of running, we're heading straight for the most dangerous enemy and hoping we can overpower them before they retaliate." Sara sighed. "This isn't unlike our first operation as a corps. The only difference is our pre-combat phase lasted ten minutes."

Loyd smirked. "We're about to enter turret range, yes. But what difference does it make how long we have to prepare when this is an infiltration mission instead of a smash and grab."

"This city has to have a sewer system close to the docks based on the fact they've got flare stacks that look like they're covered in burnt shit," Jim mentioned.

"Then we risk using them as our entrance and if they try to activate them, we'll just use Beast to clog the pipe or hold the lid shut. That'll cause a reversal in the airflow blowing the city apart around the sewer's main tunnels," Madeline said.

"We'll still be incinerated if we go in so we'll send a few of the abominations while everyone else hides in the woodwork," Loyd declared.

"Well, it looks like we need to get back into some skin, don't we?" Argenti asked.

"If you wait for one of the abominations to die, you should be able to come back a little easier," Loyd declared.

"Master Loyd, if you wish to hide, you must do so now. Perhaps you can hide in the cavity below the radio terminal."

Loyd crawled under the bent steel plate and waited for some time before the barge came to a very abrupt stop.

"Warning! Unknown bioforms detected in loading dock thirteen! All soldiers have been ordered to shoot anyone in the area. This is your only warning."

Loyd crawled out of his hiding spot after noticing a small fire starting to form. Several of the mechs from before were starting up and turning towards the barge which had managed to break through the outer wall.

"So, we've over infiltrated. That's not good," Sara said.

Beast grabbed Loyd and started to lift him towards the cockpit as the mechs began their first firing cycle. The shells tore through what little of the barge's superstructure remained but simply ricocheted off Beast as Loyd began to dissolve away.

"Alright then. Let's see how good you are at close combat!" Loyd shouted. "Everyone, advance and try to take over one of those mech's pilots. We can reassimilate later!"

A second volley of purely kinetic shells slammed into Loyd, knocking him back. A third volley slammed into him again while he had yet to hit the ground. A fourth followed even closer together than the last. A pause in the stream of shots allowed Loyd to fall back outside the massive hole in the wall.

"Well, at least they're hard targeting me with those cannons," Loyd muttered. ��So, then what's wrong with a monster?"

"Commander, that thing can talk!" One of the mechs declared.

Its lack of a radio system seemed almost laughable to Loyd.

"While I have your attention might I ask for your impartial surrender? It'd be a shame to lose biomass from having to eat you," Loyd said throwing himself over the ledge and into the face of the first mech he could see.

The impact tore the mech apart as Loyd continued moving towards the center of the complex. A shot slammed into his side throwing him across the massive room.

"That hurt."

"You asked how good we were in close combat? Well, why don't I fight you one on one and we'll see just how good we are at it?" The most heavily modified mech challenged.

"You must be the commander of this group of idiots? You'll serve me soon enough." Loyd turned to the barge. "Stand down for now. I want to see just how good this girl is."

"That's Sara, dad." Argenti declared. "I thought having a ghost as a spy might be more useful than putting me in something I don't know how to use."

"Fair enough," Loyd muttered.

Sara charged forward, the mechs lower legs and feet were replaced by tracks giving them a kneeling appearance but that didn't reduce their mobility as Sara jumped into the air above Loyd. She spun around using a rear maneuvering thruster and tried to dropkick Loyd.

"Damn your fast!" she shouted as Loyd sidestepped her.

"Your one to talk," Loyd said, dodging another kick.

Loyd dodged another kick before running into the wall. He had to duck beneath a punch with the mechs entire weight behind it.

"Just keep dodging! You'll tire eventually!"

"Come on mom, kick his ass!" Argenti shouted.

Loyd was stunned long enough by her comment, that he let the next kick land on his head, sending him flying.

"Already slowing, down are you?!" Sara shouted, continuing to attack.

Her next attack came from one of her many melee weapons. The club nearly struck Loyd's center mass, but he had dodged into a follow-up kick which sent him flying again.

"Taking this a little seriously, aren't you?" Loyd muttered, pulling himself up.

"Commander, if you keep that up, you'll break the Bucephalus!"

"Do I look like I care?! We can always repair a stupid machine if it breaks!"

Loyd jumped out of the way of another swing of Sara's club and pushed off the wall back into the melee. His dive was countered by a jump from Sara who landed on his back, breaking the foundation below them. Sara jumped off him as he reached up to grab her and drew a sword to replace her broken club.

"I'll cut you to ribbons before I let you scratch my paint," she taunted.

"Damn, you're cocky if you think that thing will hurt me," Loyd retorted.

Sara charged, her blade ready to thrust into Loyd, who simply stood up and waited for it. The thrust came and the world seemed to slow down. Loyd stepped out of its way as the arm support shattered, crippling Sara's arm. Loyd then put all his weight into stopping Sara's forward momentum. The crash destroyed most of the Bucephalus but left Loyd virtually unharmed.

The cockpit door had come clean off, revealing a young woman with silver hair and ruby eyes. The seat belts had kept her from being launched out of the mech when it crashed but she was still pretty beat up and bloody. She raised her head to Loyd with a smile.

"And now I've got control of her," Sara declared, before passing out.