Attack for the Reactors

I can't believe what I'm hearing and seeing.

"This is what took you so long? We don't have time for this. Drop him and let's go."

"I promise I'll feed and clothe him. I don't even ask you for anything, let me have this."

"S3bastian. Leave him."

"I see. I didn't want to have to do this, but I forgot you're a tough buyer.

If you let me take him with us, I'll do exactly what you say for a month. No questions, no ulterior motives, nothing but what you say to the letter. I'll be the most obedient omnic butler."

I pause as the troops file into the building heading towards the reactor.

I turn to face him and the Ravager slumped on his shoulder.

"Your promises are as good as a mop bucket in the ocean. Let's say, that I even entertain this idea for a moment. He's a direct signal to Anubis, why would we take him to our base of operations?"

"We disconnect him from the telecommunication network that Anubis is using, and he should have free will once again."

I go to deny him once more, but then an idea flashes through my mind.

I did want to experiment whether cutting Omnics off from Anubis' influence brought them back.

Plus, I still had to experiment whether I could take control of people using bioelectricity.

An enemy omnic was the perfect test subject.

"Half a year." I counter.

"Not a day over two months." He says back.

I shrug my shoulders, "Then poor Gunther will never see your amazing ice sculptures."

He pauses, and I can clearly hear the gears grinding in his head as he begins to recalculate.

"The things I do for love. Deal." He says dejectedly.

I can't help but smile at my victory.

"Good now drop him there and help me with these last two EMP bombs."

He walks past me still carrying Gunther towards the door leading inside the omnium.

"Hey you promised S3bastian."

"I know what I promised. I said six months and you'll get six months. I never said it had to be now or back-to-back. These six months will be cashed out across the span of ten years."

I sigh as I realize that he's right and he kind of played me, but he doesn't know that I'm still on top of this agreement.

I enter the door behind S3bastian just as the Bastions begin to fix themselves once again.

We catch up to the rest of the troops who carefully navigate the halls.

I don't need to direct them as I'm sure they each have the pathway memorized.

Suddenly in front of us, seven Bastion units come out of a room, and cut us off.

Soundquake stands in front, and his speakers start to hum forming a barrier around himself.

The soldiers behind him begin to open fire on the Bastions as he tanks the enemy fire.

His barrier hums as the bullets get caught and drop to the floor.

As the soldiers take out three of the Bastions, Soundquake's hands begin to vibrate, and he suddenly slams them on the ground.

The ground beneath the four Bastions begin to rumble knocking them off balance.

The soldiers easily dispatch the fallen Bastion units.

Soundquake's barrier dispels, and we begin to push forward again.

While Soundquake protects the front, I remain vigilant of our flank since the soldiers can't shoot through my shield, it'll just give them enough time to react. Continuing with this formation, we quickly arrive to the room where the fusion reactor is supposed to be located.

Right now, the soldiers are filed into a room large enough to fit all of us, with a flickering light from the narrow hall we just left.

A soldier plugs a device into the keypad and numbers start spinning as it tries to find the code.

"It's going to take at least 10 minutes." The soldier says.

From down the hall, we hear the heavy footsteps of multiple Bastion units approaching our position.

"Make it three." Gabriel says as he pulls out his signature shotguns.

Rushing forward, I activate my shield but turn it sideways on the door, letting it cover half the door frame which allows the soldiers to shoot over it, while being adequately covered.

Pulling my assault rifle, we wait for the first waves of the Bastions to reach us.

The stomping of the Bastions grows louder and louder until the first red eye of the omnic steps around the corner, aiming its gun hand at us.

As it begins shooting, the soldiers take cover behind my shield, holding their fire as they know they have limited ammunition against seemingly endless waves of omnics.

When the fifth Bastion steps around the corner, the soldiers begin to open fire, aiming for the head, as they easily tear through any enemies.

The Bastions fall, but their companions show no concern as they continue to march forward over their fallen brethren.

We continue for a minute of shooting until a new wave of Bastions come around the corner with a Ravager.

He continues to walk unbothered as the bullets deflect off of him.

He stands in the middle of the hallway and holds up his fist, making the Bastions pause behind him.

"Thats not good." Soundquake says.

"An omnic capable of commanding the others. We need to take him out immediately." Gabriel says.

The soldiers nod, then some step forward with rocket launchers, leaning against the sides of the door as cover.

The Ravager surveys the scene and sees that we have the advantage.

He also noticed the men with rocket launchers huddled against the door.

He steps back, and fades into the sea of his Bastion units as they once again start marching forward.

The men with rocket launchers fall back and we want for them to join our ranks before opening fire again.

Once again, we easily deal with the front lines of the omnics, but the second line, catch the shot Bastions before they fall and use them as a shield.

The soldiers look at each other and continue to fire, but it's harder as they don't have clear shots on the Bastions behind.

As they get closer to the door, I aim high with my assault rifle and launch an EMP canister at their front line.

The first two rows of Bastions get stunned for brief seconds, dropping the bodies of their fallen comrades and get shot by the soldiers.

The realization that we can't keep our current situation up, or we'll be overrun starts to creep on the soldiers, and they pick up their pace, shooting at any exposed areas on the Bastion.

This is also ineffective as the Bastions hands turn into a tool that starts to repair any cut wires in their bodies, allowing them to continue.

Things are once again not looking too good, as the Bastions near the door once more.

Soundquake begins to step forward and we hold our fire as he raises both his hands in the air.

His speakers on his suit, begin to hum and after a second, he brings his hands together in a clap that sends a huge shockwave in the omnics direction.

The shockwave launches all it comes into contact with back with a force like getting hit by a rhino.

The Ravager who is in the ranks of the Bastions, doesn't see the shockwave until too late and gets blasted back into the wall behind with the rest of the omnics.

All omnics that were previously in front of us are now all against the wall in a heap.

The men with rocket launchers don't hesitate and step forward and only take a second to aim before firing.

Their missiles take brief seconds before they reach their mark and two explosions ring out, sending parts flying everywhere.

The soldiers begin to cheer, and I check on Soundquake who hasn't moved.

"You good?" I ask.

"I can only do that once more, before the suit will be running on fumes." He explains.

I nod my head in understanding. To do something like that would require a lot of power.

I hear the soldiers cheering dim down as I look to where they are also looking.

Down the hallway, the scraps of Bastion parts begin to move, and a hand emerges.

The Ravager comes out, unscathed, from the pile of Bastions and looks at us before two more Ravagers come around the corner and we once again hear the stomping of multiple Bastion units.

"How long?" Gabriel asks and the guy looks at the device.

"At least 5 minutes." The guy says sheepishly.

The soldiers line up once again, but in everyone's mind, we know that anything we do will probably be futile.

With one Ravager present to counter our plans, we could only imagine what three could do.

"Are you guys just waiting for the passcode?" S3bastian asks.

"Yes, try to keep up S3bastian." I say, while aiming down the hall.

"Oh, I think i know it. Gunther here revealed it along with the location of the second reactor." He says.

Everyone pauses deadpanning as they look at him in disbelief.

"Why didn't you say anything before bot?" Gabriel asks.

"To be honest, I actually forgot until I paid attention. My bad." S3bastian says shrugging his shoulders.