Suzuo fled Tower Four's ruined shield engineering room and slithered down the tower wall, blood staining one side of his face as he headed away from the noise and flames behind him. He headed for the north side of the tower, gripping the walls with long suckered tentacles, as Veza followed close behind him. Miro had been caught off guard and now lay unmoving on the Grand Plaza below.
Explosions rocked the tower as chunks of metal and rock fell on all sides. Suzuo slid back and forth, avoiding the falling debris as he raced down Tower Four towards the gangway that joined it to the White Spear.
* * * * *
Two squads of security forces arrived on level 142 of the White Spear, gathering around the gate that led to the gangway between the White Spear and Tower Four. They huddled together discussing their new orders.
'He said to blow the gangway before the Augmented get here,' Major David Macalroy said.
Trooper Ken Boland turned towards him, stretching his neck from side to side. 'Commander Drefnig said that?'
'No. It was Commander Parker.'
'He's a funny looking bastard,' Boland said.
'Well, he said blow it.'
'And we will blow it, just as soon as the injured have made it across.'
'What injured?'
Boland nodded his head towards Tower Four. A dozen medical droids were scuttling across the gangway towards them, carrying injured soldiers on their backs. Some of the soldiers were limp, leaving trails of blood across the gangway's glass floor while others were wriggling around and crying out in pain. More than a couple of them had limbs missing.
Macalroy wasn't so sure. Orders were orders, after all. 'What if we're too late?' he said. 'What if the Augmented arrive before we can get them across?'
'What do you want to do?' Boland said. 'Blow the gangway when our own injured soldiers are half way over?'
Macalroy shook his head, his eyebrows coming together to form a thick line across his forehead. 'That's not what I'm saying.'
'If that was you out there, you'd expect your fellow soldiers to help you, not leave you out there to die with that mad thing running about. How would you feel if I blew the gangway out from under your feet.'
Macalroy rubbed a hand across his face. He didn't have time to argue with Boland but he couldn't order the killing of their own injured men either. He had to make a decision and fast. 'I wouldn't like it at all.'
'Then you should extend those men the same courtesy. They deserve your respect, Major.'
'Okay,' Macalroy said, nodding his head. 'But we have to be quick. Get those medical droids moving faster. The Augmented could be here at any time.'
Boland nodded and ran onto the gangway as the rest of the squad spread out behind him.
'Come on!' he said, waving the medical droids onwards. 'Move faster!'
Some of the droids picked up their pace while others continued plodding along behind them.
The soldiers stared up at the sky, their eyes darting in every direction at once. They held their weapons in a loose grip as they waited for the medical droids to finish transporting the injured into the White Spear.
'Shit,' Macalroy said, staring up through the gangway's glass ceiling.
'What?' Boland said, trying to follow his gaze.
'Up there!' Macalroy shouted, pointing with his hand. 'We're too late.'
Two of the Augmented were slithering down the side of Tower Four towards them, moving quickly on their writhing white tentacles. One was twice as large as the other but they both looked terrifying from this angle.
'We've got to take those bastards out now,' Boland said.
Macalroy could hear more security forces pouring into the gangway behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and nodded. 'Kill them!'
The soldiers opened fire with energy weapons, aiming through the gangway's glass ceiling.
Behind them, several droids activated their weapons systems from within the White Spear's perimeter corridor, blowing out the glass walls in their haste to strike at the Augmented above. A low rumble vibrated through the tower and a dull popping sound came from above. Half a second later a chunk of Tower Four exploded, taking out one of the Augmented in a massive explosion.
'They got him!' Boland shouted over the roaring chaos around him. He pumped his fist and grinned towards Macalroy. 'The tower guns opened fire on Tower Four.'
Macalroy nodded but he knew it wasn't over yet. The last of the Augmented was the largest of all. His long powerful tentacles swung back and forth beneath him in angry movements as he descended down the side of Tower Four. Suddenly he switched directions, leaping off the wall and flying through the air towards the gangway with his tentacles writhing in the air beneath him like a monstrous wriggling sail.
Soldiers cried out and weapons fired as the Augmented landed on top of the gangway with an almighty crash, shattering the glass halfway along its length.
'Hurry the hell up!' Boland said, waving the medical droids inside.
The droids ran faster, their legs slipping on the wet bloodstains that now covered the gangway's glass floor. They hurried towards the White Spear, bouncing the injured soldiers on their backs as they carried them to safety.
'There's too many of them,' Macalroy said. He could see the medical droids still streaming out of Tower Four's exit gate, racing towards them. 'They'll never make it in time.'
All the gangway's glass started shattering as projectiles and proton cannons blasted through it from all directions. Weapons struck it from several different towers at once. Somebody somewhere had given the order to kill the Augmented at any cost. Macalroy wiped sweat from his forehead. He didn't intend to become part of any collateral damage.
The last of the medical droids finally reached the White Spear, disappearing into the corridor beyond.
'What happened to the shields?' Boland said, running up behind Macalroy. 'Why aren't they stopping the Augmented?'
'They are stopping him,' Macalroy said. 'Tower Four is no longer part of the merged shields. Its shield engineering room has been destroyed. '
'So what does that mean?'
Macalroy reloaded his impact repeater, throwing the spent cartridges onto the floor. 'The other towers are still sharing a merged shield,' he said. 'But Tower Four isn't part of it anymore.'
'So where's the shield now?'
'It's here, wrapping around the front of the White Spear. The Augmented can't come any closer than he already is.'
'But what about the gangway? The medical droids were able to pass through it from Tower Four.'
'The tower shields wrap around the gangways. The gangways have to be kept open to allow us to move between the towers even when the shields are on.'
Boland rubbed his chin with one hand. 'But we have other shields inside the gangways, don't we, to seal them off when required?'
'We turned them off to let the medical droids through but they're back on again now.'
'I'm pleased to hear it.'
Macalroy pulled out his console and tapped in a series of commands before frowning and entering them again.
'What is it?' Boland said.
'I can't prime the detonators. It's not accepting my orders to blow the gangway.'
'You can't blow it now. We're still standing on it.'
'There's a ten second delay. It'll be enough to get everyone off, but the detonators won't prime. There's something wrong with the codes.'
The gangway's inner shield made a strange fizzing sound and then deactivated itself. The soldiers glanced at each other with confusion.
'That's not supposed to happen is it?' Boland said.
Macalroy shook his head. 'Now we're fucked.'
Boland turned towards the soldiers behind him, waving his arms in their direction. 'Run! Get the hell out of here! The shield is down.'
The soldiers didn't need much convincing. They stared at the Augmented crashed down onto the floor of the gangway, advancing towards them. As soon as it stretched its long white tentacles towards them, they ran into the White Spear and disappeared out of sight.
* * * * *
Suzuo slivered forwards on thick writhing tentacles as the gangway's damaged glass started cracking beneath his immense weight. The war droid had deactivated the gangway's inner shield right on time. It had changed the detonator codes too. Nobody would be able to blow the gangway while Suzuo was crossing it but he still had to be wary of the tower guns above. They had lost their earlier reticence and started firing from every angle. Veza had suffered a direct hit. His tangled body was now lying on the Grand Plaza below.
With the shield down, Suzuo hurried towards the White Spear, smashing his way up through the gangway ceiling, and launching himself onto the White Spear's wall. He gripped the white stone with his powerful suckers as he propelled himself up the side of the tower.
The tower guns couldn't strike him now. He was inside the perimeter of the merged shields, protected by Central Command's own defences. They had underestimated his power and resourcefulness. Now they would pay for their mistake.