The Geryon's three faces turned to Vigil. One smooth and feminine, one rigid and masculine, the other twisted and bestial. All of them hissed like a den of electronic snakes, snapping with sharp, gleaming teeth. Its heavy foot pressed harder into Heretic's chest. Heretic squirmed underneath, breath labored through his helmet. Blood streamed in crimson rivulets from the stab wound, pooling around his body.
Vigil aimed his rifle at Janus. "He's not my partner. Call off your dog, or you're going to need a new face."
Janus shook his head. "I thought you'd at least place a little value on Heretic’s life. After all, you inspired her to take up this outlandish occupation in the first place. It would be a shame to let that reverence go to waste, wouldn't it?"
Her?
One of the Geryon's arms seized Heretic's helmet with a claw-tipped hand and violently yanked it off. The sweat-slicked face underneath was Raven, Minister Donte's daughter. Her teeth were clenched against the pain, but her eyes glimmered defiantly when she spat her words through bloodied lips.
"Take the shot, Vigil. Do it!"
He took it.
The room flashed when the breach-laser fired. Janus' protective shield became visible when the beam struck. A circular dome of energy surrounded the throne, protecting him from the deadly barrage. It absorbed the laser, crackling as the plasma bloomed around the shield in searing incandescent colors. At the same moment, the Geryon leaped from Heretic toward Vigil. He smoothly slid underneath, firing the railgun at the mech's exposed underbelly. The rounds punched through the creature's body, showering sparks and broken bits of metal. The beast yowled as though it felt pain, landing in an animal crouch ten yards away. Its serpentine tail whirred when it whipped through the air.
The gleaming stinger pierced his left bicep, easily puncturing through the armor and out the other side in a spray of blood. Dropping the rifle, he desperately yanked the spike out before the barbs snapped out and tore his limb apart. Pain exploded in his arm, but he ignored it as he discharged his g-spans, firing particle beams in rapid succession. The Geryon took the punishment, armor buckling as it dashed at Vigil, scrabbling on its multiple limbs like a robotic scorpion.
Raven leaped up, activating her crackling cross-sword. With a gurgling shriek, she sheared off three of the Geryon's arms with one swing before collapsing to her knees, drained of energy. Vigil pulled his neothermic handgun and fired in rapid succession, destroying the deadly tail with incendiary rounds. The mech was still lightning quick, skittering lopsidedly on its remaining limbs to avoid further damage. Its multiple faces snarled as it flanked him, the wordless gibbering worse than articulate threats. It was nearly on him before gunfire exploded from the doorway, tearing into its blindside. Ronnie and Isaac pressed their attack, shooting from a safe distance. Castle entered behind them, strafing to the side while firing a semi-auto shotgun that rocked the Geryon with every booming shot. Spitfire followed, hurling a burner bomb that latched to one of the mech's faces. It exploded in a shower of sparks, ruined head slumping forward, wreathed in flames. The remaining two shrieked in response, faces nearly human in outrage. A high-pitched whine emitted from it, the hateful wail of an electronic banshee.
Vigil's mind exploded.
He nearly screamed when a torrent of sensory images cut through his mind: faces, scents, places, sounds, sensations. It was alien, none of it familiar, none of it his. He fell to his hands and knees, desperately trying to fight the onslaught. His companions fared no better. Spitfire was on her back a few feet away, hands clutching her head, body convulsing. Raven's eyes stretched wide, her teeth clamped together as if to stifle her screams.
The pain lessened when the Geryon turned toward Ronnie and the others. Ronnie gasped, falling to the floor with her hands clutching her temples. Castle slumped as though shot, ungracefully collapsing to the floor. Even Isaac seemed hampered, staggering as if his system was overloaded. The Geryon shrieked in triumph, a fiendish grin spreading across both faces. Spikes snapped from its shoulders and fired across the room in silvery flashes. Isaac leaped in front of Ronnie, taking the brunt of the projectiles that punctured his battered armor. Castle simply shuddered when two of the spikes tore through his shoulder and thigh.
Vigil lurched to his feet, tapping his g-span panel for his digital assistant. "Proto… can you block… whatever that thing's doing?"
"It appears to be some sort of mental projection, Vigil. I can try to short the signal if I can triangulate its source."
"Do it fast. We're out of time. " He broke into a staggering run, firing haphazard shots while his mind flickered as if trying to reboot. His aim was disastrously bad, missing the Geryon and nearly hitting Isaac, who lumbered toward the mech with slow, deliberate steps.
"Fall back, Vigil. It gets worse the closer you get."
The Geryon focused directly on Isaac. The scream rose even higher in pitch, so agonizing that Vigil's legs gave out, and he slammed into the floor, overwhelmed by corporeal images, brain on fire. Blood dripped his nose, spattering inside of his helmet. Clenching his teeth, he looked up.
Isaac moved as if in a dream, drawing back a gleaming fist. It punched through one of the Geryon's faces with a metallic crunch, breaking nose and eyeballs before caving it in. The last head's scream changed into a roar, rippling the air around them. Isaac stumbled back, one hand drifting to his head.
Ronnie pushed herself up, eyes wide. "Fall back, Isaac. Your mind core will—"
Isaac's arm shot forward, slamming over the Geryon's mouth. He looked back at Ronnie, eyes flickering. "Can't be helped. To the end, remember?"
With a savage yank, he pulled the Geryon's last head from its body, snapping cables that dripped oil like blood. A last sonic cry exploded from the mech, warping the air. Isaac staggered, circuits misfiring even as he planted his cannon arm into the Geryon's shell and blew it apart in an explosive blast of shredded metal and sparking wires. The remains of the mech hit the floor in a twisted heap, convulsing as the last of its power supply died.
Isaac's body followed, blank-eyed and empty.
"Isaac!" Tears streamed down Ronnie's face as she crawled over and threw her arms around his still form.
Mocking applause filled the accompanying silence. Holding his injured arm, Vigil turned to Janus, who stood behind his protective bubble and clapped, his sneering mask more scornful than the ovation. "Such courage. Such… determination. And yet, all of that could have been avoided if you had only bothered to listen. The Geryon only responds when it perceives a threat. If you took up my offer to talk, your friend would still be alive. "
"Talk about what — some elixir for godhood?" Vigil stepped closer, staring into Janus' masked face. "Is that what you were told aberrant energy was? They should have told you the truth. They should have told you immortality is what it's always been — a lie. Aberrant fields aren't some fountains of youth. They're just another way to die."
"Oh, I know," Janus said. Raising his gloved hands, he unclasped the snug-fitting mask and slowly removed it. Behind Vigil, Ronnie gasped.
Mark Harrington, the Mayor of Neo York, gazed back at them, dark eyes whirring as the cyber enhancements processed information. His thin lips curved in a shadowy smile.
"Aberrant energy was always a lie, a carrot I dangled in front of their greedy faces. It was never about some silly plan to grasp at immortality. It was about saving the city. And I want to thank you, Vigil. Maybe we both might become myths after this."
Chapter 20: Inferno
Castle and Isaac worked at saving Raven's life, peeling away her armor to treat the stab wound as she coughed up blood. Ignoring his own injuries, Castle opened a medical kit, activating a medimech the size of a golf ball that hovered over the wounds and provided instructions for treatment. From the hissing sounds of her breathing, it sounded like a sucking chest wound through the lung from when she was stabbed earlier. Spitfire joined them, assisting with rolling Raven on her side for easier breathing while they injected nanogel and applied a chest seal. Ronnie desperately tried to reboot Isaac's systems, opening up a panel in the back of his head. The frantic sounds muted, fading into background noise as Vigil stared at Harrington in stunned silence, recalling why his last statement sounded so familiar. The first phone call after he visited the Limbo haze parlor. The garbled voice on the line, so self-assured and knowing.