The Significant (56 page)

      
Both Elites watched the number of people
filing into the room. There were some robots that walked stiffly, carrying
their weapons as their mechanical eyes scanned the area. However, their design
did not allow them to tilt their heads upward. Isa knew immediately that they
were from Gihron, who had not upgraded to the new Soldier robot. Everyone
remained still and silent. Two Bronze Elites were positioned at the door of the
stairwell, two more along the stairs, their guns pointed at the opening.

      
When they started speaking Gihoric, Isa
had to close her eyes and grit her teeth against the harsh-sounding language.

      
“
They’ve
probably evacuated.
”

      
“
No,
they’re here,
” the man said. Isa immediate opened her eyes and pinpointed
his location. “
The lockdown was initiated
from the inside. Get a bot plugged in. Get what you can.”

      
“
Arna,
get in here!
”

      
Remus nudged Isa gently but she shook her
head, craning her neck to look down at the intruders. She held up one finger,
reminding him that they only had one shot. A few of the soldiers climbed onto
the center platform.

      
“
Think
this is where they are?
” one asked.

      
“
R-Team,
”
the leader ordered. “
Come with me.
”
He began to lead some of his men out of the room, calling back orders. “
Get what you can,”
he repeated.
“And see if you can find a panic room. That
bitch is in here somewhere
.”

      
Isa quickly aimed her gun, pointing it at
the broken tile on the floor. She took a deep breath, steadying herself.

      
She fired the gun and everyone turned.
The Sergeant was about to go back in the room and see what happened, but he was
stopped by the loud humming and cracking of electricity. The robot fighters let
out high whines and collapsed, the high-voltage passing through their feet and
frying their wires. The humans were unable to make a sound as the electricity
passed through them, their expressions lit up by the occasional streak of white
energy and sparks that showered over them from the doubly-charged, weaponized
floor.
 

      
The four soldiers standing on the center
platform dropped to a crouch, watching in horror as the others collapsed. They
had no idea that the center platform was completely grounded to protect the
machines that ran the building in the area the Syndicate called the Pipes.

      
However, they did not have time to figure
out that they were not electrocuted. Remus and Isa both fired shots, taking all
four of them out with terrifying accuracy.

      
“
UP
!”
the Sergeant bellowed. A round of cries and whooping followed as the surviving
attackers ran toward the stairs. Isa knew they had only killed thirty of them
with the electricity, but she was not worried. She knew that they could handle
the ambush.

      
She and Remus moved to the other side of
the hall, even though no one was willing to go into the control room to shoot
them, not sure if the floor was still live with voltage. The Bronze Elites
remained in their formation.

      
Bullets started firing from both sides.
The Elites moved into the walkway, stepping backwards, firing with more
accuracy than the human attackers. The Elites were sure to take out all fighter
bots first, raining bullets along the front line of ambushers and forcing the
ones behind to trip over the fallen bodies, slowing them down as the Elites
went into the hallway, two slipping into each alcove that was meant to look
like a design choice by the architects, but was actually a tactical point in
the building’s construction.

      
Isa and Remus were in the alcove furthest
from the stairwell, and Hana remained in the hallway to draw the enemies out.
When she saw the first few faces of the ambushers appear, she turned and ran,
around the corner.

      
“
There
!”
one man bellowed.

      
Hearing that someone had spotted the
Elites, they surged into the hallway and were met with bullets ripping into
them. The Elites all had their guns out of the alcove, peering carefully out as
they shot down the next wave of intruders. Their bodies fell heavily to the
floor, once again slowing those behind as they tried to navigate around the
corpses of their comrades.

      
Several Elites had to reload, but once
the guns were prepare to fire again, Isa called to move again. They all moved
out of their alcoves, the Bronze Elites at the front continuing to shoot at the
intruders. Bullets fired back. Isa, at the back of the group, saw two of her
Elites sustain small injuries that they ignored as they moved around the
hallway to the next tactical part of the building.

      
However, as they were about to slip into
the next alcove set at the pinch point in the hallway, Aolee heard a sound he
recognized immediately.

      
“
Grenade
!”

      
The Elites darted out of their hiding
spots and ran toward the next set of stairs, firing over their shoulders as the
bullets chased them.

      
A concussion through the hallway sent
them all reeling, collapsing to the ground as glass shattered and the building
groaned once more. Their ears were ringing, and they could not hear the orders
of the intruders as they picked themselves up.

      
Remus hauled Isa to her feet and put her
behind him immediately as she tried to orient herself. The other Elites were
scrambling to their feet, a few more sustaining injuries that were more
serious.

      
“Go!” Remus snapped, shoving Isa into the
next stairwell. When he turned around, gunfire sounded and two bullets struck
him, one whizzing past his ear. The bullet in his shoulder was not concerning. The
one that lodged into his abdomen, however, caused searing hot pain to blind him
temporarily. He pushed past it, raising his gun again and firing multiple
times.

      
“Are you alright?” he called, looking at
Isa as the Bronze Elites created their formation once more, climbing into the
stairwell.

      
The Silver Elite stopped at the sight of
blood on the stairs.

      
Isa was holding onto her side, shaking
her head.

      
“I’m fine,” she assured through grit
teeth. “Broken rib, but lung’s fine.”

      
Remus, too, had his hand over the bullet
wound in his stomach.

      
“Come on,” he said quickly.

      
“No, we’re not breaking formation,” Isa
said, steadying her gun once more and firing into the bottom of the stairwell
over her Bronze Elite’s heads into the neck of one attacker. She turned the
bend in the stairs and leaned over the railing, shooting again.

      
“
There
she is!
” the Sergeant bellowed.

      
The men who were still alive and fighting
leapt at the Elites, bringing them to the ground and breaking their defense
line, allowing the Sergeant and two other attackers into the stairwell.

      
“Go! Go!” Remus barked, shoving Isa up
the stairs. He turned and fired several shots, but only managed to take out one
of the two grunts. He ran to the top of the stairs where Isa was waiting, her
gun drawn.

      
“Get into the alcove,” he said, pushing
her once more.

      
Before his hand left her shoulder,
another bullet tore through his body, hitting him just below the shoulder blade
on his left side.

      
Isa steadied her gun and shot the person
at the top of the stairs, causing him to fall backward and tumble down the
flight.

      
Remus was on the ground, groaning and
holding the wound.

      
“Stay calm, Remus,” Isa whispered,
crouching next to him and touching his shoulder. She touched the earpiece
quickly. “Chronus, we need the emergency crews ready. Remus has been shot
repeatedly.”

      
“They’re standing by outside,” he
assured, his voice betraying his worry.

      
“Well, well,” a voice said, his accent
thick and reminiscent of an old adversary. Isa stood immediately and pointed
her gun at the Sergeant, “I did not believe them when they said you were more
beautiful in person.”

      
His gun was lax at his side as he stood
in the stairwell, clearly believing the Golden Elite was not a threat. Isa’s
eyes were unblinking as she stared at him, her gun aimed at his head.

      
“And that fire in your eyes, it’s so…
arousing
,” he said, taking one step
forward. Isa tried to hear past him to understand the situation with her Bronze
Elites. “I wonder how many men have been fortunate enough to see that look. I
guess I should consider myself lucky.”

      
“I can think of one other person,” Isa
said darkly. “Someone you once knew.”

      
His face fell.

      
“When you see him in hell, tell him I’m
sending more.”

      
She pulled the trigger and watched the
bullet rip through his head. He fell backward and tumbled limply down the
stairs.

      
“Isa!” Hana called, darting over the
bodies and to Isa.

      
“Anyone hurt?”

      
“A couple, none fatal,” the Bronze Elite
assured.

      
“Good, we need to get this lockdown
lifted,” Isa said, tossing the gun to the ground and grabbing the groaning and
gasping Remus. “Help me get him to the control room.”

      
Elites who were less injured help carry
Remus to the second floor once more. Isa quickly broke a hole in the wall with
her fist and pulled the wires loose so the floor was, once again, safe to tread
on. She jumped onto the platform and helped heave Remus toward the touchpad. He
groaned in agony, his face contorted.

      
“Stay with me,” Isa said quietly, pulling
him to one corner and pulling his finger away from the wound, wiping it on her
uniform before pressing it to the sensor. “Stay with me, Remus,” she snapped,
crawling hurriedly to the other corner and pressing her finger to the sensor.
Once again, the panel raised in the center of the platform.

      
She turned around quickly when she heard
the other Elites yell at Remus.

      
He had gone very still.

      
“Remus!” Isa cried, crawling over and
grabbing him once more, hauling him along the surface of the platform and
pressing his finger to the touchpad next to her own. “Don’t you dare,” she
hissed. “You promised me.
Always
.
Remember?”

      
The building clanked once more and a soft
humming resumed.

      
Isa angrily pressed her finger to the
communicator.

      
“Get the EMU in here,
now
!”

      
She pressed her hand tightly over the wound
in Remus’ chest and bent her head over his, closing her eyes tightly, every
moment passing like an eternity.

      
Kailynn ran out of the elevator at the
hospital and to the figure standing alone in the hallway.

      
She wrapped her arms around the Golden
Elite as Isa held her tightly, her eyes closing and a shuddered breath leaving
her.

      
“Are you alright?” Kailynn whispered.

      
“I’m fine,” Isa assured, lifting her
shirt slowly to show the bandages around her abdomen. “Just a minor wound and a
broken rib. Otherwise, I’m fine.”

      
“And everyone else?”

      
Isa swallowed hard and glanced back at
the window in which she had been staring. In the single bed, Remus was still
and pale, hooked up to various monitors and machines.

      
“They said that…” Isa took a deep breath,
“another twenty minutes and he could have been beyond help.” Her voice shook as
she spoke the words. “But Dr. Busen is sure that he’ll make a full recovery,
with time. Everyone else is fine.”

      
Kailynn ran a hand over Isa’s hair,
looking over her pale and worn features. The way Isa looked at the sleeping
Silver Elite gave Kailynn pause. She blinked at the Elite, her hand slowly
dropping to Isa’s shoulder.