Wasteland Rules: Die Fighting (The World After Book 4) (8 page)

Spokane, Washington

September 13, 2029

   Stefan’s choices for his next step in reclaiming his
empire were very limited. His forces had taken control of roughly half of the
Collective before the Collective’s new leader had taken steps to prevent the
spread of Stefan’s virus. Now the two sides were locked in a brutal stalemate
that they would never be able to break. Evenly matched in technology and
forces, it would continue until both sides were worn down to nothing. The only
winner there would be the U.S.T.G. They would swoop in and pick the carcass
clean; leaving them the undisputed masters of the continent once they defeated
the C.C.A.

   He had to regain control while there was still
something left of the Collective. His only real option was to attack the central
command facility and kill the current leader. He suspected it was Doctor
Reinhardt, and all the evidence pointed to him, but you never knew. Reinhardt
was an egomaniac, so Stefan knew that if the good doctor was in control; that
he would be the only one. Take him out and there would be no one to prevent
Stefan from restarting the LINC and rebuilding his empire.

   A bold strategy was necessary and Stefan decided to
use all of his forces in a suicide attack on the central command facility. He
would use up his forces to get inside and then deal with Reinhardt, or whoever,
once and for all. Stefan sent out the directive and monitored his forces as
they withdrew from their current fields of battle and began coalescing towards
Seattle. Launching himself into the air he blasted into the air to join his
troops. He smiled to himself as he planned the death of the usurper.

   His encounter with the “Prince” in Omaha and the
U.S.T.G. in Iowa had convinced Stefan that he needed to upgrade his combat
capabilities. The original design of the android body had been for form more
than function. While he was almost indestructible, he had lacked true offensive
punch. The pulse blasters had been designed to combat people and not vehicles.
He had assumed he would have legions of Humeks, clones, and drones to fight on
his behalf. Realizing that he would need to take a more direct hand in things
had altered that thinking.

   When he crashed down onto the field outside of
Seattle a day later, the Humeks fighting against his forces froze when they saw
him. Stefan knew he was an imposing sight. He had added heavy armor to his head,
torso, arms, and legs similar to a Greek warrior. Forged from composite armor
similar to a tank’s; it covered his hands and arms to the elbow, his feet up
over his knees, and his chest and shoulders. A Greek style hoplite helmet
completed the upgraded armor. All the vital points were well protected from
anything short of a Tomahawk missile.

   He had added additional weapons to his arsenal,
mounting missile launchers onto his shoulders that folded back when he was in
flight. They were single shot, but could be reloaded. Stefan had also recovered
the rail gun from the rubble in Omaha and mounted it on his left forearm. The
gun had been connected to his main power supply making it even more powerful
than it was. A cutting torch capable of slicing through steel like it was paper
had been added to his right forearm.  He now had the offensive capability to
smash through a tank division if necessary.

   But it looked like that wouldn’t be necessary after
all. Upon seeing him in all his glory, the rival Humeks had fled from him. The
dread in their faces was obvious even with the cybernetic enhancements that
were supposed to remove that emotion. Stefan chuckled to himself as he watched
them flee. Run vermin. I will fix that mistake once I have my empire back. The
flesh had proved weak, even if there wasn’t much of it left. The drones were
completely controlled by the LINC, but the Humeks possessed some measure of
independence. That they had not immediately rejoined him when they knew of his
rebirth irked him. This time around there would be no flesh to betray him.

   Stefan fired indiscriminately on the fleeing
Humeks, killing most of them. He slowly marched towards the remaining forces
defending the central command facility. His forces had been seriously weakened
but they had cleared out most of the defenders. Only a small cluster of
Unmanned Ground Vehicles or UGVs remained. Robotic factories had churned out
hundreds of the combat versions of the UGVs over the preceding years. They were
blocky vehicles based on the old M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle design and forty
millimeter cannons blasted rounds at him from the turrets atop them.

   His new armor shrugged off the incoming rounds and
he returned fire with the rail gun. The rail gun’s supersonic rounds punched
through the UGV’s armor easily and blew them apart. Stefan thought this might
be a cakewalk until two massive robots lumbered around from the sides of the
building. The ground shook with every step they took as they stomped towards
him. This was new. He paused to examine them.

   The robots stood thirteen feet tall and had a
vaguely humanoid shape. They walked on jointed legs with two degrees of
movement. Arms studded with weapons were mounted onto a large torso like
chassis and it looked like they could rotate three hundred and sixty degrees at
the hips. Cannons, chain guns, rocket launchers, and flamethrowers menaced
Stefan as the robots turned to face him. At the top of the torso sat a well
armored head. Inside the head Stefan could detect minimal life signs, but it
wasn’t large enough to house a human body. Reinhardt must have only used a
brain and spinal column to create the controllers for these death machines. To
anyone else they would have looked very intimidating, but to him they just looked
like targets.

   As soon as they were within range, the robots
opened fire on him with everything they had. Rockets, heavy rounds, and flame
lashed out at Stefan. The ground around him became a fiery inferno that scoured
and scorched the ground. The relentless pounding forced him to his knees but
didn’t cause any significant damage. When the robots ran out of ammo and the
onslaught stopped, Stefan rose back to his feet. His new armor had passed its
first true test.

   He fired the missiles on his shoulders, one for
each robot. The Hellfire IV missile raced away from him, homing in on their
targets. Out of ammo, the robots were incapable of defending themselves. The
missiles struck home, blowing the heads clean off of both robots. Stefan shook
his head. What a stupid design flaw; this was almost too easy. He strode up to
the entrance of the facility as the robots slowly collapsed to the ground with
earthshaking thuds.

  Smashing the door aside, Stefan entered the
facility. Automated defenses activated, but he just ignored them. The machine
guns and pulse cannons were incapable of damaging him. A few Humeks and clones
tried to intercept him, but he swatted them aside like flies. Very familiar
with the facility since he designed it, Stefan walked directly to the main
control room. He blasted open the doors and marched in through the smoking
wreckage.

   The room was similar to his control room on Olympus
station. Monitors and screens lined the walls and the room was open except for
a few consoles in the center. A command chair similar to the captain’s chair on
Star Trek had been installed on a raised dais in the middle. An armored figure
lounged there, as if waiting patiently for Stefan’s arrival. He could see that
it was indeed Reinhardt before an armored helmet slammed shut over his head.

   “Stefan. What took you so long?” Reinhardt called
insolently, his voice slightly distorted by the suits speakers. “Welcome to my
empire.”

   He rose from the chair and Stefan studied the
armored suit. It looked like a very advanced version of the exo-suits developed
for paraplegics and quadriplegics. The military had experimented with
developing the suits into combat suits similar to the iconic Iron Man, but had
discarded it when the costs were too great. Privately several companies had
worked on the suits for rich people who needed assistance with mobility.
Reinhardt must have had someone take it to the next level.

   The suit moved fluidly and yet fully covered the
wearer. His sensors couldn’t determine exactly what it was made of, only that
it was a very dense alloy. The suit made Reinhardt about a foot taller and
Stefan assumed it greatly increased his strength.  An energy weapon of some
kind was mounted on the suits left arm and a gripper claw snapped into place
over the suit’s right hand. Reinhardt opened it and snapped it shut several
times as if to test it.

   “Why did you betray me Reinhardt?” Stefan snarled
angrily.

   “Betray you?” Reinhardt asked mockingly. “You
betrayed us. You promised us a new world, but you gave us ruins. You became so
lost in the LINC that you lost touch with our needs and thought only of your
own.”

   “I was building a better world.” Stefan argued.
“One without war, one without pain and suffering, one without fear and hatred.”

   “One without joy or excitement.” Reinhardt
countered. “Food tasted like ash and the world smelled of chemicals. Why would
we want that? Just because you weren’t human anymore didn’t mean the rest of us
didn’t want to be.”

   “Perhaps you are correct.” Stefan agreed. “But
launching a coup and taking over the Collective was not the right course of
action.”

   “Well…that was about my own ego and need for power.
“ Reinhardt said with a chuckle. “I always thought I should be in charge over
you, but everyone worshipped the ground you walked on so I never had a chance.
Eventually people grew disenchanted with you and I slowly laid the groundwork
for a takeover. Your sudden ‘demise’ just gave me the opportunity to move
sooner than anticipated.”

   “I trusted you.” Stefan said with a touch of
sadness.

   “You always were a sucker for anyone who professed
to believe your babble.” Reinhardt said laughing. “Your ego made you blind.”

   “And your ego is going to get you killed.” Stefan
growled. “I am going to dispose of you and take back what is mine.”

   “You are welcome to try.” Reinhardt mocked. “I have
been preparing for this moment for a long time.”

   “Enough talk!” Stefan snapped as he raised the rail
gun to fire.

   He fired a short burst of heavy slugs at the
armored head and was stunned as the slugs veered away from Reinhardt as they
got closer. The slugs deflected off into the walls and ceiling of the room.
Several monitors exploded in a shower of sparks and came crashing down as the
slugs struck them. Stefan could see Reinhardt smile through his visor. The suit
had some sort of magnetic deflection shield. He would have to install that on
himself once he ripped it from Reinhardt’s corpse.

   “Surprise!” Reinhardt yelled gleefully. “I also have
a few more tricks up my sleeve!”

   Stefan fired the pulse bolts from his palms at
Reinhardt even though he doubted it would have an effect. As expected, the
bolts hit the suit and splattered off ineffectually. In response Reinhardt
raised the arm with the energy weapon and fired some sort of laser. The beam
scored the surface of Stefan’s body and he pulled back in surprise.

  “My turn now!” Reinhardt roared excitedly.

  He fired again, but this time Stefan dodged the beam
and grabbed one of the consoles. Ripping it from the ground he hurled it at
Reinhardt. Reinhardt used his suit’s laser to cut the console in half and he
didn’t even move as it sailed by on either side of him. He fired again and
caught Stefan with a glancing strike. The beam hadn’t penetrated Stefan’s armor
yet, but it seemed like it might be capable of doing so.

   “Come on Stefan! I expected more from you. Is that
all you’ve got?” Reinhardt sneered.

   His main weapons rendered ineffective, Stefan
lunged forward and Reinhardt leapt to meet him. They collided with a mighty
crash and grappled furiously in the center of the room. Stefan tried to force
his cutting torch forward onto the exo-suit’s visor, but Reinhardt caught him
by the wrist.

   He lashed out with the claw open trying to catch
Stefan’s head and crush it, but Stefan blocked with the arm with the rail gun
mounted on it. The claw closed tightly and began to squeeze. The rail gun began
to creak dangerously as the claw began to crush it. They stood there locked in
a deadly embrace. They were evenly matched and neither one could gain an
advantage, but Reinhardt’s claw was slowly destroying the rail gun. Stefan
didn’t want to lose such a valuable offensive weapon so he needed to do
something to break the deadlock.

   He deployed his jet pack and blasted off. Reinhardt
didn’t release the claw’s grip and was yanked upwards and dragged along behind
Stefan as he crashed through the ceiling of the control room. Reinforced
concrete shattered as the two exploded up out of the facility in a shower of
concrete and rebar. Both combatants were battered by the explosive exit, but
neither sustained anything other than superficial damage. Stefan was annoyed to
see that Reinhardt was still clinging to his arm and continuing to crush it.

   “You’ll have to do better than that.” Reinhardt
taunted him.

   Reversing course, Stefan rocketed them downwards
with Reinhardt beneath him. The suit might be virtually indestructible, but the
man inside was not. No matter how insulated or cushioned, some of the force of
an impact would be transferred to the weak flesh inside the suit. If they hit
hard enough, Reinhardt would be turned into jelly and Stefan would be
victorious. He laughed as they hurtled straight down into the ground.