"Almost clear!" Rachel called over her shoulder, pulling away the last burnt bit of flesh from the Core. Below the charred surface was still the wet red meat. She threw them on the floor, making a wet slapping sound as it hit the floor. The stench hit much harder now as it was mixed with cooked, burnt, and the other shit that was there before.
"Time to get this shit out." Kyle moved forward, drawing his blink dagger. He circled the Core, looking for a seam as the smooth white metal surface almost had none. He crouched, examining a slight bump near the bottom of the sphere. His eyes turned to the stumps where the protruding cylindrical spikes used to be.
"Hurry the fuck up," Ollie said, keeping his eyes on the doorway.
Kyle grunted. He jammed his knife into the centre of the stump, trying to pry it open. "You want to come do this? I don't see no fucking weak point."
The knife weakly bounced back but made a dent on where the stump was. Kyle repositioned the blade at an angle and struck again.
A heavy thud from the corridor made them all freeze.
Footsteps of something scraped against the fleshy surface of the floor.
"Something's coming," Lily whispered.
A figure appeared in the doorway. It moved in a jerky fashion that didn't look organic and more like a robot's movement snapping at something. It wore crude metal armour, covering its torso, legs, and arms as if welded into its flesh. Its faceless helmet covered its entire head. Only two narrow slits opened up to the bloody eyes beneath. When it crouched and passed through the door, its wings revealed themselves. They were metal wing bones covered in a mass of flesh that most likely allowed it flight. Thick cables and different coloured wiring snaked across the wing bones and into the base of its skull. When it shrank its wings, the muscle underneath the thin layer of membrane could be seen contracting.
A shockwave bullet pierced through the Core chamber before anyone could speak. Trebuchet kicked hard against Clyde's shoulder. His aim didn't budge. Only his feet skidded him backwards.
The round struck upper centre mass. The top half of the thing simply vanished. Blood splattered all over the walls. Organs spilled out from its torso.
No one cheered the newfound strength Clyde had gotten from the new weapon. Ollie could clearly see that apart from that winged shit on its back, the thing Clyde had just shot at was definitely human. Lungs, stomach, heart, and everything.
Two more winged humans entered the doorway. Their wings twitched and flexed as they stepped over their fallen and stared at the group.
Prudence fired. Muzzle flash lit up the entire room. Though it didn't even make a sound.
The right one's head and upper torso splattered just like the first. The one on the left followed, right after Clyde shot another bullet.
"Rachel, hold your fire! Let them bunch up for the breach charge," Ollie called out. "Kyle, status update!"
Ollie could no longer see Kyle. He had moved to be behind the Core, still feeling for any weak point.
"I'm trying here! Let me work my thing!" Kyle shouted.
Heavy footfalls came from behind the transit hub's entrance. Flesh covered surface shook from the steps. A massive body filled the doorway, ten feet tall and pure muscle. Veins writhed like snakes on the surface of its muscle. Unlike before, this one had patches of skin, but most of it was still skinless. Metal covered its face completely, and its arms replaced by metal prosthetics instead of hands, it had spinning blades. It was what the twins called 'Flesh Pounds'.
Clyde and Ollie fired simultaneously. Half its skull disappeared in a spray of bone and tissue. A gaping hole opened in its chest cavity, revealing pulsing organs underneath.
The flesh pound didn't stop. It didn't even slow.
Two more winged humanoids pushed past the door as their metal fleshy wings scraped the doorframe.
Ollie pulled up his phone immediately and pressed the big red button.
The explosion ripped through the doorway. Shockwaves and fire filled the entryway. Flesh pound and the winged humans turned into bloody chunks by the blast.
Ears started ringing. He didn't know how many else were behind the doorway as his eye caught Kyle still fiddling with the Core.
Kyle gritted his teeth as he clenched his blink dagger. "Fuck this shit. I'm done playing Mr. Nice Guy."
Blink dagger plunged directly into the Core's sleek surface. The knife sank deep with the sound of groaning metal. He ripped apart the plates one by one, prying them off with his dagger.
Eyes caught movement at the doorway again. Three more winged humans pushed through the debris. Each carried what looked like crude guns with long barrels that pointed towards the group.
One fired with a hiss. A metal pole shot across the room. Pole's sharp end grazed against Clyde's cheek as he ducked. Blood beaded along the line of the shallow cut.
Rachel pounced low. Right arm wound back. Punch. Fire erupted from her fist, funnelling into an inferno that filled the doorway. Flames roared. Metal parts of the winged human glowed hot red. Flesh charred and melted off.
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But before they could fall, a gun hissed. Metal pole flew through the air across the Core Chamber, aimed at Kyle.
Lily dove into its path. Left arm out. Blue light shield formed around her arm. The pole struck with enough force that it launched her backwards a couple of steps, embedding itself in her shield and also punching through her forearm beneath, stopping at the bone. She bit back a cry, teeth clenched as blood ran down her wrist.
The burning creatures collapsed in the doorway, their wings still twitching as flesh crisped and peeled away from metal bones.
Two more massive flesh pounds entered the doorway, crushing the burnt skulls of their comrade.
Rachel unleashed another torrent of fire, but the flesh pounds looked like they didn't care about their burning flesh as they continued to trudge forward.
Lily raised her deagles. Blue ether pulsed into them rapidly as if winding up. She pulled the trigger, and a spiral of blue lance shot from the barrel, no bullet. The trail pierced through the flesh pound's chest, leaving a hole big enough to see through.
The flesh pound staggered, but it took one step forward. It suddenly ran at a sprint towards Lily.
Ollie and Clyde fired again in unison. Two rounds to both of its kneecaps shattering them. It toppled forward and began crawling.
Rachel landed on top of it. Her body glowed white hot for a flash of a second. Fist struck against the back of the flesh pound. Fire exploded from where she hit. Flesh flooring burnt. Metal floor revealed. Debris flew out from the explosion, flying everywhere that everyone had to duck down, hitting parts of the Core.
The second flesh pound tackled her down. Blades spun against her face as she fell, driving her to the metal floor.
The air around Rachel rippled. A sphere of flame formed in front of her. With one snap of her finger, the sphere exploded, causing the flesh pound to disintegrate but also ramming her back against the metal floor. Air escaped her lungs, but she used the momentum to slap the metal floor to stand back up, arms already up.
She looked down at her flank. The spinning blades had partly sliced through the armour that Erin had given them. Her hands glowed white as she jammed them down there, cauterizing the wound.
"I got it!" Kyle shouted from behind them. He held up a spinal column in his hands with delicate veins that rooted out from it. It pulsed a soft pale blue light.
"Ollie!" He tossed the spinal column to Ollie, who telekinetically caught it and stored it directly into the storage box.
Erin's voice crackled through the phone in Ollie's pocket.
"Harmony Core sector has been shut down. The Core has been extracted. You are to extract and report back to Protection sector. Depart at once."
"What the fuck do you mean, Lady?!?!" Kyle came closer to where Ollie was by the wall. "Transit hub's probably fucked beyond what the fuck. How are we getting out when shit just keeps coming?!"
Two more winged humans entered through the door. One fired immediately. The metal pole whistled past Kyle's ear and embedded itself into the wall behind him with a wet thunk from the fleshy surface. The second aimed its spear gun at Lily.
Trebuchet barked once. Sound struck the vicinity like thunder in an enclosed space. The first winged human's torso erupted in a fountain of blood; its metal wings spasmed uncontrollably.
Prudence shot a silent thwip. A trail of white led straight to the second winged human's head. One second there, the next second was a bloody mist as it collapsed to the floor.
"Exit through the secondary entrance," Erin's voice crackled through the phone. "Two doors await beyond. One holds experimental container pods. The other houses servers. The server room conceals a floor panel. It opens to a tunnel connecting with the Tomb's duct system. I shall guide you through to the nearest train. Once aboard, I will direct it to Protection Sector."
The line went dead for a second before crackling again. "Do not die."
"Great fucking last line. Perfect fucking famous last words," Kyle said.
"Let's move," Rachel said.
They backed toward the other exit. Clyde and Ollie had their guns aimed at the transit hub's entrance while the others aimed forward. When they stepped through the door, what met them was a familiar scene. Faceless robots littered the corridor, slumped down. Some were intact while the numbered robots were completely destroyed.
"Clear?" Ollie asked, eyeing Lily.
She looked around before signalling them in and saying, "Clear."
They moved through the corridor while keeping an eye behind them. After a couple of minutes, they reached the doorway where two doors on opposite sides sat.
"Kyle, check left. Clyde, right," Ollie said.
The twins peeled off, guns trained on either doorway. They stopped just at the door, looking through the window.
Kyle raised his hands first. "Found it. Cable room's over here. Server set up."
A piercing screech echoed from the Core Chamber behind them, reverberating along the large straight corridor. More screeches came through, this time mixed with other sounds that none of them wanted to meet.
Rachel dashed to Kyle and threw him into the door. "Move. Now."
The rest filed into the server room. Rows of tall black cabinet racks filled with encased horizontal blocks filled their entire view. All of them were dead while some still had some oil flowing out pooling on the metal floor.
"Find the floor panel," Ollie said, pulling the door shut behind them.
The group split up. For a full minute, each one of them ran their hands along the black oily floor tiles. Lily managed to snag an elevated panel.
"Here!" she called out from the far corner. "I think this is-"
The door exploded inwards. A flesh pound filled the doorway and entered. Its blades whirred into a high RPM spin.
"Into the tunnel now!" Ollie shouted as Rachel charged at the brute. The rods on her knuckle guards flashed white before her punch exploded the flesh pound's face.
Lily yanked up the floor panel, revealing a dark square opening barely wide enough for one person. "Go!"
Ollie slid in first. His boots scraped against the metal duct to stop himself from falling full speed at the bottom.
Kyle followed immediately. Clyde dropped in next. Both twins were too tall and their shoulders scraped the sides of the duct. Lily came in last. Her smaller and slimmer form allowed her to slip through easily like Ollie. Behind her, explosions rang out dozens of times before Rachel appeared and fell down with them to the bottom; both her hands extended outwards before she hit the bottom, allowing her to land softly where they all crouched.
"Move!" she shouted.
The tunnel shook. Something heavy slammed from above them, and it was clearly the brute forcing itself down the small tunnel to chase them. Its hands spun fast, shredding up the metal walls of the duct to allow it access.
"Lily, shield!" Rachel yelled.
Lily pressed behind herself and put her palm up. A blue light formed on her palm and soon touched the sides of the walls, covering herself, Kyle, Ollie, and Clyde in the tight space.
Rachel put out her right hand upwards. Flames gathered over her hands. The orbs on her knuckle guards spun into a sharp pitch as they strobed from red to white.
"Close your eyes!" Rachel shouted.
A low boom erupted from her hand that sharply crescendoed into a piercing pitch. A jet of white hot flame roared back up the tunnel towards the oncoming flesh pound. Even with Lily's shield protecting them, Ollie felt his skin singe. The metal walls beside them started to glow red from the heat.
The flesh pounds whole body was covered in the white hot flame. Its whole mass shrivelled and crumbled into white ash as the flame escaped out of the duct, filling the whole server room. Shrieks and screeches came from above, only drowned out by the jet.
This lasted for a full five seconds until Rachel cut the fire abruptly.
She suddenly reached up with her bare hands and forced the opening to the duct closed. The glowing hot metal groaned as she forcefully closed it. Her hands glowed hot once again when the edges met with each other, and both sides of the walls welded together.
"Go," she forced herself to say through her ragged breathing. "Before they find another way in."