Chương 387: Book 6 - Chapter 48 - Hide and Seek

"Dusty, how long until the Mauler is up?" I shouted as I unleashed my rifle upon the scorpion-crab thing. Even though I was aiming for the face region, and I was sure that at least one of the hypersonic rounds hit it directly in one of its dinner plate-sized eyes, nothing penetrated. The creature didn't even flinch.

"I'm doing the best I can! It's not my fault that when you designed the Mauler, you didn't harden it against EMP. Maybe consider that next time!" the bear yelled back.

"Well, I didn't expect the Antithesis to develop a hive-wide EMP system far stronger than anything we'd experienced before. Maybe I'll take that into account next time," I grumbled.

"Heavy, do you think you can hold off the Antithesis pouring into the cavern behind us?"

"Ha! These little shrubs aren't a problem; this new model of laser makes a good hedge trimmer," the polar bear replied with a deep laugh.

"I can hold until the little ones get up again."

"Good! Deadbeat, back him up, just in case. Nora and I are required elsewhere," I declared.

"Yeah, no shit," Deadbeat muttered as she ran past, heading towards the rear.

"Try not to die."

"I'll try," I replied. The scorpion thing was advancing slowly but steadily, snapping its Kodiak-sized claws ahead of it. I wasn't sure if it was being cautious or just couldn't move that swiftly because of its size, but whatever the reason, I was going to take advantage of the delay. Turning back towards the Kodiak at my back, I slammed the door open button only to find that the door, like everything else, was dead. I growled, jammed my fingers between the door and the frame, and pulled.

"Nyx, the missile systems should still be operational, right? I need something with a serious punch right now!" I huffed quietly into my helmet as I slowly pulled the rear ramp open. [The ECM would have fried their guidance systems; they should still work in dumbfire mode,] my AI replied. [Unfortunately, I doubt they'll be enough to kill that new model.]"I don't need to kill it yet, just slow it down long enough to prevent it from killing us before the Mauler comes online," I grunted.

As soon as I'd cracked the door enough, I scrambled inside. [You know, you could have used the top hatch; it would have been faster,] Nyx noted.

"Yeah, well, that would have required me remembering there was a top hatch and thinking ahead. There's no time for that," I replied. The back of the vehicle was a mess. Even though all the ammunition in the back had been strapped down, it appeared that the strapping had come loose when the vehicle had been knocked out of the sky. I quickly stepped into the pile of ammo, grabbed a pair of the plastic, padded storage crates holding missile launchers, and hauled them back to the door.

As I shoved them through the crack, I could hear Bob shouting.

"Come on, Craby, show me what you've got! You think I'm afraid of you?"

"Sure, just taunt the Antithesis superweapon; that's a great idea, Bob," I muttered. In the few seconds that I'd been occupied, the scorpion had managed to advance quite close to our forces. Bob was out front, shadow boxing with the creature, standing just out of range of its claws.

"Come closer, and you'll catch these hands! What's the matter? Scared?" If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. In response, the scorpion lunged forward, snapping its claws at the bear. To my surprise, Bob didn't attempt to take the attack head-on and instead stepped backwards, just out of range, and slammed his piledriver down onto one of the claws. There was a loud crack, and Bob jumped back, fanning his knuckles.

"You've got some hard hands." In response, the scorpion whipped its tail forward, launching a massive spike that struck Bob in the side of the head, sending him tumbling away.

"No fair, I wasn't ready. That's cheating!" With Bob out of the way, the creature started grabbing up the still reactivating bears on the front line and shoving them into its maw. Every time a bear entered its mouth, I heard the sound of screeching, crunching metal.

"Those are my bears, you son of a bitch!" I shouted, ripping open one of the cases. The portable missile launchers were bear-sized, so they would have been awkward for most people to use, but they fit me just fine. I hefted the tube-shaped weapon to my shoulder and aimed it towards the massive Antithesis. Since the laser targeting panel was opened by default but knocked out, I slammed the little swivelling panel closed and aimed the iron sight.

I'd barely had any experience with the launchers; thankfully they were simple to use. There was a metal ring to aim through and a trigger to fire, so I centered the reticle on the scorpion's head and pulled the trigger. The missile streaked across the cavern and struck the creature in the center of its mass, causing a massive explosion that completely obstructed my view of the thing. Yet when the smoke and dust cleared, it appeared to be almost completely uninjured, despite blowing the nearest bears to pieces.

As I discarded the expended weapon, the scorpion slowly turned, eyes locked on me.

"Uh, Nora, a little help?" I shouted, grabbing the remaining case and sprinting away as it trampled the front line, smashing Kodiaks out of its way like they were nothing.

"I'm working on it!" Nora replied as she sprinted through my disabled forces to slide up to one of the creature's legs, using her momentum to perform a brutal spin kick. Despite all the tech in her legs, all she managed to do was cause the monster's leg to slide slightly out of position. The scorpion paused for a moment, obviously annoyed by the attack, but it ultimately decided that I was the bigger threat.

"Dusty… please tell me you've almost got that thing back online!" I yelled as I wove my way through the field of disabled armor.

"If you take much longer, this thing is going to pull us apart, or the Antithesis might fire the EMP again!"

"I'm working on it!" he yelled, popping open one of the top hatches and sticking his head out.

"Do you want to change places?"

"Yes!" I screamed.

"There's a fucking Antithesis titan chasing me!"

"Oh…" Dusty replied, his eyes going wide.

"I'll work faster." Thankfully, although the scorpion was tough, it was also relatively slow. Even though I was darting back and forth, doing my best to keep some sort of distance from the Antithesis and the Scorpion, which was barreling through whatever was in its way, I was able to pull away. That was good because every time the thing caught sight of me, it whipped its tail at me, launching an oversized spike at me.

Not only was it accurate, but it was also able to expel the spike with enough force to punch straight through a Kodiak. The first time I ducked behind a Kodiak, thinking that I was safe, I was nearly decapitated as one of the oversized projectiles ripped its way through the vehicle. It must have borrowed genes from whatever the Antithesis had done to create their Anti orbital weapon and the Model Fives. Once I had enough room, I took a moment to yank the remaining missile launcher out of its protective case.

Skidding to a stop behind the final Kodiak, I ducked down, waiting until I saw a spike rip through the vehicle before slipping back out again. The scorpion was a lot closer than I'd expected, only about a dozen feet away. I saw one of the claws rear back and realized I probably didn't have time to mess around; I just let the missile fly and took off again.

When I heard the explosion, I expected the thing to come rampaging through the last of my cover and spray the area with its spikes, but it didn't, so I ducked around the side of the back of the Kodiak and carefully peeked out. The scorpion had collapsed, with smoke pouring from its mouth.

"Awwww…. If I had known that was going to happen, I would have said; 'Eat this!'" I said.

"Prime quip for this situation. Is it dead?" The creature's legs violently spasmed, and its tail whipped back and forth a couple of times. Just as I was about to emerge from cover, the beast seemed to recover. Its eyes all seemed to regain focus, and the thrashing stopped. Slowly, it pushed itself back to its feet and turned towards me again.

"Oh come on, you survived that? Don't tell me you have some sort of regeneration factor too," I hissed. Before it could whip its tail, Bob and Nora came sprinting out of the rubble, simultaneously striking the beast from both sides.

"Don't worry, Boss, I got this," the bear declared before delivering a blow to the creature's side. Although I couldn't see the damage, I heard a massive crack and watched Bob step back.

"Stop resisting my punches!" As he wound up again, a sonic boom echoed through the cavern, and the scorpion slid several feet to the side. It stumbled about for a moment, blood dripping down its side.

"Sorry, Bob," Dusty announced, his voice echoing through the chamber as the Mauler slowly rolled into view.

"But this one's mine.