I ducked behind the levitating shield of metal in front of me just before an explosion of fire and force engulfed the barrier, scattering shrapnel all over the area just on the other side. Fran’s shield held against the explosions, and in the next instant I rose above the magnetically interwoven shield of metal feathers, some shining with their own power supplies, and sighted my rifle. In the span of a heartbeat I adjusted my aim, and even as I squeezed the trigger I prepared to cycle to my next target.

The snub-nosed turret was adorned with a spherical ball of cameras that rested just above the barrel. I aimed for the center of the mass, trying to hit both the cameras and the delicate machinery behind the barrel itself. Firing through the slit in the steel plates that protected the turret was a task that few, if any, could accomplish with any accuracy, but I was not most people.

With a quick burst I sent dozens of rounds clattering through the slit in the armor, fragmenting and raining hell within the case nevertheless. No one had likely expected for someone to be capable of actually hitting such a target with any reliability. Certainly not someone under fire from the turret itself.

But, they must have at least assumed someone could get lucky, because the parts were nevertheless sturdy enough to have survived my initial burst.

“Damnit,” I muttered before dropping to a knee once more just before several explosive shells clattered against my barrier. All around me, several Determinators had deployed their own cover in the form of solid steel barriers. It was far less elegant than Fran’s solution, but nonetheless effective, given how much they could carry and move at will. They worked in concert and, though outnumbered by the turrets, relayed information in real time when they’d dragged the turrets attention towards their own flanks.

Within seconds, though, a problem arose. Instead of firing at viable targets, the turrets each picked a defended position and began firing upon them, suppressing rather than attempting to pick them off.

“Well, that’s annoying.” I grit my teeth, feeling the barrier rattle every two seconds with another explosion. If I didn’t have my armor, the percussive force alone would have churned my insides to a pulp, let alone the heat that rapidly built up under the onslaught.

That soon changed, though, as Daniel stepped forward in front of my cover, the shots slamming into his mech, leaving dents and scratches, but no real damage as of yet. I watched as he calmly adjusted his stance and readied several weapons that rose out of his weapons platform on his back. No massive cannons exposed themselves, and instead I watched as narrow rifle-like barrels sprouted like fingers from the lengths of his arms, both his normal ones and two additional pairs of multi-jointed arms that unfurled from behind him.

He fired an opening salvo just as flecks of his armor fell to the ground, chipped down bit by bit by several guns that now focused on him, perhaps registering that he might be vulnerable. Or a greater threat.

Daniel fired, but the weapons were nearly silent. The barrells spat projectiles at a low rate of fire, unusual considering many of his rapid fire options, but many struck the armored turrets in front of him square on. I recognized them as they hit, dagger-like projectiles that pierced deep into the armor and began to work themselves even deeper.

The Dauntless continued firing, trying to keep the shots as pinpoint as possible as Fran adjusted our shielding to include his mech. Domino fired with his shoulder-mounted weapon, arcing shots up and over the barriers with little issue. Grenades exploded near to the bases of the turrets, three explosions enough to break and cause significant damage to the inner parts of the devices.

Jessica darted between cover points, striking more dangerous turrets as she went. As risky as it was, the maneuver was invaluable to keep our flanks free and devote more of our defensive resources towards defending only one direction.

With a breath I stood up, both of my shoulder-mounted lances firing on seperate turrets instantly. I held off from using my rifle, instead devoting all of my conscious focus to watching the turret barrels that were pointing in our direction. Any time I noticed one pivot towards me, I ducked back behind cover, or changed to another covered position as provided by either Fran or one of the Determinators.

As I dove into another position, I heard Daniel shout, “Take cover!”

I didn’t wait to see why, instead huddling between a pair of Determinators who were like minded. A second later, the many dagger-like projectiles he’d fired erupted in bright, white fire. My sensors dimmed to almost nothing, protecting both themselves and my own eyes from the intense light.

The result made day turn to darkest night, and in just that moment the flash was gone. Even so, my sensors stuttered to keep up with the sensory information.

I rose from my cover, curious to see what became of the formation. What greeted me were several pillars of molten, sagging metal, not so much torn apart as melted in an instant. The stone and concrete around them resembled lava more than modern construction materials, and some of the turrets, even as reduced to slag as they were, began to tip over into the liquified earth.

Fire burnt across the concrete, though it rapidly diminished into waves of heat that radiated from every surface, along with many of the turrets, save for some in a column that led up to the door, and those that seemed to be mounted to the building itself.

That, however, gave us a numbers advantage, one that the Determinators took and pushed to the greatest value they could manage. I tapped into their network and shared in the information, the biggest advantage being that they could tell when a turret was looking at them or not. Whenever one changed direction, the entire force would seamlessly adjust, either rising to fire upon it, or dropping back to cover. Their weapons were strong enough to tear deeply through the metal shielding, and in just seconds of concentrated fire they could dismantle a turret.

With my own lances firing into new targets to soften them up or outright destroy them, that allowed us to completely decimate the defensive array within a minute. Both I and the Determinators felt a potent sense of satisfaction as we focused on each remaining turret, ruthlessly and efficiently thrashing the defenses.

Daniel clapped his hands together as we finished the last of them, “Damn, we do good work.”

Domino chuckled while shaking his head, looking likewise as flabbergasted as Jessica, “Those things are so much worse above water.”

I could practically hear the grin on Daniel’s face as he responded, “All of my gear is better above water.”

“If we never have another water mission, it’ll still be too soon,” Fran said jokingly, though still held a note of tension in her voice. We paused at that, somberly agreeing with that statement.

“That should be the bulk of the defenses, I’d imagine,” Domino thought aloud, “At least, I wouldn’t think you’d want automated turrets in areas where you might have personnel working.”

“Why not?” Jessica asked as she idly kicked through metal fragments that had rained all across the now ruined yard surrounding the facility.

“If the system ever had a glitch, those people would probably get pasted by whatever defenses were meant to protect them, right?” Domino gestured to the smoking craters all around, “I personally wouldn’t want to work with that over my head.”

“Duly noted,” I nodded to him, “But proceed with the assumption that there’s a turret on every wall, ceiling, and corner. We don’t need any accidents this late in the game.”

They nodded as we moved forward, Determinators already checking the terrain. Daniel was the only one who needed to be especially mindful of the molten concrete, the rest of us able to navigate the cooling material with much more ease. And, contrary to what I expected, the door was simply a sturdy bulkhead that had sealed when the turrets had activated. If we really needed to, I guess we could simply blow open the wall.

In just a moment I found the identification console next to it and stood beside it. I’d initially played around with many different ideas of interfacing with machines that didn’t have a wireless connector, ranging from a flexible wire appendage that could jack directly into the device to a small remote connecting drone.

Ultimately I decided to keep a small drone that I could use for the task at range, but for the in-person tasks I didn’t need anything fancy. I placed my hand against the console and felt the pulse of electricity through my conductive fingertips and palm, my mind connecting straight into the chip and computer built into the reader. In moments, I adjusted my awareness to fit into cyberspace and began my attack on the device.

Computers of the old age were never designed to be able to handle an attack from a living bio-computer, at least not that I was aware of. Thus far, it hadn’t been at all an issue to simply power straight through old world tech. This instance proved to be the same as the door began to open with a low groan.

The bulk head opened up to what seemed like a blend between what I would imagine a security checkpoint, lobby, and elevator. The Determinators moved forward first, checking corners and immediately pinging the area with every type of sensor we had available. Hopefully, we wouldn’t be in for any more surprises. Both walls were dominated in what appeared to be automated security systems, much like checkpoints designed to scan individuals. Neither of the checkpoints, however, was outfitted with weapons of any type, seemingly only designed to record and log any individuals that entered the facility. Just past the sensor suites on either wall was a bulkhead door that led deeper into parts of the complex, the left being administration, the right being residential, and the middle against the far wall was a bulkhead that apparently defended an elevator, at least as attested by the sign.

When the Determinators completed their sweep, we moved deeper into the main room, noting that there were catwalks above us that extended over the room, and small, empty security rooms that rose from the floor. While clearly meant for some minor human presence, it was clear that the stations had been left empty for an extended duration. Dust lay on nearly every surface, and it was clear that none of the sealed doors had been opened in the recent past. Cameras from the sensors on the left side of the building swept over us, undoubtedly from the automated system, though nothing out of place occurred in the moments following.

“Alright, just in case, secure our exit. I want to be able to leave if we need to.” I called out as I walked to the nearest console, “Call out if you see anything unusual.”

“Will do,” Daniel nodded, other affirmations sounding out as we split up somewhat. Daniel, for his part, planted a very large device against the wall next to the bulkhead, what I imagined was a fairly potent explosive for our exit strategy, should it be necessary.

The hardware, however dusty, was state of the art for old-world tech. This place was designed to survive long periods of disuse, or at the very least to last years with minimal oversight and maintenance. That much boded well for us, given that I had no interest in meeting others here and potentially having to fight them, or convince them to allow us access.

And, as I felt my mind connect through the console, I felt relief flood through me. The first thing was that there hadn’t been any registered personnel or visitors ever since the beginning of the apocalypse. The second was that the computer was preparing to wipe out all sensitive data from its serverbanks if no credentials were provided to it in the next twenty four hours, or, more pressingly, if anyone attempted to access confidential or secured information before then without security passing them.

That was actually a good thing, contrary to how it sounded. That meant that, more than likely, the rest of the defenses in the facility were all automated. If they were all automated, then my next task was as clear as it was straightforward.

Make it mine.

I linked my mind to the Determinators, ramping up my overall processing capacity dramatically. They immediately ceased what they were doing before finding a stable standing position as they eagerly leapt at the command. After all, they were, at least in part, still part of my own coding, and while we could be very different at times, there was always a baseline of familiarity between our minds.

Before the computer could respond, we immediately set to work on disabling the mainframe's ability to fight back. Unlike before, though, we found that there was stiffer resistance in place than we’d expected. The system attempted to read our attack, though it didn’t know what exactly it was, and tried to partition itself off from further access. Fortunately, we were faster than it, and several of the Determinator’s formed their own Trojan protocols on the fly with my own jabbing deeper into the system at every turn. Rapidly, the mainframe lost all ability to keep up with our attacks.

It, impressively, retreated into core files and functions, setting up its own hard-line defenses and getting ready to purge all data. If it couldn’t defend against us in the long term, then it would destroy everything.

At least, that was the line of thought I imagined the creators of this system had in mind. However, we didn’t allow it to move freely, and in the moment that it ceased its attack, we drove deeper inwards, breaking through core processes and shattering any protocols we came into contact with.

To our minds, the attack took nearly an hour from start to finish, just as difficult, if not more so, of a fight as we’d had outside. In the real world, though, it had barely been thirty seconds. I shook my head, feeling discombobulated from the sudden shifts in awareness, but couldn’t help but grin in success.

The facility defenses were down, and I now knew where the only other separated security system was in the complex. Below us, our prize waited.

“The systems ours, defenses are down, and there shouldn’t be any more surprises for us.” I said aloud, noticing that the others were curiously looking between what had been suddenly motionless Determinators and me.

“Elevator?” Domino gestured towards the far bulkhead questioningly.

I nodded, “Yup, what we’re looking for should be downstairs.”

“Any crazy zombie projects or anything we should know about?” Jessica asked jokingly.

“Only a few.” I said in passing, which got Daniel and Fran chuckling.

I only barely heard as Jessica asked Domino quietly, “He is just joking, right?”