Multiplayer by John C. Brewer Page A

characters were growing slowly larger in the scope but were still too far away.
    There was an explosion behind them. “Sentry mine,” said Darxhan.
    Mercs and vanguards were pouring out of the tunnel like ants when Izaak looked behind. Bullets and rockets whizzed past. Izaak took a hit, but his fusion cells absorbed the energy. He just hoped his friendship with the other Reaver snipers would keep them at bay.
    Darxhan spun around and launched a wild salvo with his auto-cannon, then wheeled and sent a half-dozen arcing toward Zerg’s group. Izaak looked back through the scope. Zerg and his mercs were still coming and he saw Darxhan’s shells explode harmlessly among them. Then he remembered a scene from the old black-and-white movie Sergeant York he had once seen with his father. He zeroed in on the one in the rear and fired. It was a direct hit, but he didn’t fall. He had to shoot him three times. Then he picked the next to last, who was now in the rear, and went to work on him, hoping those in front would think he was a lousy shot and not take cover.
    It worked, for when they finally met, Zerg took the full brunt of Darxhan’s plasmace. It zeroed his shields, smashed through his Lorica, and sent his body spinning into the ruins of the mosque where it lodged in the tower and hung there.
    “I hope he didn’t power the gate down,” said Izaak, “or we ain’t going far.”
    “Shrikes!” said Darxhan.
    Two of the one-man, hover-bikes appeared behind. In seconds, they would be on them. They started firing. Izaak took more damage. His shields collapsed and then his health bar dropped. Then dropped again.
    “I’m going down fast!” Izaak blurted.
    Darxhan stepped between him and the Shrike, absorbing the blasts. But he wasn’t indestructible either. He spun around and lobbed a better-aimed volley. The nearest Shrike exploded and its driver augured into the ground with a puff of smoke. But the other one was coming on fast. The arch was just yards away. But if the gate was down –
    They passed through and stumbled into Izaak’s lair. His health bar was a flashing red splinter just a single pixel wide. They glanced back through the portal as it began to fade and watched as the Reaver clan jogged toward the slipgate. Two sets of fresh footprints went right up to it and disappeared. Without their slipgate passports set to Izaak’s lair, the Reavers could not follow them through.
    The image was fading fast. Hector turned up the volume on his headset and listened intently.
    A huge merc, almost as large as GoreFiendHell, and with Mk.IV armor nearly as impressive, stopped where the footprints disappeared. “They will pay,” growled ValaRocker, GoreFiendHell’s chief lieutenant and head of his personal bodyguard. “If we have to search every city and town on the planet, we will find Izaak Ersatz and Darxhan Gideon. And they will… ”

Ch. 7

     
     
    The image faded away, and they found themselves staring through the arch at the tubular cryo-chambers in Izaak’s lair.
    “Well, that’s just great,” snapped Darxhan, stomping around. “Now we’ve got whole dang Reaver clan out looking for us!” He cut loose with a volley of cannon shells that exploded harmlessly along one wall.
    “Calm down, man!” exclaimed Izaak. “It’s not the –”
    “Do you know what’s going to happen when Gore and ValaRocker find us?” Darxhan shot back. “They’ll –”
    Izaak cut him off. “It’s just a game Deion. A game. Don’t forget that. Yeah, I want Vera back, but lets keep some perspective here, okay? Now, hold on a second. I got to take care of something.”
    Hector flew through several menus to remove Reaver clan from his alliance list. The last thing they needed were Reavers following them into Izaak’s lair. When his view returned to the Sulako, Darxhan was raiding his cache of fusion cells. “Oh, just help yourself,” said Izaak, surprised he was still out of breath. It had all seemed strangely…