She’d been expecting danger at every turn, but none had arisen. The Corps must have committed nearly their entire force to the battle outside. It’d certainly explain their surprising numbers. And then the cave-ins caused by the Veritas II had taken out most of those left behind. She’d spotted several side corridors on the way that’d entirely collapsed, no doubt trapping countless wardens in other areas of the base.
“Here. This is it,” Thorne said, turning one last corner – into another empty hallway – and coming to a stop in front of an unmarked door. It was plain, gray metal set into the stone wall. It’d been carved out of the asteroid’s heart, just like the rest of the base.
“This is the security checkpoint for the broadcast control room. I’ll go first,” Thorne said. “Nando, give me a hand?”
He nodded his agreement and she loaded up a swing of her hammer. He reared back as well, one of his brawler abilities active, his fist simmering with restrained fire.
They hit the door at the same time and it exploded inward in a burst of flame. The remains of it flew clear across the room. Thorne charged in after it, hammer at the ready.
But there was nobody in the room. Completely against protocol, the security checkpoint was empty. There should have been at least five wardens guarding it. Preferably power wardens, seeing as they’d be extra effective in such tight quarters. Instead, a few computer terminals beeped quietly, their screens blank as they sat in sleep mode. An air vent hissed above. The lights flickered ever so slightly. The walls of the room were hewn stone, smooth but for the repetitive, swirling circles where the drill had bored out the room. Their dark color always made the space feel darker, even when it was fully lit. From somewhere far above, an explosion sounded and just the slightest bit of dust trickled down.
The room really was empty, Thorne confirmed, checking every nook and cranny again and looking close at each one. She kept her hammer at the ready as she inched around the room, prepared to lunge at the first hint of an opponent.
And still, nothing.
Empty.
“That’s it, then?” Kaiden asked, too much excitement in his voice as he gestured toward a door at the far side of the room.
“That’s it,” she confirmed. Beyond it was the control console for the All-Frequencies Broadcast System, hidden deep at the center of the asteroid. It’d always spooked her going down there – seemed the game devs had had a bit too much fun making it a spooky space cave instead of the functional space it was supposed to be.
“What are we waiting for, then?” Kaiden asked.
“Something’s wrong,” Thorne said again.
Kaiden looked like he believed her, but his excitement won out.
“PlayaSlaya,” he said. “Let’s leave some guards here to cover our backs, yeah? Just to make sure no one surprises us while we’re in there—”
A hiss shot through the room and Thorne snapped into motion, hammer raised once more, eyes scanning for the source of the noise.
The door to the broadcast control console. It slid open with a hiss to reveal a figure standing just inside. Its features were obscured by the shadows of the tunnel leading to the console room.
“So close,” the figure said, and its voice echoed away down the tunnel behind it. “You almost made it, you really did.” The figure took a step forward and Thorne cursed.
“You almost made it,” Werner said, a too-pleased smile on his face. “Though that was our plan, after all.”
Chapter Sixty
Werner10
Warden Captain
Class: Blast Warden
Faction: Warden Corps
Level: 60
Kaiden’s visor brought up information on Werner as he walked out of the tunnel and the door to the broadcast control room hissed shut.
“What do you mean your ‘plan?’” Kaiden snapped. They were too close to be stopped now. Especially not by one smug bootlicker.
“This,” Werner said, stretching his arms and gesturing to the room around them. “And that.” He nodded up to the ceiling and the battle above. “All of it. You didn’t think you actually earned your way here, did you?” Kaiden didn’t respond and Werner laughed in amazement. “It didn’t seem suspicious that your landing shuttle specifically made it to the ground in one piece? That the gate opened without even being destroyed? That so little resistance stood in your way once you made it down here?” Werner shook his head, still looking far too pleased with himself.
“It was all planned and accounted for. And now here you are, right where we wanted you. And the database is as well.”
“If this was your master plan, it seems you left out an important piece,” Titus growled. “There’s eight of us and one of you. Did your master plan account for that?” He delivered the line with a sneer.
“Eight against one, hm?” Werner nodded at that. “Those would be bad odds. Though I think you may have miscounted.”
Kaiden clenched his hammer tighter as he looked around the room, ready to attack the moment Werner’s reinforcements showed themselves. The rest of the group did the same, taking combat stances, their eyes wide and ready for whatever was coming. All of them except one.
PlayaSlaya stood nonchalantly, seeming entirely unconcerned about what was transpiring.
“God,” he said suddenly, shaking his head. “Getting you all here was like herding cats. The battle outside was pretty epic. Enjoyed that. The rest was lame.” He sighed, like a great weight had been lifted from him. He shook out his shoulders, then sucked in a deep breath. “Though this is going to be fun. Everyone thinks you’re some hot-shit PVPers, but you’ve been lucky up to this point. You’ve never faced a real opponent.”
PlayaSlaya betrayed us. He’s been working with the Party. For how long? The realization blindsided Kaiden like a runaway hover-bus.
“This explains why he was so ready to charge in here without the rest of The Syndicate backing us,” Zelda said, opening a private comm channel between her,
