Nicole fell sideways, physics pulling their best impression of a funhouse mirror even as the energy that permeated the air surged through her. It was warm, and all too familiar. The budding warmth surged to searing degrees within her as Nicole let out a muted scream, the sound not quite traveling right through the air.

  Dimly she was aware that she wasn’t touching the ground, but was floating through the air. Whatever had happened was fucking with everything and anything it came in contact with. Including Grace, whose transformation nearly blinked out of existence for a moment before it all came crashing back, including the hard ground.

  The air flickered with blue static as Nicole pushed herself upright. Every inch of her body was on fire, burning as though she was bathing in electrified acid. Nicole could only grit her teeth and power through, forcing herself upright despite the searing agony.

  Grace groaned, moving sluggishly as she got an arm under herself, her helmet shifted, and Nicole could almost feel those chocote orbs settle on her behind the visor. The unspoken question passed between them and Nicole shook her head. She wasn’t doing well, but that could wait until they knew just what the hell had happened.

  Franklin and Kelly were helping one another back to their feet, though Kelly was frowning at her tablet. She tossed it aside, the device still sparking with blue light.

  “Well, someone cocked up,” Grace said, her legs still unsteady.

  That was an understatement. Hell, Nicole wasn’t far off from the feeling she had experienced when fighting Bartran. Before Guiana pushed her to the brink. Would she need to be hooked back up to some sort of draining device to survive, or was this something she could manage on her own?

  Nicole wasn’t sure how much she could trust Sincir and his associates, especially given this entire disaster was their fucking fault.

  “An understatement,” Kelly Rivers said with a sigh. “Electronics are fried too.”

  Cursing, Nicole checked her phone only to blink when everything was still working aside from her cell signal. “They aren’t though?”

  Kelly sighed. “None of the computing technology in use at our research facilities use conventional technology. My tablet was using an advanced substrate based off Syn technology and powered by a Source derived effect.”

  Which only served to confirm Nicole’s own intuition about what had happened. “How concerned should we be?”

  A frown crossed Kelly’s face when her swipe through the air didn’t yield any holographic interfaces. “Unknown at this time. We weren’t aware that such a surge could serve as an EMP for Source devices.”

  A gnce to the side showed the machines slumped over, still sparking. Their eyes glowed dimly in the emergency lighting even as their limbs jerked with every surge that continued to cycle through them.

  Nicole’s eyes were still watching as one managed to get four limbs under itself and start crawling towards them. “Uh, are the machines also Source powered?”

  “No, but they do have several exotic components. Why?”

  Nicole’s bde was already in motion as the machine lunged towards them, far faster than any of the man-made automatons had moved during their earlier conflict. Rather than shearing through it, Nicole’s bde deflected off a shimmering field that sent sparks flying. Her eyes only had a moment to widen before Grace brought her axe down on the machine, tearing through it with some difficulty.

  As if sounding the start of a race, the other machines snapped from malfunction to murder. Nicole’s world narrowed as she brought her bdes back up, deflecting the first strike with ease. The machines weren’t made of anything better than before, but the addition of a kinetic barrier changed the dynamic of the fight. Even the Syn orange models hadn’t sported such a dangerous addition to their kit.

  “Clear the civilians!” Grace shouted as she brought her axe around. One machine went sailing down the hall as two more moved into its pce. Much as Nicole wanted to stand there and watch, she knew that she needed to do as asked.

  Franklin had already retreated back into the room he originally emerged from, but Kelly was standing stock still, her fists clenched. It was clear that she was locking up in the face of danger, which would make it harder for Nicole to get her to safety. Nicole managed to reach her just as a machine would have crashed into Kelly broadside.

  Nicole took the hit instead, and attempted to roll only for a cold limb to pin her to the ground as a bded arm came up. The only thing that she could think was how fucking absurd it would be to check out because of some accident causing a bunch of piss poor excuses for machines to go fucking nuts.

  Nicole braced for the impact, yet it never came. Instead, the machine dropped beside her, crumpled from some impact. Kelly stood over it, panting as she held some smoking device in her clenched hand. Had that been a hold out weapon of some sort? Shaking her head, Nicole got back onto her feet and ushered Kelly towards the door, the woman no longer protesting.

  “How do we stop this?” Nicole asked.

  Kelly shook out of her stupor with a startled jump. “I’m not sure. If only the active models reacted to the surge, simply destroying those effected would work. If the storerooms are all awake…”

  “How many?”

  A sigh escaped Kelly’s lips. “We had over fifty thousand produced.”

  Nicole was thankful for the helmet so that Kelly didn’t get to watch the blood drain from her face at such a disaster just waiting to happen. Worse, there wasn’t much they could do about it aside from confirm which it was.

  “Can you check the camera feeds or do we need to investigate one of these store rooms?”

  Kelly paused, biting her lip. “Investigate. Everything down here uses Source tech, a precaution against EMP attacks.”

  “Yeah, lot of good that’s doing us,” Nicole snarked.

  “Indeed,” Kelly agreed. “I’ll do what I can here. Head to sub-level three and check room one-seven beta. That is the closest storage room.”

  Nicole nodded, moving back to rejoin the fight even as the door sealed shut. The entire situation was strange as hell, and Nicole can’t help but look back at the machine that Kelly had somehow taken down. Whatever struck it wasn’t a bst of energy, it was more akin to when Jeff smacked a drone with the shaft of his spear. A blunt strike, and one performed using something extraordinarily robust.

  What else was Kelly keeping from them?

  Grace was mopping up the st of the machines, but Nicole could hear the telltale ccking of more just down the hall. Gripping her bdes tight, she steeled herself for the chaos that was to come.

  “This is going to suck,” Nicole said as Grace stepped up beside her.

  Her girlfriend huffed. “Honestly, what the fuck did that explosion do to these things?”

  Nicole shrugged as the first of the machines pierced the eerie fog, crawling towards them at a steady and unnerving pace. “I think Kelly will be trying to crack that question for weeks to come.”

  “No doubt,” Grace said, then charged into the approaching masses.

  Not to be outdone, Nicole took a deep breath, feeling out the surging warmth as she did. It wasn’t hurting, not yet, which meant she would hopefully be okay to keep fighting. Unfortunately, enthusiasm only does so much when one’s weapons can’t quite pierce the kinetic barrier being used by the opposition.

  In that regard, Grace’s axe has a natural advantage, the greater surface area and power behind the swings tore through each machine with far greater ease than Nicole’s own mundane bdes to the point that she stowed them after her third exchange and resorted to punching the damn things into the ground, denting the steel floor as she did.

  It was cathartic as hell, and oddly effective.

  Flesh meeting a flexible kinetic field that would shatter into malleable steel was a curious sensation, and one that Nicole wasn’t sure how to process. Her brain kept telling her that it should hurt, that hitting something with the ability to repel bullets should result in her hand being permanently fucked.

  As her fist buried itself into yet another machine, she could only chuckle at the absurdity that was her life. Here she was, a Ranger in name only at this point, and still keeping up with Grace well enough to not need her to hover for safety. Nicole knew that she was getting closer to the Source to do so, that if she fought the Orange drones now that it wouldn’t be a contest.

  Nicole lost count as they fought, her breathing calm and measured as she progressed through the encroaching hoards as they pushed deeper into the facility. They worked for what felt like an hour as they made it to the third sub-level, the density of the machines only serving to grow as they did.

  At least the door was in sight, even if there were yet more of the hoard between them and their goal. Grace was breathing heavily as she held her axe at the ready and Nicole was honestly feeling worse off. Her arms trembled from the repeated impacts that could shake foundations, her body protesting against being driven past her own limits for so long.

  Hell, she wasn’t even sure if the Source was running rampant within her, and could only trust that she might morph once more if that was indeed the case. There was no way to confirm, not without having her morpher back. Just as they’re making headway, a commotion on the other side of the mass of steel breaks through their own cacophony.

  Nicole frowned at first, then nearly growled when she realized who it was. Yellow streaked through the muted colors of the machines, using her bizarre rifle that also served as some sort of give to make short work of the machines in her own way.

  “Sup,” Anita said, waving cheekily. She didn’t even have the decency to pretend to be as tired as they were. “Heard you might need some help down here.”

  “Or you’re here to keep us from fucking with something important,” Grace snapped. “Let me guess, you already checked the room.”

  “Nope,” Anita said, popping the P as she did. “I’m legit here to help, as is the rest of my team. They’re clearing out the rest of the base so we can focus on figuring out what the fuck went wrong and make sure everything is safe.”

  “What, like a machine might just freak out if activated?” Grace asked.

  Anita nodded. “That is a legitimate concern, yes.”

  Nicole swallowed, looking off to the side as she considered the terror that might bring, but she also understood the opportunity. If they could bring the machines under control, then they would be an effective counter to the Syn’s own drone swarms.

  “Are you willing to fill us in on the test that went completely FUBAR?” Nicole demanded, her voice nearly a growl.

  Emotions were always hard to parse through the uniform, yet Anita was always a special case. The one thing that Nicole could tell for certain was when the Yellow Ranger’s entire posture shifted, and Maria took front and center. Such a thing happened the moment the question left her lips, and Nicole knew she was either getting a straight answer, or had just picked a fight.

  “This was the first attempt to empower a morpher,” Maria said. “I do not know if it was a success or failure.”

  A shuddering breath rattled through Nicole as she considered the implications. Would she finally be able to stand among her friends once more, not out of her own perceived obligations, but as a peer? Even when considering it, the idea was always little more than a hypothetical. Now it hangs there in the air with a heavy presence that almost felt physical. The warmth in her chest remained steady, pulsing in time with her heart.

  “Then that should be our priority,” Grace said, her helmet angled so she could look at Nicole. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

  Nicole nodded, not trusting herself to speak, to reveal the desperate hope that would no doubt come across with her words. She turned, looking further down the hall, the direction that Yellow had come from, the direction they would need to go to get to the rather literal bottom of this mess.

  “First thing,” Maria said, grasping the steel door. “We must ascertain if our machines were awakened by the pulse or not.”

  Screeching steel rang out as the Yellow Ranger ripped the unpowered door open. She peered inside even as she gently tossed the massive thing aside as if it were made of paper. The tension in her shoulders bled away as the woman let out a heavy sigh.

  “No sign of movement,” Maria said.

  “Oh thank fuck,” Grace said, her axe vanishing into the aether. “I don’t know if I had it in me to keep that up.”

  “They are remarkably tenacious,” the Yellow Ranger agreed as she began to walk. “We shouldn’t see much opposition between here and our goals.”

  “Which are?” Nicole asked.

  Maria hummed as they walked. “Reach b seventeen, report back the status of the test as well as risk assessment for any unpowered personnel entering the area.”

  “Sounds sensible,” Grace said, but the suspicion was clear in her voice.

  No comment on that was offered, and Nicole elected to keep her mouth shut. Obviously they had performed all this without Becca on hand, which was likely why something went horrifically wrong, yet they weren’t volunteering information on why she was left out. Given that, there was no reason for Nicole to let on that she knew they had done just that.

  Stairs led deeper into the facility, and part of Nicole couldn’t help but wonder how things were going topside. Were her teammates worried? Who was she kidding, of course they would be. They had been gone for hours now, not to mention that pulse that no doubt was felt by half the damn city.

  And here she was, working with the people that caused it all in an effort to ensure what exactly? That the mistake might yield something of value? It made little sense either way, but what was she going to do? Nicole needed to keep them on her good side, for her own sake as well as Rebecca’s.

  As they descended the stairs, Yellow held up a closed fist. All motion stopped as she carefully leaned around the corner, then cursed as bded talons scraped along her kinetic shield. Her weapon materialized at the same moment that Grace summoned her axe, but Nicole beat them both to the literal punch.

  The machine impacted the far wall, shorting out as it got back onto its malfunctioning limbs. An axe came down upon it before it could. Bolts of energy shot from Yellow’s rifle, peppering another group of machines as they crawled along the walls and ceilings like fucking Xenomorphs or some shit.

  Leave it to humanity to come up with shit that is creepier than the tools of death developed by actual extraterrestrials. The resulting melee was swift and brutal as all that came before it, and Nicole had two more cuts along her outfit to show for it, though none managed to penetrate her undersuit, once again proving that it was worth whatever Sincir Industries thought it was and more.

  “Whew, that was fun,” Anita said brightly, having taken the front once again. “You okay over there?”

  “Peachy,” Nicole muttered, inspecting one of the cuts. “Good news, the armor works. Bad news, I still feel every cut and stab through it.”

  “Better than the alternative,” Anita quipped as she approached the glowing door. “Time to see what mess awaits us then.”

  Nicole shared a look with her girlfriend, receiving a nod as Yellow reached down and shoved the door up and into the ceiling along its track. The b beyond was a fucking mess, with sparking electronics surrounded by half a dozen corpses of researchers. The wall that once stood between the testing chamber and the researchers was obliterated, the shrapnel from that explosion having torn through the soft bodies now strewn at their feet. It was hardly the worst that Nicole had ever walked in on, but still a sight she hoped to never grow used to.

  “Well, that’s fucked,” Anita said, her shoulders dropping ever so slightly at the sight of so much death. “I kinda liked some of these assholes.”

  Before Nicole can even begin to think of what she might say to the woman, Anita marched herself past all the bodies and wreckage and right up to the pedestal set in the center of the testing chamber just beyond. The wall was adorned with a plethora of glowing lights, but what caught Nicole’s attention was the device set upon the pedestal itself.

  “That’s my morpher,” Nicole said with barely a whisper.

  Anita paused, then turned her full focus onto the device. She then lifted it off the raised surface, looking it over. “Sure is.”

  And it was promptly tossed through the air, clearing the thirty feet between them as Nicole snatched it from the air. She looked it over with trembling hands, then pressed the primary activation button before her nerves grew worse. The device sat silent, with no hint that it was any more functional than the day it was taken from her.

  Nicole hurriedly strapped it to her wrist, hoping that it was something so simple, but as the seconds ticked on, the nervous anticipation turned to anger and dread. All of that death and destruction, and they hadn’t even fixed it. Grace cpped a firm hand on Nicole’s shoulder and with it the guilt hit her twice as hard.

  No amount of death would be worth the return of her morpher.

  “Hey,” Grace whispered, pulling her into a crushing embrace. “It’s gonna be okay.”

  Nicole wrapped her arms around her girlfriend, barely able to keep her own tears in check. They stayed like that for several moments as Yellow gave them some space while surveying the room and collecting the ID tags from each of the fallen scientists. That was something that Nicole was thankful for, she didn’t enjoy retrieving bodies from burnouts, but it was something she had done more than once.

  That never made it any easier the next time.

  Anita stepped over to them and cleared her throat, prompting Grace to pull away. Nicole could almost picture her girlfriend’s smile behind the helmet, so full of love and understanding that it bordered on pity without ever crossing that line. The old Nicole would have seen it as such, but she had grown, or at least she liked to think that she had.

  “Bit of advice,” the Yellow Ranger said, then her morph shattered, leaving a rather tired looking woman in her pce. “You are far too easy to read, even with the gear. I personally don’t care all that much, but my boss sure as hell does. He won’t hesitate to use everything he can to get what he wants.”

  Nicole regarded the Ranger, not sure how she should take that statement. Yellow wasn’t her friend, but the warning appeared genuine. So, Nicole nodded, taking it for what it was.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Anita said with a weak smile. “I’m not looking forward to the coming debrief.”

  Looking down at the silent device on her wrist, Nicole couldn’t help but echo that sentiment. With one look back at the devastated room and the wall of lights that somehow hadn’t shorted out during the surge, Nicole turned and began the long walk back to the administrative floor.

  She would try to keep her disappointment concealed, but something told her that she was doomed to fail.

  Pendragoon