The Dark Edge Chronicles - Hardwire

Chapter 15: Face to Face with the Lion

The building, if you could realistically call such a gigantic construct a mere structure, was truly titanic in its proportions. A flattened cylinder of shimmering glass, sandblasted concrete and polished steel with bulbous ends, it stood easily five stories tall and stretched nearly the entire length of the cavern, stubby wings jutting from it's rear to create even more additional space. Perhaps that space was for laboratories, insemination pods or examination/surgery suites that needed to be isolated from the main building. It was hard to tell from his vantage point.

But Mordecai knew one thing for certain: this had to be the breeding complex itself, a coiled dragon of dire possibility that glowered over its cavern home, crouched as it prepared to deliver its fatal blow to Humanity's hopes of holding the earth as its own. Mordecai's eyes narrowed as he let them examine the complex.

From what he could tell, it looked like it could hold at least a thousand people, if not more. If that was true, and they were all breeders, then the Brotherhood was a lot further along on their breeding program than they first thought. He leaned forward, eyes narrowed as he stared at the structure. Further along and much more extensive than anticipated, especially if there were similar facilities elsewhere, in Europe and beyond.

As the man began down the metal staircase, his booted feet ringing loudly on the steel steps, Mordecai tightened his hold as he continued his examination of the massive breeding complex. This was the first chance anybody from the Lone Gunmen had to take a real look at the Brotherhood's infrastructure. If they were going to be taking the fight to these clowns, the more they knew about their operation, the better off they'd be.  So he needed to gather as much information as he could before the top was blown off this particular place!

There were more conduits and connections that left the building's futuristic exterior to plunge into the ground, possibly for heating and ventilation, probably power as well, its umbilical to what had to be a power plant at the cavern's far end. Those conduits took away from the dragon image, giving the oblong-shaped building an insectile look instead, the conduits: it's legs jutting out from a smooth, shiny body. The miniaturized hardwire half expected jaws and bulbous eyes to abruptly appear, ready to consume the world.

The cavern's spreading vista disappeared behind a metal barricade as the elevator descended into the bottom portion of its downward path. Miraculously Mordecai had remained undetected the entire ride. He could only hope he'd remain so until he found Tabitha's whereabouts. Then he was bracing himself as, without hesitation, the tight knot of men began marching their captive towards the glass and concrete behemoth that Mordecai had guessed the breeding facility, confirming his suspicions.

As they neared the building, Mordecai felt the first pulse of a static ward field pass over them and immediately tightened his shields. If he wasn't careful, he could still trigger the damn things. After a moment's bated breath, he saw that he was still undiscovered. But such static detection grids would be much more successful in isolating and pinpointing his signature than the casual sweeps by telepathic guards. He would have to be on his toes.

Focusing his mind, Mordecai quickly formed a tight beam probe and sent it scouting ahead. And just as quickly he came up against a steadily densifying web of wards. His expression tightened at sensing that. Finally, the defenses he had been expecting.

Settling back against his ride's neck, he began to carefully work the probe along the outer most edge of the ward webwork. A few minutes were all it took to get a decent picture of how the building was being protected. A good thing: the tight knot of Brotherhood psionics he was using as mules and shields were getting closer and closer to the breeding facility. A couple more minutes and they would be stepping across the building's front door threshold. Then all he would have was that initial scan to guide him through the labyrinthine interior.