Secret Nexus Base.

Low Guruk.

"Sounds like they're having plenty of fun over there."

"That sounds fun to you?" Queen admonished the whistling Dayle with a shake of her head. Although they could not see the fight, the sounds of explosions and frantically chasing bots made its way over to them. It did not take a genius to figure out that Raines and Arthur were currently in a tight spot.

Dayle, seemingly ignorant of this fact, chuckled and said, "Hey, they have the easy job. We're the ones who have to sneak in and out of the base undetected." Dayle paused and then asked, "How long until the main force gets here?"

Queen frowned. "Taking the terrain and paths we mapped into consideration, I'd say about thirty minutes. Twenty if they rush."

"Will they attack immediately, or wait for our intel?"

"Usually, they would wait, but if the chaos continues until then, I'm certain Jack will choose to take advantage and launch a surprise attack."

Dayle nodded. "Well then, good to know." The young man wore an enigmatic smile as he glanced at the illusion that was still up on their end. "Are you ready?"

Queen took a deep breath, and then said with determined eyes. "I am."

Dayle chuckled and then said, "Let's go." With those words, he dashed out of the building and through the abandoned road. The illusion showed a building wall in front of him, but Dayle didn't stop.

Whoosh!

Dayle burst through the illusion. "Whoa!" But he stopped half a second later, as he found himself in front of a real wall. If he had continued, he would have smacked his head. That would have been embarrassing.

"How is it?" Queen's voice came from beyond the illusion.

Dayle looked around. "No sign of cameras or bots. We're clear."

Queen, following his confirmation, walked through the illusion. She then scanned the wall's perimeter and was surprised to see there truly were no cameras. That was strange. Nexus bases were notorious for the cameras that monitored every possible angle.

"Probably cause of the illusion." Dayle, seeing her confusion, offered a suggestion. "There's no point putting cameras here when all they will capture are the holograms. They wouldn't even be able to see you if you stood 1 mm behind the hologram. Waste of resources."

"Ah, that makes sense." mused Queen. This was more in line with the Nexus' behavior. Unlike humans, Nexus operated with efficiency at the forefront of their operations. They never utilized resources in excess.

This trait ensure that every Nexus base served a significant purpose in their overall plan. And, as a result, every Nexus base captured or destroyed netted significant points for the humans. This was why Nexus bases were hotspots for mercenaries. They were guaranteed massive Experience Points, and credits regardless.

Their doubts clarified, Dayle and Queen travelled along the wall until they found a door. However, surprisingly, there was no handle. Dayle searched around but also did not see a keypad. The young man frowned. "How the hell do we get in?"

Queen chuckled and raised her gauntlet. As she inputted a set of commands, she explained to Dayle, "Nexus bots have RFID chips installed that communicate with the objects around their base at all times. With these chips, they don't need to input passwords, open doors, or any of those things we humans do. The RFID signals are also very difficult to hack or replicate since every base uses a distinct set of signals to prevent intruders from getting in."

"So, then, how do we get in?"

Queen revealed a smug grin. "Do you know how I rose to be one of the best scouts in Kudan?" When Dayle shook his head, she clarified as she tapped the gauntlet one last time, "I became the best scout because I have the master key."

"Master Key?"

Dwuoom...

Dayle backed up, and then stared in shock as the door slid open, revealing a stark mettalic hallway. "How?"

"Think about it. The Nexus motherbase has to send agents to each base, but cannot maintain constant communication with them because it poses a significant security risk." Queen tapped Dayle's shoulder, and then continued in a whisper as she led the way. "Her solution was to have a master RFID signal which her agents could use to access any base regardless of location."

Dayle looked at Queen in shock. "And you have that key? Only you? You sure it's a good idea telling me like this?" Humanity's greed was well-documented. Dayle could easily think of a thousand and one reasons someone would kill Queen for the key.

Queen paused as the door closed behind her and then surveyed the hallway.

In true Nexus fashion, there were no windows, but thankfully, the hallway was lit up by dim lights embedded in the ceiling. Currently, perhaps as a result of Raines and Arthur's distractions, the hallway was empty save for a few containers.

Queen continued her explanation as she walked over to a container. "I'm not worried. The key's software isn't on me, but a remote server. Killing me won't do any good since that won't get them the key. Also, torture is off the table, since I can commit suicide anything from the game's menu and come back in a new body."

Ka-cha!

Queen opened a container's lid, but then immediately grimaced in horror and shock. The container was filled to the brim with discarded body parts from various beasts. Thankfully, due to the suit's filter, she could not smell, or else she might have thrown up on the spot.

Dayle, however, was not so lucky. To keep up appearances, he too wore a suit with a clerarview helmet but unlike Queen's, Dayle's wasn't functioning, so the smell hit him like a dumpster truck. The young man grimaced, but ultimately held in his discomfort. He raised the remains of a claw and then examined it with great care. "These cuts are precise. They weren't made when the monster was still alive. It looks like the Nexus are cutting them up, but for what? Experiments? Food?"

"Food?" Queen gave Dayle an incredulous look. "They're machines. What do they need food for? More likely they're for experiments."

Dayle nodded, accepting her logic. "Hm?" But then, he noticed something weird. Perhaps because he needed them to level now, but he noticed a distinct lack of cores among the monster corpses. "Hey, I don't see any cores. What do machines need with cores?"

"Cores?" Prompted by Dayle, Queen noticed the abnormality and instantly frowned. The absence of cores further proved her hypothesis. The Nexus were certainly up to no good. Monster cores were a significant source of radiated energy. The humans knew this, and the Nexus did too. The only time someone experimented on cores was to use them to power something... or someone.

Queen knew that things had gotten troublesome. Any experiment involving cores was bound to be a big deal. There was no way the Nexus would leave something that importat unguarded. For the first time, she began to worry they might have bitten off more than they could chew.

Pat.

At that moment, Queen felt a strong hand on her shoulder and turned to look at Dayle who regarded her with a calming smile. "If you're worried, you can stay here. You've already done enough, and your intel will be invaluable to the main force." He paused and then added with a wink, "But, no lies, I'm not sure I can do this on my own. RFID scans, cameras, hacking; all that stuff's out of my wheelhouse. Could use Kudan's number one scout in there."

Queen blushed as she looked into Dayle's warm gaze. She could tell from his eyes that he wouldn't blame her if she chose to stay. However, Dayle insisted on asking for her help, and was not ashamed to admit he needed her help. As a scout, Queen had worked with countless people, but there were almost none who looked at her with the same naked belief in Dayles's eyes.

Pa!

Queen patted her helmet twice and then took a deep breath. A few seconds later, she slowly let out her breath, and then said with renewed vigor, "Let's do this."

Dayle grinned and then asked, "So, what's first on the agenda, captain?"

Queen glared at Dayle, and then huffed in exaggerated anger. However, she then raised her gauntlet and said, "We need to find a terminal so I can hack into their security. The last thing we want is to be caught on a cam."

"Terminal." Dayle looked around and then pointed at a station midway through the hallway. It looked like a raised slab, but the holographic screen floating above it suggested there was more to it than met the eye. "How about that?"

"Bingo!" Queen patted Dayle's shoulder with a wide grin. "That's an emergency communication terminal," she explained as they approached the terminal. "We sometimes use signal jammers when attacking Nexus bases to prevent them from communicating with each other. To remedy this, the Nexus built emergency consoles throughout their bases so that the bots could communicate directly with the motherbot through local wiring unaffected by signal jammers." She chuckled and then added, "One thousand years in the future, and Ethernet still reigns supreme."

Dayle nodded. "Efficiency doesn't always mean best method. Learned that the hard way."

Queen glanced at Dayle, but seeing he did not elaborate, chose not to press the subject. Instead her eyes glowed as she tapped on the console. A host of holographic screens popped up after 'verifying' her RFID tag.

Queen then tapped on her gauntlet, bringing up another set of screens. She then got to work across both sets, dragging, dropping and typing away. Roughly thirty seconds later, she called out, "Dayle, your gauntlet."

Dayle, completely lost, obediently raised his left hand.

Queen seized the gauntlet, grabbed a holographic cube and then 'pushed' it into the gauntlet. Queen then looked at Dayle and said, "You should be recieving a notice of a foreign, potentially dangerous program. Accept, and then install it."

Dayle wanted to ask what the hell it was, but seeing as Queen had already returned to furiously typing at the screens, he obediently installed the new program. Intriguingly, immediately the installation was done, he recieved a notice that a new RFID signal had been installed, followed by a series of unintelligeble numbers and letters.

Roughly three minutes later, Queen finally raised her head and exclaimed with a triumphant shouted whisper, "Done!"

Dayle, who had been patiently resting against the wall, pushed off and then asked, "Done with what exactly?"

"I synced our gauntlets to mimic the base's security RFID tags." Queen pointed at her gauntlet. "Nexus envoys also do the same. If we continued using the master key, the base's security would have raised an alarm. Ah, and I also masked our figures, so the security cameras and any bots connected to the network see us as Nexus bots." Queen hesitated and then added, "The bots extension is still iffy though. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't, so I recommend we stay out of view as much as possible."

Dayle whistled, eyes wide in pleasant surprise. "Whoa you're awesome. Anything else?"
"Mmhmm." Queen brought up a holo-map of the complex. "I got the basic structural layout. The building's divided into three major sections: the containment wing, the security wing, and the experimental wing. The security wing's self-explanatory. It houses most of their weapons and gear. Luckily, that's the west wing so we're good. The containment wing, here, is where they keep the biological mass for whatever experiments they're running. Finally, the experimental wing is the northern wing that connects both wings. The motherbot is also in there, so that's where we want to go. If I can get access to the motherbot's mainframe, I can upload a virus to weaken the bots' processing speed. It would really help the main force."

Dayle looked at the hallway. "So, it's a straight shot from here to the experimental wing? That sounds easy."

Queen shook her head. "The experimental wing has heavy security, especially now. We could sneak our way over there, but I doubt our disguise would hold up in front of the bots there."

Dayle chuckled and then drew out his revolver. Tapping his forehead, he joked, "Well, in that case we'll need someone to draw their attention, won't we? That way, you can find the motherbot and work your magic." Winking, he added, "It just so happens I was once voted Most Distracting Bachelor in my workplace."

Queen stared at the grinning man with stunned eyes, "Do you not feel shame?"

"Shame? What's that? Can you eat it?"

Queen let out an exasperated sigh and then pointed down the hall. "Whatever. Let's go that way."

"Yes, my Queen." Dayle holstered his pistol and then followed Queen's lead. As they passed even more containers, his curiosity got piqued. "Hey, did you find out what they're experimenting on?"

Queen shook her head. "There were a few notes, but they were heavily classified. Did not want to risk hacking them or I might alert the motherbot. But, there was a phrase that kept popping up amongst all the number and files."

"Oh? What's that?"

Queen's brows furrowed slightly as she answered, "...Living Weapon."

"Living Weapon?" Dayle frowned, and his expression turned grave. "That can't be anything good."

Queen nodded. "I know. It has me worried too. We might have stumbled on something way above our heads."

Dayle, however, chuckled and remarked with a shrug, "Think about it this way. We've got the chance to be the first to discover something mindblowing. Best-case scenario, we become rich and famous. Worst-case scenario, we die and get sent back to Kudan." The young man paused and then examined Queen's armor. "Well, I guess you do have a lot more to lose than me."

"Do you think I'm some kind of cheapskate?" Queen snorted. "You already sacrificed my lenses. What's an armor or two?" Puffing her chest, she strode forward, "Let's get this over with."

"Whoa, Queen," Dayle chuckled as he stole in front of her. "This time, I take the lead." With those words, Dayle approached the giant door at the end of the hallway. The tremendous size suggested items of colossal size regularly made their way through this passageway, which further stoked Dayle's curiosity.

After a quick scan, the door slid open to reveal a massive hall several feet below filled with random mechanical equipment. Tubes and wires hung overhead and along the walls, siphoning energy from monsters suspended in tube tanks and then transferring the energy to a structure at its center.

The door opened to a platform elevator that descended as soon as Queen pushed a command on her gauntlet. The elevator, which was wide enough to fit two rows of three pick-up trucks, descended on an inclined plane on its way to the bottom.

"Wait. Look there." Dayle pointed at the bottom, where five bots stood guard with rifles. Remembering Queen's warning, he instantly made a decision. "Sorry." With a quick apology, he grabbed Queen's waist, dashed across the platfrom and then jumped.

Queen barely supressed a desire to scream upon realizing the bots would likely hear her. Just when she wondered if Dayle had lost his mind, their momentum suddenly came to a stop. She looked up to see that Dayle had grabbed one of the loose wires that hung overhead.

Thank gods the Nexus were not as pendatic about clean wiring as humans. Or rather, they probably were, but had no choice in this particular case. There were so many wires that whatever they were powering must have required enormous power. So much in fact, that the Nexus gave up on clean wiring as long as it did not negatively impact the experiment.

"Nngh!" Dayle grunted as his left arm suffered the strain of holding up both their body weight. Dayle had heard that the higher grade suits were pretty heavy in return for their power, but this was his first time experiencing that weight for himself. With a wry smile, he looked at Queen and said, "If you don't mind, could you move over to my back? Kinda need both hands here."

Queen blushed. She knew how heavy her suit was, especially for a level 10 like Dayle. It was already shocking that he could hold himself up at all, let alone with one arm. However, she also knew he most likely could not hold on much longer. With that in mind, she wrapped her legs around his waist, and then slowly moved out of his arm, and onto his back.

Once Queen was firmly secured to his back, Dayle let out an appreciative 'oof' and then grabbed the wire with both hands. Once he was certain it wouldn't suddenly cut, he began to monkey climb his way through the dense wiring while searching for a safe place to descend.

Dayle spotted several bots of different make patrolling the area in high alert, but fortunately, none thought to look up, therby protecting him from view. Aside from the bots, he could see thousands of tanks with monster parts floating in a clear-green liquid. Theier sheer number and size caused goosebumps to run up the young man's skin.

Why did the Nexus need so much biological mass? What were they trying to do?

Foruntately, Dayle's answer appeared in the form of a chimera that strolled out from behind a pod. The chimera was an unrecognizable blob of blood and fur from hundreds of messily stiched monster parts. However, the intriguing part of this chimera were the bionic armaments around its body. It had metal feet, dozens of robotic eyes that scanned the area around it, and somehow suspended a few feet in the air without any obvious signs of propulsion.

Dayle frowned when he saw the chimera. If he continued, the monster's several eyes would definitely spot him. The young man looked around, and spotted an elevated pod. If he could make his way over, then they could drop to the top, descend to a lower pod, and finally to the floor.

It was a good plan. A great plan in fact. It would have worked too, were it not for the machinations of fate.

Just when Dayle was a few feet from the pod, the chimera's eyes locked onto a nearby fly that buzzed by it. It then followed that fly's path, which coincidentally caused it to look up and spot Dayle suspended above.

Initially, its wiring made it see Dayle as a fellow bot. But then, its programming began to question why a bot would be suspended above. Next, it tried contacting the bot for clarification, but that didn't work. Finally, its biological senses picked up 'human stench' from the bot above.

Within the span of a second and half, the chimera arrived at the conclusion that the bot was an intruder!

Dayle sensed things going south, and immediately threw Queen onto the elevated point. After that, he took out a knife and cut through the wire causing sparks to fly around. However, this also caused him to fall to the ground.

Luckily, or not since it was planned, the falling wire snagged on another mass of wires beneath it, which broke Dayle's fall. The young man bounced in the air as a result of the snagged wire, and then let go.

Tak!

Dayle softly landed on the ground and then grinned as he drew out his revolvers and stared at the chimera, "Well, now. Ain't thisa pickle."