Chapter 93 - Hull Breaker Protocol: Falling Into the Leviathan’s Maw
"Brace for impact!" Miller screamed as the VTOL’s landing skids sheared off against the reinforced lip of the docking bay.
Metal shrieked against metal in a spray of white-hot sparks. The rear stabilizer caught an industrial crane, ripping free in an explosion of hydraulic fluid and sending the heavy transport into an uncontrolled spin across the wet steel decking. Dante threw his entire body over Claire and the two infants, absorbing the crushing force as the aircraft slammed sideways into an armored bulkhead and came to a shuddering halt.
Smoke filled the cabin instantly. Alarms warbled a shrill, deafening funeral dirge.
"Miller! Status!" Dante choked out, coughing against the acrid fumes of burning aviation fuel.
"Broken collarbone, but I’m breathing," Miller groaned from the mangled cockpit, kicking his ruined door open with his combat boot. "We’ve got company, boss. At least forty hostiles surrounding the wreckage."
Claire didn't hesitate. She secured the dual tactical baby carrier across her chest, strapping Leo and his twin brother tightly against her Kevlar vest. She racked the slide of an assault rifle recovered from the cabin locker, her maternal instincts hardening into pure, lethal focus.
"Dante," she said, her voice dead level. "If they take these boys, whatever program grandfather built inside them becomes operational. We don't negotiate."
"We never were going to," Dante replied, drawing twin semi-automatic pistols from his belt, his bespoke suit torn and stained with soot, yet his posture radiating aristocratic menace. "Miller, secure the rear. Claire, stay on my shoulder. We push straight for the command lift."
The hydraulic ramp of the transport hissed and dropped open.
Outside, a wall of tactical flashlights blinded them. A megaphone crackled through the humid air of the bay. "Drop your weapons and surrender the biological assets! By order of Director Vivienne!"
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Dante didn't answer with words. He stepped through the smoke, raised his right arm, and fired three consecutive rounds into the overhead power conduits. The primary illumination grid shattered in a cascade of blue electricity, plunging the entire hangar into suffocating darkness just as the first syndicate rifles opened fire.
***
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