Aeon Legion: Labyrinth (59 page)

“How will we get there?”
Hikari asked.

Roland looked up too. “The
shortest way would be straight up.”

Terra nodded. “We climb up
where the Labyrinth salients came down from.”

∞

Hanns smiled as his troops
stormed the Archives with ease. As expected, the Legion guards were
ill prepared for bullets piercing their shields. He had been unsure
about the time-bore tipped bullets, but that gamble had paid off
well. It was a simple enough device, a time travel machine shrunk
down to the size of a bullet. If Saturnians used time to shield
themselves, then Hanns would use time to pierce those shields. Yet
the Legion's complacency was a far greater weapon than anything Hanns
could have invented. The ease of distracting them by ejecting
Tartarus had been the greatest asset in this heist.

The
Zeitmacht secured the area, rounding up the staff that worked in the
Archives, bringing them where he stood outside the fadedoor. They had
blasted open the fadedoors and taken care of the guards inside the
Archives. His men had shot the two guards at the fadedoor. They now
laid on the ground with their bodies Restored,
but still incapacitated. The other guards had seen the first two shot
through their shields and retreated when faced with overwhelming
firepower. Hanns then had two squads push them back into a fadeline
before destroying it to prevent reinforcements.

The last of the staff members
fell to their knees in front of Hanns. Hanns surveyed the gathered
silver haired individuals.

Alban approached. “We have
them all. I was thorough this time,”

Hanns nodded. “Excellent.”

A sweaty Emmerich shuffled up
to Hanns. “Very good Hanns. Now get us out of here.”

Hanns looked at the blasted
fadedoors to the Archives. “Leave?” Hanns asked, turning back to
Emmerich. “Here we stand beyond time itself, ready to witness the
glory of the Third Reich in its entirety and all you wish to do is
leave? Not yet Emmerich. I am about to win us our glorious history.”

Alban gestured to the captured
staff. “What about them?”

Hanns nodded. “I never make
the same mistake twice.”

Emmerich looked to the
hostages. “We kill them?”

Hanns turned to Emmerich and
scowled. “No! Why would we do such a thing? That's a war crime. No.
We will make sure they are out of our way this time.”

Emmerich frowned. “How will
we do that?”

Hanns smiled. “I know the
Saturnians' weakness,” He said before turning to the staff. “Listen
carefully. You are to stay in this open library and you are not to
move. I do not wish to hurt anyone, but if you move I will assume you
are a combatant. No heroics this time. I know how you Saturnians love
your immortality. Don't waste it trying to stop me.”

The staff remained calm as he
had expected.

Alban turned to Hanns. “Should
I set a few men to watch them?”

Hanns shook his head and
walked inside the Archives. “No. Threats against their immortality
should hold them for now. Timeless citizens value their immortality
more than anything else. They won't risk it by trying to stop us.
That's why they use mercenaries. If they flee, they will be out of
our way regardless. Now I want you to set up just inside these doors.
Position the men so they have all angles covered, then shoot anyone
who comes through that door. We layer our defenses.”

Alban nodded. “And what
about these so called conscripts?”

Hanns spared a look to the
prisoners who had aided him. They had helped him ambush several staff
members so he could bring his soldiers to the city by modifying a
salient. “Them. Yes. We bring them back with us if we can, but tell
our soldiers not to risk their lives over it. These prisoners are not
real soldiers.”

Alban saluted and walked off
to prepare.

Emmerich looked around
nervously. “I don't understand Hanns. Why are we here?”

Hanns looked up at the titanic
internal structure of the Archives. The outer walls stood hundreds of
paces high, packed row upon row with books. Twelve towering pillars
stood around the room and were also shelved with books and devices of
every kind. Holofaces circled around the pillars, illuminating the
area in a pale blue glow. In the center, a platform drew his eye.
That is where he knew he had to go. He made his way towards there.

Emmerich followed behind
Hanns. “Do you even know how to escape from here, Hanns?”

Hanns kept his gaze forward.
“You should relax, Emmerich. This will not take long.”

Hanns walked up a large set of
stairs to the central platform. A device in the center projected a
hazy blue holographic sphere above it. Words appeared upon the
sphere, changing to a script Hanns could read.

Minerva’s voice read the
words. “Your Access to the Archives is denied.”

Hanns smiled, holding up his
shieldwatch. “Oh? But I have a key.”

The holographic sphere
flickered before changing to gray. “Accessing Archives. Downloading
to shieldwatch,” came a masculine computerized voice from Hanns's
shieldwatch.

The holofaces in the Archives
all turned gray before streaming towards Hanns. They circled above
the platform in a cyclone before compacting in the palm of his hand.
Hanns smiled as the glow illuminated his face. He spoke in a whisper.
“All human history in the palm of my hand.”

∞

Terra stopped outside the
Library’s entryway and looked around the corner. A dozen staff
members knelt on their knees in the center of the library. “He's
already here, but I can't see anyone except the staff.”

Roland glanced around the
corner. “Two guards are on the ground. I don't know if they are
alive or not. Let's go.”

Terra grabbed Roland and
looked to Hikari. “Remember what I said.”

Hikari sneered. “Yes. We
remember. Their weapons can pierce our shieldwatch.”

They moved inside on the edge
of the walls. After circling the room, they found no one watching.
They gathered at the fadedoors to the Archives which lay blasted
open.

Roland knelt and took off his
shieldwatch. He held it next to the open archway and used the
reflected surface to peer inside the Archives. After a moment he put
his shieldwatch back on his forearm. “A lot of them. They have
fortified their position inside.”

Terra bit her lower lip. “How
are we going to get inside?”

Hikari kicked aside a sheet of
fadedoor debris out of her way and strolled into the Archives.

Terra frowned. “Hikari! What
are you doing?”

“Staying ahead of you,”
she said.

“Fire at will!” yelled a
soldier on the other side.

A hail of glowing green
bullets streaked towards Hikari. She grabbed her aeon edge by the
grip and put a hand on the flat of the blade. Hikari then used the
flat of the blade and Sped her reflexes to block the oncoming
projectiles. Sparks flew around her as the bullets bounced off the
metal of the aeon edge while Hikari moved in a blur of motion.

Seconds later a small mob of
prisoners, like those Terra had seen during the first trial, attacked
Hikari. She struck down each one with ease.

Terra turned to the staff.
“Go! Run! Get help!”

They stood and ran.

She then charged into the
Archives to help Hikari. When Terra arrived next to Hikari she found
her standing amongst a pile of unconscious bodies.

“Fall back to the inner
defense,” yelled a soldier.

Terra found the Archives vast.
It was the largest building in the Academy. Old books and other items
filled the walls. Terra saw computers from her time amongst many
other things she didn't recognize. Large pillars lined the outer
edges and spiraled upward with endless history books.

The center of the room hosted
a series of ramps that led to an elevated platform. Above the
platform was a cyclone of holofaces that circled around the center
plate. In the center of the holofaces stood Hanns, holding up his
shieldwatch while it copied and stored every bit of information in
the Archives.

Hanns and his forces had
fortified the area around the central platform, turning over shelves
to erect a makeshift fort. When Hikari attacked, they drove her back
with sheer firepower.

Terra frowned. “How are we
going to get past that?”

Roland glanced around before
moving off to the sides of the Archives. Terra then watched another
attack by Hikari, but she could not block every shot. The sheer
volume of firepower forced her back again.

When Hanns's soldiers began
taunting Hikari, a loud crack sounded and a pillar began to fall
right on top of their defensive position. The soldiers screamed while
they scrambled away. The pillar smashed into the ground with a loud
crash.

Hanns looked up. He took a
single step and dodged the falling pillar which missed him by inches.
He then went back to downloading the Archives to his shieldwatch.

Terra then saw Roland standing
at the base of the pillar that had crashed, aeon edge drawn, with a
satisfied smile on his face. With Hanns's forces in temporary
disarray, Terra ran along the collapsed pillar in a charge directed
at Hanns.

Hanns saw and drew his pistol.
“I grow tired of this, Terra. You have gotten in my way one too
many times!” he said as he fired at her.

Terra stole Hikari's move and
blocked the bullets with her aeon edge, but her advance slowed in
spite of Speeding her run.

“Oh no,” whined the SS
officer. “I told you Hanns. We should have left when we had the
chance!”

“Archive download complete,”
came a male voice from Hanns's shieldwatch.

Hanns then turned. “All done
here,” he said as he activated the watch like device at his belt.
Portals opened and engulfed all his men. Another formed right next to
Hanns, who then kicked the SS officer into it.

“No! Not this time Hanns!”
Terra said as she ran to the portal just as Hanns stepped through it.
She jumped into the portal seconds before it vanished.

“
You are about to embark
upon a Great Crusade, towards which we have striven these many
months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of
liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our
brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring
about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of
Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for
ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an
easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and
battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.”

-D-day statement to soldiers,
sailors, and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force by General
Dwight D. Eisenhower

T
he
blinding light
faded while Terra heard muffled voices nearby. Her
vision cleared as she struggled to stand. As her eyes came into
focus, she realized she was inside a large cylindrical tube that
moved around her. She stood on an iron walkway in the center. The
machine hummed as the moving parts slowed. Terra looked behind her to
see a dissipating green portal. She had jumped into the portal as it
had begun to vanish and as a result of temporal dilation, arrived a
few seconds after Hanns.