On the
next level of the tower, the first detail that George noticed was
that the walls were dull black. There was a barrier about the height
of George's chest near the top of the stairs. On the center of the
barrier, on the side facing the stairs, was a sign that proclaimed
the level to be the "Trial of Patience".
"Someone's
going to be doing some shooting~," Mabel sang when she saw the
barrier.
The
barrier was too low for Tricia, so she waited at the stairs. It would
not be prudent to go any further without knowing what was ahead.
"Let's
see what we've got," Iona said as she peeked around the barrier.
In the
distance, there were sounds of panels sliding and mechanical gears
turning. Iona pulled back her head just before several streams of
bullets passed around the side of the barrier.
"Machinegun
turrets, ten or twelve of them." Iona rubbed her helmet. "My
ear!" she sobbed.
George
saw that one of Iona's ears had been shot off her helmet. The other
Vixens appeared unconcerned, however.
Tricia
looked at the holes in the wall where the bullets had hit.
"Looks like high caliber guns, I don't think my armor can last
long out there."
"So
we've got big guns that shoot at us." Mabel stabbed a finger at
the sign on the barrier. "What's 'Patience' got to do with
that!?"
Tricia
raised her arm where she had the pneumatic pike mounted. "I
should have brought a heavy ranged weapon instead. My submachinegun's
too light for turrets." She looked at Mabel. "Can't you
destroy everything like you normally do?"
"I
only brought two rockets," Mabel replied.
"Two?
Don't you normally bring a truckload of them?" Tricia asked.
"Well..."
Mabel slurred, "I kind of forgot to order more..."
"How
could you forget?" Tricia asked.
"Laura's
the one who usually keeps the inventory stocked," Mabel replied,
"I did bring HE grenades. Anyone want to pop out to toss one?"
No way
was anyone going to volunteer! The time it took to stand out, aim and
toss the grenade was more than enough to get shot at.
"There,
fixed!" proclaimed Iona.
George
looked at the fur-clad Vixen and to his surprise, Iona's helmet had
both ears again. Even the blackened spots on her furs from her brush
with fire earlier were gone. He was about to inquire about it when
Mabel interrupted him.
"Squirt,
figure out how the turrets track their targets," Mabel ordered.
"I'm
not sticking my head out there." George was not about to offer
his head to be shot off.
"Do
we have a mirror or a remote cam?" Tricia asked.
"Laura's
the one who usually brings those," Mabel told her. "We
should have brought Laura. If Laura's here, she'd figure something
out quick."
Bored,
Iona tore off the sign attached to the barrier. Then she raised it
above their cover. A second passed, then bullets flew and knocked the
sign out of her paw.
But in
that one second, George noticed something. "Can we put out
something else? I thought I saw something."
"I'm
sure I can find something downstairs," Tricia said. She went
down.
A moment
later, Tricia returned with two pieces of metal blades from the
previous level's traps. Still standing at the stairs, she raised one
of the blades above the height of the barrier and waved it slowly.
There
was a delay before bullets peppered holes into the blade. It kept up
until the blade was reduced to little pieces of scattering metal.
A little
of the shrapnel hit George but his mask and armor protected him. A
few pieces of metal slashed a few holes in his coat but George did
not notice that. Instead, he had been watching the blade. He was
certain that he saw a couple of red dots on the blade just before the
bullets hit. He looked at the black wall, which were dotted with
bullet holes. He was certain that the wall was coated with some form
of laser absorbent paint to hide the red dots.
"Lasers,"
George said, "The turrets are guided by lasers. We could use
smoke or something to obscure the lasers."
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