Insidious Read Online Free PDF

spider bot awaited them somewhere ahead.
    The assault teams prepared to penetrate the inner bastion of the station. There were two major entrances, and the original plan had called for a simultaneous breach of both of them. But after the trouble with the unknown machine, the plan changed. The surviving ASSAIL machines united to force their way through one entrance.
    Mordecai took aim and put holes in the massive armored doors with 12mm AP rounds. Bren saw the machine had loaded softer rounds in its starboard weapons mount. After piercing the doors in several places, it prepared to launch the softer rounds through the holes. The soft rounds could be calibrated to explode after going through the holes, peppering any defenders on the far side with shrapnel.
    Something hit Mordecai and its feed dropped. Bren swore. The five remaining ASSAIL units responded in a flurry of fire, doubling up rounds and peppering the closed doors. Bren lost count as the rounds kept flying, incrementally shattering the high-security checkpoint in a rapid series of mini-explosions.
    Brrroooom. Boom. Brrroooom.
    One of the doors tumbled back revealing a security station. A ceiling mounted laser fired rapidly, destroying several sensor mounts on another ASSAIL unit but leaving it otherwise unharmed.
    Bren glimpsed a spider bot lurking behind the armored counter of the station.
    Boom. Boom.
    ASSAIL fire kept the enemy machine behind cover. Another ASSAIL sent two rounds into the heavily armored laser turret. Both projectiles struck the same spot and penetrated its protection. The turret went silent.
    They got the turret. But that’s only a secondary threat.
    “Colonel, it’s the unknown again. Things are heating up here. If we lose this firefight, I’m going to need your guys to be ready to get the hell out of there.”
    While Bren delivered the message, another ASSAIL unit dropped its feed. Mauler had been destroyed. There were only four left.
    Boom. Boom.
    Bren watched the feed of the rear ASSAIL. He saw Maladomini burst forward and hide behind the wreckage of Mordecai. The tentacle under Maladomini’s head actually snaked out and lifted the machine in front of it up slightly, providing more protection.
    The spider bot spun out from behind the counter. Bren saw several dents in its body. He still had no idea what it was using to destroy his ASSAILs.
    Boom. Boom. Boom.
    The ASSAIL units starting firing. The spider machine moved in a blur. Bren lost track of it for a moment, then spotted it behind the body of Mordecai, opposite Maladomini. Maladomini opened fire through the wreckage in front of it.
    Brrroooom.
    Several rounds came out in a staccato burst. One of the spider bot’s arms came off, flying away end over end. Then the machine exploded.
    “Yes!” Bren erupted.
    “Fragged!” Hoffman burst out.
    “Yes!” echoed another handler in the Guts.
    Bren realized how tense he’d been while witnessing the battle. He checked the weapons log and swore again. Maladomini had fired four rounds through the body of Mordecai, and two of them had at least clipped the spider machine. One of the other ASSAIL units had hit the arm.
    “Four rounds? Jesus. We need to get this base cleaned up. We’re lucky there still is a base to clean up.” He exaggerated only a little. Bren knew four AP rounds along the wrong trajectory could punch a hole through the bulkheads of the base and depressurize a section. He wasn’t sure what four rounds would have done to the fusion plant, but he didn’t want to find out.
    “Colonel Henley. We took out the unknown. You have four ASSAIL units left to assist with the high-security zone.”
    “Shit. Well, we’re headed in.”
    Bren reacquired a camera feed and watched as the ASSAIL team moved through the remains of the security station. He smiled at the carnage he saw through the feed until his eyes caught a pool of blood. One of the base denizens, wrapped in one of the familiar black suits, had been hiding behind the