Accidents Made Right 1: Pistanthrophobia

Chapter 26: Removing The Plant's Thorns

"This is as far as I can go," the pilot yelled over the sound of the swirling of the helicopter's blades. I yelled back "It's close enough!" Then, I jumped from the helicopter's side, right into the desert sand.

Using a combination of the sun and the map that showed the power plant's general location, I determined the plant was to the north, which was to my left. So I turned that way and started to tread slowly through the sand to my destination.

15 minutes later

Thanks to an AC system in my suit, I managed to get pretty far without getting exhausted, allowing me to get within viewing distance of the plant fairly quickly. I continued walking for a couple minutes until I could see it properly.

Once I got close enough, I grabbed my rifle from my backpack, and crouched down. I switched the mag that was currently in it with a specially labeled mag named "Grapple shots". I then grabbed one of my teleportation disks and placed it on the end of the barrel, causing it to stick to the barrel. I then aimed for a shot that would hit the top of the plant's roof, and then pulled the trigger.

After waiting 10 seconds, I grabbed my other disk and pressed the button on it, teleporting me to the top of the plant. Once I was there, I grabbed the disk off of the grapple hook, put it back into my belt, and then looked at my surroundings.

There were two cooling towers, one on both sides of the building. I looked over the edge of the roof and saw I was on the back side of the building, where the trucks came in and out to drop off and pick up supplies. I didn't see any traffic at the moment, which either meant that it was a slow day and my unit would have little trouble getting in, or that transport trucks came in and out with other trucks, meaning the unit would have a way harder time.

I decided not to think about it, and turned around to find a large vent grate right in the middle of the roof.

Gee, thanks for making it look like an obvious trap.

I considered the two different ways I could've gotten through. Slicing the grate open with one of the swords or laser disks, or teleporting through it. I decided to stick with the teleporting, and grabbed both of the teleporting disks again and double clicked a button on one of them. I then threw that disk at the grate, but instead of hitting the grate and then falling through the cracks, it phased through the grate altogether.

I then waited for the distinct sound of the disk hitting the bottom of the vent, which only took a longer than a second. Then, I pressed the button on the other disk, teleporting me to the vent. I put my disks back in my belt, then my helmet re-formed around my head.

"Do a long range scan for humans," I whispered to the voice's AI. A voice similar to an adult Rowan responded with "Yes sir." After about a minute, the voice said "Detecting one organic life-form in the power plant."

"One? Run it again."

"Sir, you designed me to be able to bypass any jammers in the world, and my scanners couldn't have malfunctioned, which means that's all there is."

"This has to be a trap."

"Agreed, sir. How do you want to play it?"

I thought for a couple minutes. I hadn't ever dealt with this kind of scenario.

Shouldn't there at the very least be people to stay behind and monitor the plant, I thought to the voice.

Oh crap, wait a minute, the voice said. They didn't capture the plant for it's power, they captured it because of you.

To capture me?

Maybe, or like Knightmare, Robert wants to make us worried by revealing something.