John and the others waited in front of a large elevator door inside the cargo chamber. Kara had discovered the beacon was located inside the vault chamber beneath the lab. Nobody had the chance to remove the artifact after they freed the demons by mistake. If John's squad were lucky, the beacon might be unguarded. They were so close to ending the outbreak.
Copper went to the communication center to contact the SPD headquarters when the demons vanished. If there was a fleet waiting in orbit, they need to know when they could land. Copper could handle himself since he killed many possessed on the journey.
The freight elevator will lead them straight to the chamber. It might be slow, but it won't take forever to reach level zero.
After the doors opened, John and his squad stepped inside. It was a large elevator, big enough to carry four shipping crates. The scientists must have found very enormous artifacts from the ruins, which needed bigger transports to carry. Maybe the beacon was bigger than John expected.
Everyone stood at the center as the elevator doors closed. Yellow lights flashed, and the siren screamed above. Then the elevator slowly descended.
Tiara wrapped her arms around John’s left arm as if she doesn’t want to leave him. Hopefully, she won’t get in his way.
Lena glared at the demon. "Is she going to hold on to you the whole mission?"
Tiara glared. "What is wrong with that?"
Lena shrugged and turned away.
John doesn't want the girls to fight over him when they reach the beacon. Everyone needed to focus on the main goal.
The elevator stopped by a loud thump that briefly rocked John's feet. Then the elevator doors opened.
The vault was a massive size chamber, almost big as a hanger bay. Metal drawers with lock panels lined across the steel walls while lights on the ceiling brighten the entire square chamber. Everything was shiny and spotless like the staff oiled the drawers every day. Whatever was in those drawers, they could be worth a lot of money, or very dangerous. But the drawers weren't attracting John's attention.
A large glass tube stood at the center, containing a red rhombus-shaped object, covered in demonic symbols. The alien language glowed yellow like a lantern. And the relic was floating like a display, ready to be taken.
Tiara pointed her claw at the artifact. "That is the beacon."
Kara glanced at the rhombus, sparkling her red eyes like ruby stones. "Markable! This rock must be worth a million!"
"Not for long." John stepped toward the tube. "It will be in many million pieces."
Kara shrugged. "How shameful."
John transformed his arms into mini-guns and aimed them at the display.
"Do not destroy it yet!" Tiara shouted. "I must touch it first!"
"Don't worry! I am only-"
A giant metal hand grabbed John and lifted him up off the floor. He coughed, feeling his entire insides being squeezed in the machine's grip. When it stopped, John saw an eighty-foot battle mech with two rocker launchers on its board shoulders. It was gray with thick chicken-like legs, a square body, and a cockpit head..
John slowly let his mouth dropped. How the fuck did that thing got in here?
