The squad met at the base of the Central Administration Tower. The rush from the warehouse fight still pumped through their veins. They had moved through the sector like a machine, cutting down the rioters without mercy.
Vice-Captain Austin stepped forward, checking his screen. "Reporting, Captain. Sector sweep is done. We killed 322 hostiles and secured the area. We didn't lose anyone."
Jason nodded, but he kept his eyes on the tower above them.
The Central Administration Building was the heart of Moon Base One. It was a fortress, a massive steel pillar that rose a height of a thousand feet from the gray dirt to hold up the glass dome. Somewhere at the top, Calvin must be waiting.
"Good work," Jason said. "But stay sharp. The easy part is over."
He signaled for the team to move. They walked in formation, rifles raised, magnetic boots thudding on the ground. But as they got close to the main entrance, Jason felt a chill.
It was too quiet.
A Central main base should have noises, shouting, guns, engines. But the path to the tower was dead silent. No snipers on the balconies. No guards at the doors.
"Something isn't right," Jason muttered to Austin. "No patrols. No guards, it's like they're inviting us in."
"It's definitely a trap, Sir," Austin suggested, tightening his grip on his rifle.
Jason looked at the main entrance. The blast doors were thick steel, four inches thick. Without heavy explosives, they weren't getting through that way. He pointed to the side.
"Side entrance. Check the maintenance access."
The team spread out and found a heavy service door near the loading docks. Jason signaled to Johnny.
Johnny was the team's tech expert, he moved to the front. He was smaller than the others, but his hands were steady and was good with machines, he could hotwire a shuttle or pick a lock easily.
Johnny knelt by the door and pulled out his tools. The rest of the squad held their breath, watching the windows above for any movement.
Minutes passed. The silence felt heavy.
Click
The lock opened.
But in that second, Johnny didn't move. He froze. Through his gloves, he felt a faint vibration in the frame, a trigger the scanners hadn't picked up.
"Get ba—"
BOOM!
The door didn't just open; it exploded.
A massive fireball blasted outward, turning the service entrance into a hole of twisted metal. The shockwave hit Jason like a truck, lifting him off his feet and throwing him backward.
He hit the ground hard, rolling to stop his momentum. The world spun. His ears rang with a high-pitched whine, and his vision blurred.
His thoughts were sluggish, he forced the diagnosis aside and stood up to check Johnny.
"Captain! Can you move?" Austin was there, pulling him up.
"I'm fine," Jason grunted, shaking his head to clear the dizziness. "Check Johnny."
The smoke was thick, smelling of ozone and burnt plastic. Near the blast, a body lay still.
It was Johnny. He was face down, buried in debris. His arms were covered in blood.
"Johnny!"
Marcus, the heavy weapons specialist, roared. He rushed forward, ignoring the protocols. He and Johnny were close friends; they had watched each other's backs for years. To lose him to a cheap trap without a fight...
Marcus dropped to his knees, his big hands shaking as he reached for his friend.
"No, no, no..." Marcus sobbed.
He reached out to check for a pulse. His hand touched Johnny's chest armor. Marcus stopped. His face went from grief to confusion.
The chest plate wasn't broken. It was dented and scorched, but it held together.
Marcus wiped his face and shot a stimulant into Johnny's neck.
"He's not dead! He's alive!" Marcus yelled.
The lead weights.
To handle the low gravity, Johnny had been wearing nearly four hundred pounds of lead plates over his armor. The heavy metal, meant only to keep him on the ground, had acted like a shield. It absorbed the shrapnel and the blast that would have killed anyone else.
Johnny groaned, coughing as the drug hit his system. He was beaten up, and his arms were probably broken, but he was alive.
"Get him to the back! Medics!" Jason ordered, stumbling over. "Austin, set up a perimeter. Nobody goes near that building."
Before Austin could reply, a loud squeal tore through the air from the tower's speakers.
"Testing, testing. Is this thing on?"
The voice was calm, polite, and terrifying.
"Hello, Jason. I see you survived the welcome."
Jason looked up at the tower. "Calvin."
"Surprised?" Calvin's voice boomed across the crater. "Did you think you could just pick the lock? I've been watching you on the cameras since you landed. The whole building is rigged, Captain. Every door, every vent, every elevator. If you try to force your way in, I will blow up the supports, and the tower will come down."
"Coward!" Marcus yelled at the sky.
"It's Strategy," Calvin corrected. "But I'm not unreasonable. I want to make a deal."
"We don't make deals with terrorists," Jason shouted.
"You do, when I have twenty thousand hostages sitting on a bomb," Calvin replied smoothly. "But I'm bored, Jason. I want to play a game. Come find me. I'm waiting on the top floor. The window on the 44th level is open."
"With your... unique abilities... the climb should be easy," Calvin taunted. "But come alone. If I see anyone else near the building, I will detonate the building."
The speakers clicked off.
Jason looked up. Sure enough, six hundred feet up, a single window was open, a black square in the glass wall.
"I told you, Captain, it's a trap," Austin said immediately. "He wants you alone."
"I know," Jason said. His jaw tightened. "Still, I will go alone."
"Sir?"
"He wants a duel," Jason said. "If I go alone, maybe he will wait to blow the building. That gives me time to find the detonator." Jason looked at his second-in-command. "Austin, you lead the team. Hold this position. If I'm not back in an hour... level the building."
"Captain, you can't climb that," Austin argued. "It's six hundred feet of glass and steel. You don't have ropes."
Jason handed his rifle to Austin. He flexed his fingers, feeling the strength in his hands, a strength that wasn't normal.
"On Earth? No. But here?"
Jason turned to the tower. He didn't look for a door. He looked at the vertical steel beams running up the outside wall.
"I weigh thirty pounds here, Austin," Jason whispered. "Watch me."
He bent his knees and jumped.
He flew up twenty feet in a single jump, his fingers digging into a metal ledge with a grip like a vice. He didn't climb; he shot upward, leaping from beam to beam with speed that wasn't human.
Below him, the squad watched in silence as their captain turned into a spider, racing up the side of the fortress to face the monster waiting at the top.