Infiltrating The Dome

Ryker throws his chest against a narrow digital screen standing in the middle of the lobby. The place is hollow without people to occupy its glossed floors and the careful golden patterns outlined along the walls. The rich atmosphere is a distraction for him when it compares to the underground hideout he's been living within since the last war. The hanging diamonds of the chandeliers and dark marble covering the floors carry little sparkle that lure Ryker to a different task.

He guides himself to the elevator doors just beyond the reception desk ahead, and two metal contraptions from the high edges of the walls pull out their barrels and aim for Ryker.

Turrets.

Ryker lets out another curse to echo across the room, now dashing toward the elevator as bullets pump at incredible speeds at his shadow. He runs across the marble as it chips and flies into the air, sliding toward the doors to smash on the glowing button next to them.

The turrets lower their barrels to aim at him again as he leans against the doors, frantically smashing the button repeatedly. A small chime emits within the turrets as they begin to shoot again, causing Ryker to launch himself forward and roll back toward the front doors. Running circles after meeting the doors, Ryker finds an unwanted signal through the glass. Finding the same digital screen to lean against and end up right where he started, Ryker watches as the flashing lights of red and blue begin flooding the outside of the building.

He aims at the button on the elevator, breathing in and out slowly for accuracy, and fires to watch the elevator doors finally drag open. With the crystal lights shining Ryker's position out in the open as he runs toward the doors again, the glass holding the front of the lobby explodes open, and bullets rain through the room without mercy.

The explosion sends Ryker flying toward the doors and rolling along the ground. After letting out an aching growl, he turns to the glass to find a row of twenty Reapers jumping from the stone edge of the building. Stepping onto the marble all at different paces, they all approach Ryker with weapons drawn. He rises again and watches as they surround him, the elevator an impossibility to reach.

As he holsters his weapon and raises his fists instead, Ryker coughs another growl knowing he has nothing left to lose. The dozens of Reapers replace those that stood at the entrance before them, and their uniforms are stained with the lives of the innocent. Stepping closer to Ryker to finish their mission, they draw blades in preparation to slice Ryker into shards like the glass below.

The chime plays again.

The Reapers all turn to the turrets darting at them with eyes of controlled insanity, the barrels of the guns sending a new wave of bullets to the crowd of soldiers. Ryker uses his chances to push through the Reapers in the way of the elevator doors, and trips again when the figures in front of him glitch like holograms. Turning back to find the bullets flying through a group of digital distractions, Ryker smiles at the bait for the turrets as he walks to the elevator and presses to close it. A hologram rushes toward Ryker as the doors begin to close, and he laughs in response. The soldier slides in the enclosed room as the doors shut and the elevator rises. The hologram freezes in place as it stands next to Ryker, its proximity beginning to climb out of reach.

Ryker analyzes the hologram for a moment, waiting for it to glitch out of sight after being taken too far from its owner. As a few flights are passed, Ryker glances back and decides to get rid of it himself, waving his hand through the stomach of the rogue technology.

A wave of shock passes through his own body when his hand pushes against the soft fabric of a Reaper.

A real Reaper.