Lena adjusted the Nekomata and selected a new target.
This time, she ignored the Zetatech operative equipped with the Sandevistan.
The enemy netrunner was reconnecting to the factory network, opening surveillance nodes and analyzing the traces left by her previous attack.
If he regained control of the security system, he could restore the disabled turrets, locate Jackie and Valerie, or launch quickhacks against their cyberware.
He had to be removed first.
“Take away their eyes,” Lena murmured.
The crosshair moved over the netrunner’s chest.
She deliberately avoided his head.
His Tetratronic Rippler Mk.III, Self-ICE, and neural upgrades would be worth far more if they remained intact.
The Nekomata reached full charge.
Lena fired.
The electromagnetic round tore through the laboratory wall and struck the netrunner in the chest.
His armor shattered.
The impact lifted him from his feet and hurled him across the laboratory floor.
His connection to the factory network vanished instantly, and the surveillance feeds he had been opening collapsed into static.
“Osprey!”
The operative carrying the TKI-20 Shingen rushed to him.
Blood poured through the cracks in Osprey’s chest armor while warnings flashed across his biomonitor.
The Shingen gunner—Rook—dropped to one knee, pulled a pneumatic injector from his tactical pouch, and drove it into Osprey’s neck.
Hemostatic agents and neural stabilizers entered his bloodstream.
“Stay with me.”
Osprey’s eyes opened with difficulty.
Instead of attempting to reconnect to the network, he grabbed Rook’s arm.
“West corridor,” he gasped.
“Get to…the AV.”
It was their predetermined evacuation route.
Rook nodded.
“Understood.”
He rose and looked toward the shattered wall.
“We’ll get you out.”
Anvil, the Sandevistan-equipped operative, had already positioned himself between Dr.
Koch and the sniper.
He had witnessed the Nekomata’s destructive power.
Remaining inside the laboratory would allow the hidden marksman to eliminate them one at a time, no matter how much cover they used.
“Activate the combat robot,” Anvil ordered.
“Then we move to the AV.”
Dr.
Koch immediately entered a series of commands into his control pad.
Before the activation sequence could finish, gunfire erupted from both entrances to the laboratory.
Valerie fired first.
She had holstered the Yinglong and drawn the Overture instead.
Rook’s Kang Tao Smart-Weapon Jammer could disrupt tracking systems, but it could do nothing to stop a conventional large-caliber round.
The revolver roared.
Rook saw the muzzle flash and threw himself aside.
The bullet grazed his shoulder, shattering part of his armor.
Blood appeared between the broken plates, and the impact forced him to stagger.
Jackie entered from the opposite side and fired both La Chingona Dorada pistols.
The golden handguns thundered in rapid succession.
Heavy rounds ripped through laboratory equipment and forced the security team away from the western exit.
Rook pressed one hand against his injured shoulder.
With the other, he pulled a flashbang from his tactical vest and hurled it between Jackie and Valerie.
The grenade detonated.
Blinding white light consumed the laboratory, followed by a concussive blast that shook the room.
Valerie and Jackie’s optics automatically reduced their light intake, but the close-range overload still filled their vision with static.
The pressure wave disrupted their balance and left their ears ringing.
“Move!” Anvil shouted.
He placed himself beside Dr.
Koch and led him toward the western corridor.
Rook supported the badly injured Osprey with his right arm while firing the Shingen one-handed with his left.
Controlled bursts struck the doorways, forcing Jackie and Valerie to remain behind cover.
The security team escaped the research chamber and entered the adjoining production sector.
They looked up.
A figure dropped from the roof of the factory.
Lena landed directly in front of their escape route.
The floor trembled beneath her boots.
Concrete cracked and collapsed into a shallow crater, while her Reinforced Tendons and Dense Marrow absorbed most of the impact.
Rook reacted immediately.
The TKI-20 Shingen snapped toward Lena, established a lock, and opened fire.
Smart rounds curved through the air.
Lena moved the instant his barrel rose.
Her Kiroshi optics captured the direction of fire, while the Arasaka Mk.III Cyberdeck calculated the projectiles’ predicted paths.
She did not try to outrun the bullets.
Instead, she changed direction repeatedly, forcing the Shingen to recalculate its targeting solution with every step.
Rounds passed within centimeters of her body.
Others followed outdated trajectories and struck the wall behind her, producing showers of sparks.
Rook tried to establish another lock.
Lena was already in front of him.
Using the momentum of her approach, she pivoted sharply.
The artificial fibers inside her right leg compressed and released.
Her kick struck Rook in the chest.
The armor caved inward with a violent crunch.
Rook flew backward and slammed into the wall, losing his grip on the Shingen.
Before Lena could finish him, Anvil activated his Sandevistan.
He crossed the distance between them and drove a cybernetic fist toward her face.
Lena did not dodge.
Her Gorilla Arm met his punch head-on.
The two cybernetic limbs collided with enough force to shake the surrounding machinery.
Anvil’s expression changed.
The impact traveled through his arm and into his shoulder.
He was driven backward, his boots scraping two long lines across the floor.
A wave of numbness spread through his cybernetic limb.
Lena was far stronger than he had expected.
Anvil resisted the urge to charge again.
He used the distance between them to open a communication channel.
“Rook, can you move?”
A strained voice answered through the comms.
“I can move.
But that kick broke something.”
Before Rook finished speaking, Anvil’s pupils contracted.
Lena moved.
[KERENZIKOV ACTIVATED]
Her neural perception accelerated.
Anvil raised his arm, but Lena had already entered his reach.
A tactical dagger flashed in her hand.
The blade plunged into his waist.
Anvil grunted and swung his mechanical arm toward her head.
Lena withdrew the dagger, lowered her body, and drove it into the outside of his thigh.
The blade sliced through muscle fibers and damaged part of the cyberware transmission structure beneath them.
Anvil’s leg nearly collapsed.
He forced himself upright and swept his arm toward Lena again, but she had already shifted half a step beyond his reach.
His fist passed in front of her face.
Lena raised the RT-46 Burya and pressed its barrel against his shoulder.
She pulled the trigger.
The close-range shot shattered Anvil’s shoulder armor and hurled him to the floor.
Blood spread beneath his waist and thigh.
His damaged leg refused to support his weight, while one arm hung nearly useless at his side.
The Sandevistan operative was no longer capable of sustained close combat.
Before Lena could turn the weapon on Rook, a heavy mechanical roar echoed through the factory.
Boom! This story is hosted at g.com.
The laboratory blast door exploded outward.
Dust and fragments filled the corridor as the floor began to shake.
A massive silhouette emerged from the smoke.
The Militech heavy combat robot stepped through the ruined doorway.
Thick armor protected its torso and limbs, while integrated weapon systems unfolded from its shoulders.
Sensors swept across the factory.
In the distance, Dr.
Koch entered the final commands on his control pad.
“Remove operational restrictions.”
A warning appeared.
[SAFETY PROTOCOLS DISABLED]
“Switch to combat mode.
Prioritize all intruders.”
[COMMAND CONFIRMED]
The robot’s optical sensors ignited.
Valerie turned toward the enormous machine.
She holstered the Overture and raised the Yinglong.
Rook’s jammer was no longer focused on suppressing her Smart Link, allowing the weapon to establish a targeting connection.
The Yinglong opened fire.
Electromagnetic smart rounds curved around the robot’s reinforced frontal armor and struck its knee joints, hydraulic connections, and exposed interfaces.
Blue arcs spread across the gaps in its armor.
The robot’s raised arm locked in place.
Its shoulder-mounted weapon systems flickered as the EMP effect disrupted the control circuits.
Jackie immediately charged.
He holstered his pistols and drove one Gorilla Arm into the machine’s damaged knee.
Bang!
The outer plate buckled.
The combat robot swayed, but it did not fall.
“This piece of scrap is tough!”
Jackie dug both hands into the deformed armor and pulled.
The Gorilla Arms strained as he tore the protective plate away from the joint.
Metal shrieked through the factory.
Valerie continued firing.
The Yinglong placed round after round into the exposed machinery, sending fresh EMP discharges through the combat robot.
Electrical arcs crawled across its armored frame while several internal systems failed.
But Militech had built the machine to survive battlefields.
Its primary circuits shut down, and protected backups took control.
The robot’s sensors came back online.
Its arm began moving again.
The shoulder launchers rotated toward the battlefield.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Six micro-missiles emerged from their tubes.
A targeting frame swept over Jackie, Valerie, and the damaged Zetatech operatives.
It finally settled on Lena.
[MISSILE LOCK DETECTED]
The launchers fired.
Six missiles streaked toward Lena, trailing fire across the factory.
“Move!” Anvil shouted.
He forced himself onto his feet.
Blood continued flowing from his waist and thigh, and his ruined shoulder could barely move, but survival pushed him forward.
He staggered toward Dr.
Koch.
Behind them, Rook retrieved the TKI-20 Shingen and pulled Osprey upright.
The wounded netrunner could no longer stand without assistance, forcing Rook to carry most of his weight.
The western corridor—and the waiting AV—remained their only chance of escape.
But between them and freedom stood Lena’s team, a Militech war machine, and six missiles already descending toward the battlefield.
]”
__________________________________