Get comfortable, turn the page, and let’s see what this story has been hiding 🔥 ✦ Rebecca moved slowly.
The weight of the machine gun in her hands kept her from running fast.
On both sides, Pilar, Dorio, and Maine split the turrets’ fire.
“Go to hell, asshole!” Rebecca snarled through gritted teeth.
Hot shell casings bounced against her face, and she did not care at all.
A streak of blue light passed across her cheek.
Beside her, Maine felt a powerful gust tear past his face.
Snap.
Rebecca’s eyes widened.
Her expression froze instantly, like someone walking across thin ice and suddenly stepping into freezing water.
No one escaped the instinctive warning of death.
Edgerunners who lived on a knife edge were even more sensitive to it.
“Fuck!
Rebecca!” Maine reacted on instinct, but he was still a step too late.
The heavy machine gun in Rebecca’s hands came apart in an instant.
Components scattered with a small explosion, spraying fragments across the ground.
The next second, Maine lifted Rebecca off her feet.
Dorio’s muzzle kept suppressing the Zetatech turrets as she sidestepped behind the pickup.
Years of teamwork meant none of them needed to speak.
They all understood.
A sniper had them marked.
They crouched and moved quickly toward a nearby unfinished building.
Pilar twisted his gun toward Cade’s position and fired a burst.
Cade kept his head down until the bullets ended.
He shook concrete dust from his hair, rolled, and dropped onto a slightly lower platform beside the rooftop.
“Heavy machine gun handled, Hamster.” Hamster gave a low laugh.
“Fucking beautiful.” Cade knelt on one knee.
The Nekomata felt like a reaper’s scythe as it locked onto Dorio, who was last to retreat toward the unfinished building.
He fired the second shot immediately, without hesitation.
The round struck the gun in Dorio’s hands.
Shattered steel fragments cut across her hand, painting it red.
“He’s playing with us!” Pilar shouted.
“Twenty minutes…” Cade muttered the time under his breath.
It was a simple defensive task.
Set up the rifle, slow the crew’s attack rhythm, wait for Barghest to arrive, and force them to retreat.
Then it would be done.
Cade valued his life too.
It was only the rich panel rewards and the memories from his old life that made him hesitate.
Right now, he did not think holding back was a problem.
First, his position was relatively safe.
Second, all he needed to do was make sure Hamster’s underground netrunning studio held out for a while.
The scope moved.
Maine seemed to be trying to observe from beside a window.
Cade put a round through the concrete wall one centimeter above his head.
‘Good.
Keep it like this.
Once Barghest arrives, all of you can get the hell out.’ That was Cade’s plan.
Rebecca struggled in Dorio’s arms.
If no one stopped her, she would sprint toward Cade’s building as fast as possible and blast apart the sniper who was making a joke out of them.
“Dorio!” “Find another entry point.
I’m going after the sniper.” Maine had no intention of giving up.
He patted Dorio’s shoulder and jumped down from a platform on the side of the building.
Cade’s scope locked on a moment too late.
An edgerunner with that much firefight experience knew how to deal with a lone sniper.
“Damn it.” Cursing did nothing.
Cade could only sling the sniper rifle onto his back, draw the pistol at his waist, and chamber a round.
He needed enough distance to make contact, so he could make the other side understand the situation in Dogtown.
If this dragged on until Barghest arrived, Maine’s crew would have a much harder time getting out.
“Every one of you is insane.” Cade cursed under his breath.
A normal person who saw dense Zetatech turret coverage plus a sniper would retreat immediately.
These people were still forcing their way in.
The courage of street crews was impressive, in the stupidest possible way.
Was the secret to becoming a legend just never leaving yourself a way out?
Cade descended the metal ladder outside the building step by step, pistol raised, elbows slightly bent.
His stance was standard military form as he moved forward and searched slowly.
He had to stay near Hamster.
If he were not worried about that, he would already have changed positions and kept sniping.
Under the night, Maine advanced through the complex alleys with his gun raised.
The Arasaka Kenshin in his hands was quality hardware from a previous job.
All around the alley, All Foods and Budget Arms advertisements blared over the sound of addicts smoking Glitter.
Shouts broke out now and then, mixed with the gunfire and explosions from his crew fighting the netrunner’s defenses behind him.
The good news was that the other side had stopped sniping.
The bad news was that the other side might know he was coming.
“Barghest bastards are always hard to deal with.” Maine muttered, then flashed out of the alley.
The muzzles of two guns slammed together.
Every hair on Cade’s body stood on end.
Maine was even bigger than he had imagined.
Cade was five foot ten, cybered up with artificial muscle, and still looked underbuilt in front of him.
Cade kicked Maine in the shin.
Thinking it had done nothing, he instinctively reversed his grip and locked down Maine’s muzzle.
The gun went off, and the neon sign behind Cade went dark at once.
Pain shot through Maine’s shin.
At the same time, surprise hit him.
How was this guy so…
strong?
Cade’s hand clamped him like a vise.
Maine threw him hard into the wall.
Cade felt like his organs had almost shifted out of place.
Even then, he could not stop himself from complaining inwardly.
‘Too damn strong.’ “You’re not Barghest?” “Wait–” “You’re that idiot…
Mercer?” Cade drove a knee into Maine’s abdomen.
Maine immediately struck back, throwing Cade aside.
Cade rolled up, raised his gun, and tried to slip into the alley beside him.
Bang.
Blood burst from Maine’s shoulder.
“Dog bastard…
nice trick.
Who the hell are you with?
How did you get our information?” Maine’s voice came from farther away.
Cade had no intention of admitting that he knew all their names.
That was his greatest advantage and his biggest secret.
“Go back where you came from, understand?
Once Barghest gets here, neither of us leaves.” Cade’s temple throbbed as he started coaxing and bluffing at the same time.
According to Mr.
Hands, Barghest was only part of the performance for Cade.
For Maine’s crew, it was not.
Thank God Cade’s arm cyberware was tough and the Pain Editor was still doing its job.
Maine slamming him into the wall had still been enough to numb his entire back.
The fight between Cade and Maine did not matter by itself.
The edgerunner crew was afraid of being sold out.
Cade was afraid the crew would poke a hole big enough for the colonel to notice.
Mr.
Hands did not want powers outside Dogtown getting involved.
If Maine could calm down and listen, this would be different.
“Whether you believe me or not, a Barghest patrol will be here soon.
If all of Dogtown starts moving, are you sure your crew can run?” Cade thought that if not for the rewards, he should have put a sniper round through this man’s head already.
Maine’s skull seemed to have one setting.
“Leave now.
Everyone is just trying to earn a living.
Hansen’s revenge will go after the people who hired you to intercept the shipment, or the corporation behind them.” Maine laughed loudly.
Behind his sunglasses, his eyes were full of mockery.
“Barghest sure knows how to talk.” “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were Hansen.” “But I came here today to kill you, dumbass.
Doesn’t matter how much else you know.
You think I don’t understand Hansen is protecting you?” Cade leaned against the wall.
Talking him down was not going to work.
Maine’s crew had limited information.
Whoever threatened them got removed.
No reason.
No discussion.
“Mercer!
Get this done!
Their runner has pulled back and is cracking the turrets!” Hamster’s voice in Cade’s ear was unstable, like it could cut out at any moment.
Was Maine’s crew’s netrunner really that good?
Cade suddenly smelled something wrong.
Just as he looked for a route to stop tangling with Maine and switch to another sniper position, Hamster screamed.
“It’s not the fucking edgerunner crew!
It’s Militech netrunners!
Shit!
Mercer!” Static and screaming swallowed him.
Hamster went completely silent.
At the same time– “Maine, pull out!
Arasaka is on us!” Sasha’s voice was weak.
Maine roared, “Arasaka?
Sasha?!” While Cade and Maine faced each other, Barghest units had already begun converging fast.
Cade understood first.
All that talk about everyone just trying to earn a living and not making things hard for each other?
This was one giant baited hook.
So this was the fucking surprise.
While Cade froze, a violent explosion erupted from the direction of the motel, where gunfire still raged.
Above them, numerous Barghest drones appeared and rushed toward the fight.
One of them spotted Cade below.
With a strange rising-and-falling series of beeps, its IFF system rapidly locked onto him.
“You’re serious?” Maine noticed something was wrong too.
Dense gunfire forced both of them into a side alley.
✦ ✦ ✦ Ready for more?
CREATORS’ THOUGHTS EmberHollow Thank you for reading.
I hope this chapter pulled you deeper into the story.
Stick around, because there’s still a lot waiting just ahead.