Chapter 36
Talon and I dove for cover under the control center’s desktop as glass shards fell and embedded in the floor and desks as if the gods above were throwing crystal knives at us. Enforcers slid down cables through the ceiling that was now fully exposed to the night sky.
“Freeze! Hands in the air!” one yelled.
As they landed, they pointed stun sticks in our direction, leaving their blasters holstered.
They will not use blasters as long as there is a risk to the control center.
“They won’t shoot near the computer,” I said quietly to Talon. I could only imagine if one of them shot the massive computer system—he’d likely end up in a lab next to me.
Talon glanced back at me from where we cowered. “You want to surrender?”
I thought of the labs, and I thought of me in Nolan’s place. I thought of all the lives that had been lost or ruined for one man’s greed. “Not a chance.”
He sneered. “So be it.” He pulled out his blaster and started firing it toward the roof, where glass shards still clung.
As more glass fell, the enforcers ducked and ran, but the shards did take out three as their armor was designed to deflect blaster shots and stun sticks, not blunt force objects.
Talon kept firing, trying to get any final shards as we jumped out from under the wraparound desk and ran at the nearest enforcers.
I used my blaster first—shooting them in the face, taking out two before more closed the distance.
When they were too close, I flipped the blaster and smashed the butt of the gun against the nose of the nearest man.
He went down, and I spun to narrowly avoid getting shocked.
I kicked him back and then swung the gun to hit another assailant in the throat.
I twisted back to finish the other, but my left bicep suddenly felt like I’d spilled a cup full of acid on it.
I glanced to notice that a gutsy—or stupid—enforcer had drawn his blaster, and I’d caught a glancing shot.
I flipped my gun again and fired, hitting him in the face while he was lining up another shot. That distraction cost me, and I felt the painful zing of a stun stick, but I noticed I wasn’t fully paralyzed.
“Byte?” I asked under my breath.
I’m directing counteragent nanites to your muscles. We’ll be quite exhausted tomorrow, but we’re still functional.
“Thanks.” I twisted and chopped the enforcer, who stared in shock that I was still moving.
My muscles didn’t want to move, but I pushed them to obey.
I did a spinning kick to take out one who’d gone down before.
When I landed, I realized I’d dropped my blaster when I was zapped, and so I pulled out my knife.
An enforcer ran at me, and I stabbed him through the cheek, then I grabbed him and twisted him so that his body took the brunt of the next stun stick attack.
As I fought, I used every ounce of skill Byte had uploaded into my brain.
The remnants of being stunned disappeared under the pain of the blaster shot along with the punches and cuts I was taking.
My body was getting brutalized, and I felt it, despite knowing Byte was numbing my pain as much as she could.
To my right, I could hear Talon still in the fight, which helped spur me on to taking out the next two with their own stun sticks.
I held one stick against the enforcer’s neck while I used him as a shield.
The air smelled of burnt skin, and I dropped the dead trooper as soon as I was within range of the next one, who I choked with the same stick.
I spun to take the next, only to discover they were all down.
Talon was still trying to fend off three.
I ran up behind the three, grabbed the one in the middle, and slashed his throat.
I immediately caught another one who was turning toward the new threat, and I slashed his throat, too, before he could bring his stun stick around.
He stared at me in surprise, dropping his stick and clutching his throat, before collapsing.
Talon tackled the last remaining, and with a pained yell, he slammed the tip of a stun stick through the enforcer’s eye. It sizzled and smoked. Talon rolled off the man and lay on his side, wheezing. I scanned the area, but there were no more threats. I took a knee next to him.
He was bleeding from a missing tooth, a broken nose, and from a gash above his left eye. “You look like shit,” I said.
“You don’t look any better,” he managed to say before spitting out some blood. “I’m surprised you’re upright.”
“Byte’s helping with the pain,” I said.
Talon waved me off with a hand that included a broken pinky. “Let’s finish what we came to do.”
I nodded and winced at a kink in my neck. I stood. “All right. Save the world first. Save Talon second.”
“No, it’s always save Talon first. You’re just lucky in this case I don’t need saving.” He tried to sit up and groaned. “Kynan did not pay me enough for this crap.”
I started heading back to the control center, only to hear an elevator ding behind me. “Byte, I thought you locked down the atrium.”
I did, but he’s using override access. Byte looked toward the elevator, fear in her features.
I turned to see a hidden security elevator open.
Viktor Garris, surrounded by eight enforcers in high-tech body armor, stepped out.
They even had clear facemasks that I had a suspicion were blaster-proof.
Garris also wore body armor—a sleek, form-fitting gray suit with lights running through his limbs—and a helmet that had a fully digitized face plate.
Behind the clear plates, I could see their shining eyes—they all had their amps active.
Talon cursed. I searched for my blaster and found it fifteen feet away, to my left.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Garris said, walking toward us. “If you go for your weapon, I will order my men to shoot you.” He smirked. “Then again, I may order them to shoot you just the same.”
He stepped over a body as he looked at the carnage.
“Just the two of you did this? I’m impressed.
No wonder Roman Voss wants that amp so badly.
” He then noticed Roman Voss’s body. “Correction: wanted. I can’t say I mind not having that sniveling brat around, but do you realize his mother is on Softbiotics’ board?
Tekita Voss can be a venomous snake—she’d stop at nothing to see you die the most horrendous way imaginable.
” His smile widened. “But she won’t get the chance as I’m finishing the job for her tonight.
You’re my ticket back to TerraSoft Premier. ”
He gestured to his personal guards on either side, and they rushed toward us.
Talon had somehow managed to get on his feet, and he fired his blaster, only to have my suspicions confirmed—the shot deflected off the faceplates.
The first one to reach me was a figure I remembered from both the alley and Solace Station: Mallon.
I meant to duck, but the armor must’ve enhanced their speed and strength because he punched me so fast and so hard that I thought my head was going to get torn off.
I was sent sliding across the floor. My vision danced, but Byte helped clear it.
The other three enforcers coming at me slowed as if taking pleasure in stalking their prey.
I noticed a blaster within arm’s reach. I had a wild idea that might hurt rather than help, but it was a chance worth taking since my current predicament equaled screwed.
I grabbed the blaster and began shooting out the lights.
I was gambling that their clear faceplates didn’t allow them to see in the dark. I was also gambling on the fact that Byte made better use of my senses than I could—hopefully she could make good enough use to help me in the dark.
As I shot, I had to run to keep out of the enforcers’ reach.
Evidently, they, too, didn’t want to risk damaging the control center, which made me want to blow it up even more.
I managed to shoot out the final light before the enforcer caught up with me.
The tip of his stun stick sparked in the darkness.
Their amp-eyes also glistened, giving them an eerie, alien look.
My HUD appeared. It displayed amorphous blobs rather than human forms, but it was enough.
I spun and slammed into the nearest shape.
His skills matched mine, but I’d hit him at an angle, and his ankle gave out.
We went down, and I was able to knock the stun stick away.
My eyes were acclimating to the darkness, which meant theirs would be, too.
He saw my blade glisten in the moonlight and managed to grab my wrist. Expecting that, I swapped the blade to my other hand.
With a wounded arm, it was my weaker hand, but I still had the strength of working in a Dreswick factory for my entire adult life, and I pressed the blade into his armor.
It didn’t go right through, but I was able to put my weight against it, and it slid into his chest. He gasped and soon quit fighting.
The three other “blobs” near me had grown closer, following the sounds of the scuffle.
They were searching for me, kicking at bodies.
And I waited, still on the floor, as one walked by.
His boot bumped my thigh. He gave a light kick, and I remained still.
When he continued moving, I climbed as silently as I could to my feet behind him.
They had good armor, but they had a thin gap between their faceplates and their chests.
The closer I was to him, the clearer the shape became in my HUD.
I reached up and slid my knife across his throat.
The blade nicked the faceplate but found its mark. He gurgled before falling to his knees.