“Four bodies right, Vince left three!” Ivy calls out.
Cassie is the first to get her pistol clear of her holster and rushes for cover. C-1 moves towards us, only to collapse limply to the floor when I turn on the device. The soft blue light that once illuminated the room disappears, leaving behind only sunlight.
“Stay together!” I yell.
Cassie backpedals towards the glass wall, and an enforcer body falls helplessly to the ground in the entrance. She puts two bullets in it just in case.
Gunfire echoes through the building, and compartnts in the ceiling begin to rapidly open and close. Shrapnel cascades through the openings and bullets rip through the ceiling.
“Turrets!” Ivy fires once into the roof, silencing the nearest gunfire and pulls Vince along the glass wall, desperately trying to find cover in the corner of the room. I keep my eyes pinned to both of them, making sure to never overload their modifications. Cassie pulls Lucas along, but I have to step away before she can grab .
“I’ll follow!” I yell over the sound.
She nods, thankfully understanding, and huddles in the corner with the rest of them. Corax stays defiantly on my shoulder, unafraid of the gunfire, ready if I start to slip. I get as close to everyone else as I can without sacrificing coverage on the rest of the building.
The gunfire eventually slows, and the world goes quiet.
“Do you sll that?” Lucas asks, wrinkling his nose. “The window!” He fires once into the glass, and white spider webs spread through the entirety of it. A small hole punctures the pane of glass, but the whole thing stays in place.
Cassie follows up the bullet with a kick, ripping large chunks of the window apart and sending thin glass shards raining down into the plaza.
“Blue, your brother fucking sucks.” A second kick widens the hole, and a third dislodges most of it from its fra, letting the howling wind inside.
“Technically, I activated all of this. I’m certain he was about to try though.”
“Do you think it’s gas?” Vince asks, pulling his bandana over his mouth. He keeps his rifle pointed at the near door, while Ivy covers the further one.
“I’m pretty sure nothing that slls that bad is good for you.” Lucas replies.
“Don’t feel bad Blue, it never could have gone any other way.” Ivy says, putting on a mask as well. “Seven enforcers were waiting fully ard just outside the kitchen from the mont we walked in. I’m just glad he was inexperienced enough to not pre-aim through a wall.”
“Little Blue, how do you want to deal with him?” Vince asks. “It’s your call.”
“I don’t know, I just need to find him first.” I glance out the window. “Cassie, can you hear anyone or anything moving?” I ask.
She takes a mont to close her eyes, trying to hear over the rush of the wind. While she does, I crouch down over C-1’s limp body, quickly checking it for anything similar to my organic chip. There’s a slot in the back of his neck, slightly bigger than mine, but it sits empty. He must live in a server elsewhere.
“Mary’s to the left, crying and breathing hard, but nothing else.”
“Ok. If the do is offline and he’s not trying to respond, there’s a chance we knocked him out completely, which ans his server is both up here and close.” I say. “Do you think it’s safe to move?”
“I can still catch whiffs of the sll, but it’s not strong.” Lucas answers.
“Alright, masks on people, let’s get moving.” Vince orders.
Cassie and Lucas both reach into two pockets, and quickly put on masks of their own.
I slowly creep forward, pistols in hand, but letting everyone else keep covered. I head towards the left door. Ragged breathing just barely reaches the edge of my hearing.
“Careful, she’s ard." Ivy whispers, turning her rifle to target so unseen threat behind the wall. Despite that, she keeps her eyes on a distant point through the doorway. “She’s on your right, protecting a hallway. Looks like she got grazed by a stray shot.”
“Mary?” I call out.
“Just go away!” She yells back.
“Mary, you’re injured. Let us help.”
“Let you help? LET YOU HELP?” She screeches. “You’ve done enough. B-11, you’ve done nothing but fuck up everything since the day you were born!”
Were her words a hallucination? Or has whatever mask she put on finally slipped? It sounds like sothing she’d say at the very least. Even if it’s not real, I don’t think it matters. The aning of whatever she said is likely the sa.
“Do any of you have a way to get the gun out of her hand safely?” I ask quietly.
“Not without removing the rest of her hand.” Ivy whispers back.
“If I could get close I could.” Cassie says.
“You won’t be able to. She’s ready and willing to kill.” Ivy says.
“Great.” I turn my attention back to the empty doorway. “Mary, please. I’ve been on the receiving end of what I just did. C-1 is still conscious, but cut off from everything. I need to see him. The longer he’s alone, the harder things will be on him.”
“Just leave us alone.” She begs.
“I don’t think I can.” I can only hope she can understand the regret in my voice. “He’s already made it clear he’s willing to hurt everyone. I need to talk to him, to find so way, sohow, to guarantee that everyone will be safe. Please, I don’t want him to die, and I don’t want you to die. Just put down your gun, and we can work it out.”
“And why the hell should I trust you?” She yells back. “After you did this? After everything we did for you?”
“How much blood do you think you still have in your body?” Ivy asks. “I can tell you that doesn’t look good. If you want to just wait until you faint from blood loss, that’s fine with , but you’re only hurting yourself and C-1.”
Mary stays silent.
“Plus, Lucas slled sothing weird.” I add. “It could be nothing, but also, I need to check to make sure nobody is in danger.”
tal clatters to the floor.
“Fine.” She eventually says.
A mont later Ivy nods, and I step out.
Mary is leaning heavily against the wall, clutching at her side. Her eyes stay pinned on , familiar eyes burning with hatred, boring into .
“I’m sorry. Vince, can you help her?”
“I got her.” He slings his rifle over his shoulder and reaches into his satchel, grabbing a small collection of dical supplies. “Alright Miss Mary, let’s see what we’re working with.”
“Where’s C-1’s mainfra?” I ask.
“Don’t you dare hurt him.”
“I won’t.” I really hope that’s not a lie.
Mary jerks her head behind her, never taking her eyes off of .
Through the hallway are three doors, one on each wall and one standing proudly at the end.
“I won’t be able to keep up complete area denial without seeing all of you. Nothing should reactivate, but please stay safe.”
“We will, Little Blue. Lucas and Ivy, keep us safe. Cassie, keep Blue safe.”
“I’ll do my best. I don’t think she’s ever missed a chance to jump in front of a bullet.” She jokes, jogging up to .
“Last I checked, you were the first to get shot, Cass.” Lucas jokes.
“Shut up. Ready?”
“I guess so.” I take my first step down the hallway, towards the back door. I barely get any ti to prepare before we arrive and I’m forced to reach out and open it.
This server is even larger than Mara’s was. A circular room, twenty feet tall, is packed with server racks extending all the way to the ceiling. Thick tubes of water, coolant lines, veins, snake through the entire room. The heat in here is oppressive with my device forcing every single processor to run at full power.
There’s barely enough space to walk through the rings of shelves. I take a step forward, towards a large circular tower in the center of the room. Lights flicker rapidly across the entire surface, with just a small rectangle of darkness in the center. Two shining tal clasps sit on either side.
With a shaking hand I reach out, squeeze the prongs, and pull. I hold C-1 in his entirety in my hands.
I disable my processor denial system, and the room goes quiet. I look back out of the open door, and the unobstructed sky stares back.
“I don’t think the do will work without soone managing it.” I say.
“Don’t tell you’re about to plug yourself in.”
“How long do you think we have before the next storm?” We both already know the answer. There was nothing on the radio last we checked, but even I have seen shorter gaps between storms. “Soone has to do it, and if I broke sothing, I need ti to fix it.”
“Don’t you dare get hurt.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“And if you do. Fuckin’... you know.”
“I know, too.” I reach out and embrace her, and she squeezes back with all of her might. “If anything goes wrong, just pull out the knife.”
“I will.” She draws it, and hands it to .
I spend a mont constructing a barrier around my mind. I already know my mind is going to reach out to accept any drives plugged in as my own, to accept C-1’s mories as real as my own. I can’t let that happen.
“You don’t have to co in with .” I remind Corax, only to get a nip on my ear in return. “I know, I just wanted to make sure.” I slide one of the computers out of the endless server racks and lift the lid. I drive the knife directly into the CPU and descend once again into the Digital.
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