Tex slid his revolver back into his holster, and pulled a cigarette out. He flicked his hand, scattering flesh blood, before pulling out his lighter and clicking it a few tis. “How’s he?”
”Breathing.” Cole glanced at him, and then refocused on the client. “Barely.”
“This place is gettin’ lively.” Tex pulled out the cigarette for a mont, and wiped his bloodied hand on the fresh corpse below him. It’d been a long process, but they’d steadily made their way toward the eastern side of the island.
Just like Tex thought, everyone they’d t in the halls had been an enemy. Not that it’d been an issue. Between his sharpshooting and Cole’s capabilities as a bruiser, the traitors might as well have been rolling over for them.
If there was one good thing, it was that the traitorous rcs and guards across the island weren’t working together. It was like a bunch of splinter cells with each hostile to each other. It allowed the two of them to slip through the net without too much issue, especially after the drone swarm turned most of the guards into lee fighters.
In the corner of his HUD, a ssage finally ca through. First one, and then dozens of reports from the few survivors across the island breached through the jamr. There was no telling how many of them were from traitors trying to lure them out, though.
A mont later, a familiar voice ca across their comas. Fallout had done it afterall. “It’s down. I had to do it the old-fashioned way.”
”That bad?” Tex grimaced, and flicked his cigarette away. With the signal back, they needed to move. Taking a smoke break to calm his nerves was no longer an option.
”Sentinel’s super ICE is that bad.” Fallout groaned. “Look, I’m ghosting. I’ll send so hacks your way, but don’t expect much.”
“You’ve done more than enough.” Cole grabbed the burned and poisoned client, and hauled him onto his shoulders once more. “devac’s on their way.”
A ping request ca across Tex’s HUD from the runner. A mont later, a small map with a bright green marker appeared. “Your best bet is the private courtyard. Be careful. That side is closest to the city.”
“Roger. You ready to move, partner?” Tex whipped out his revolvers once more, and checked the hallway. It was clear aside from the dozens of butchered corpses.
“When you are.” Cole Carson shifted the weight of the CEO around his shoulders to free up a hand. “They’ll be here in sixteen minutes minutes.”
Tex nodded, and then pushed open the doors with a revolver pointed down either side of the hall. Nothing… or that’s how it seed. His eyes narrowed, and he watched the halls carefully. Sothing was off. “Stay b—“
A soft shadow shifted close to him. A shadow cast by sothing that couldn’t quite be seen. In a split second, he fired off two shots to eliminate the lights just above him. The shadows instantly lengthened, and the shape of a person crouched just next to the door was revealed.
“Fuck!” The figure jolted back, dodging the next three shots aid right at her head with unnatural agility. The active camo partially dropped, revealing a form-fitting stealth-suit that flickered in and out of view.
“Watch it!” Three poison coated shuriken launched at him. The last three shots of his revolver nailed each of them and knocked them out of the air.
Sothing heavy hit the ground just behind him. The next mont, Cole burst down the hall in a blur of muscle and fury. He moved so quickly the rest of the world seed to slow down around him, and instantly closed the gap with the assassin. Before she could even mutter a plea to be spared, the rc slamd his fist into her head. The Raijin Thunderfist bood and a sonic wave exploded point blank and pulped the would-be assassin.
”Can you carry him for a bit?” Cole shook his fist, scattering fresh gore off his chro. “I’ll need both hands for what’s coming up.”
”No problem.” Tex grabbed the heavy object that was carelessly thrown aside—their client—and hauled the CEO up onto his shoulder. He could shoot one handed much better than Cole could fight one handed.
The two of them tore down the hallway. They were only attacked one more ti on their way, and it was by a bunch of scorched guards with makeshift lee weapons. Their weapons didn’t even scratch Cole or Tex before they were put down like stray dogs.
By the ti they neared the courtyard, though, things started to take a turn for the worse. The rcs all over the island were drawn by the firefight, and started to converge on their location. Worse still, Dorrin’s heart had stopped at so point. Between the severe burns, constant fights, and poison, it was a miracle he survived as long as he did.
Tex ducked into a doorway just in ti to dodge a hail of bullets pouring down his way. He flicked his revolver out and fired four shots back in an instant. The shooters behind him audibly collapsed. He pushed on without stopping and followed closely behind Cole, who’d been busy dealing with a different set of rcs.
They moved down two more halls before both rcs froze in place. Tex glanced at Dorrin’s pale, burnt face and sighed lightly. In the corner of his HUD, the client's vitals collapsed entirely.
Cole glanced back toward him with his eyes furrowed. He was linked into Dorrin’s vitals too, so he could see just as he did. “There goes our payday.”
”Can you resuscitate him?” Tex fired two more shots down the hall, and executed a fresh couple of rcs hoping to try their luck.
“Not without him dying right away again.” Cole shook his head, and glanced down toward the hall. “The devac’ll should be able to, though.
Tex shifted the dead weight around on his shoulder. For being a CEO, he had a discernible lack of survivability chro. “They’ll be here any minute.”
“We need to hurry.” Cole eyed the hallway for a mont longer, and then shifted directions. “This is taking too long.”
Instead of continuing down the hall and routing around toward the courtyard, the heavily chrod out rc opted for a more direct route. He kicked open a door, and charged like a bull through the room toward the opposite wall. It crumpled like paper under his tal fra and opened an express route forward.
Tex followed right after the pain train ploughing through the building. He pulled a thermite he’d swiped from a dead corpse a while back and tossed it at the door. It instantly exploded into a smoldering blaze that’d stall any pursuers down.
Cole slamd through three more walls before exiting out into a windowed hallway looking out onto the once beautiful courtyard. The mont he left cover, a dozen bullets exploded across his body. They rang dully off his subdermal armor, and ricocheted around unsteadily.
Tex peaked out and fired eight shots rapidly, eliminating five shooters and making three pull back. “I count seventeen!”
”We don’t have ti to deal with them all.” Cole ignored the bullets pinging off his subdermal armor and kicked forward. The wall separating them from the courtyard crumpled in a spray of debris.
“This is stupid.” Tex took a breath, and then charged across the hall. The chro tendons in his legs propelled him rapidly across the space, and he catapulted out into the courtyard.
A beat later, HMG fire from above tore through the windowed hallway just behind him. The heavy rounds easily ripped through the walls of the fortress in a spray of debris, and provided covering fire for the two rcs to move.
“Catch!” Tex tossed Dorren’s fresh corpse to Cole, and pulled the heavy repeater off his back. He slid to one knee, and flicked around with his cheek rested against the butt of the stock.
Thunk!
A grenade fired out from an under barrel of the rifle, and slamd into the section of the fortress looking down on the courtyard. A pulse rapidly spread out through it, and pinged several enemies hiding behind cover with grainy red 3D models.
Tex lined up on the first one, and squeezed the trigger. Electric static built up along the barrel of his repeater, and a sharp whine erupted into the air. All at once, the whine cut off and a concussive burst exploded as the weapon launched a heavy slug out of its barrel.
The heavy repeater slamd into his shoulder roughly. He was chrod up to deal with it, and the kick still made him jerk. It was obvious why at a glance, though. His shot lanced straight through the dense walls of the fortress and pierced through a rcs head. The guy dropped, and the ping abruptly went out.
Tex shifted, and fired several more shots. The fire rate wasn’t nearly as high as his revolvers, but the repeater’s penetrating power more than made up for that. Each shot hit their target, and only a couple of the rcs survived the first bullet. None of them survived the second.
The heavily ard LRAT circling above them and raining down destruction finally started its descent. Red and blue warning lights flashed along the body of the devac. The heavy armor of the vehicle tanked small arms fire from all over while dishing out destruction with its HMG.
”We need to move!” Cole called out to him, and carted the client toward the devac’s landing zone.
Tex fired off a couple more shots, and then slid the repeater back over his shoulder. He followed right behind Cole while shooting backward toward the building with his revolvers once more.
As they approached, the side hatch of the devac dropped open. Four Shocktroopers rushed out of the vehicle. Two of them, more heavily ard and armored than the others, took up firing positions and started to provide covering fire back toward the building. Combined with the HMG, the attacking forces were kept back.
The other two carried a stretch out of the vehicle, and set it on the ground. One of them pulled up a rifle and trained it right on Tex and Cole. The voice that ca out was chanized, “wait!”
The other dic moved around and prepped a bunch of different sensors. After a mont, they waved a hand toward Cole. “Okay! Place him down!”
“Don’t need to tell twice.” The bruiser unceremoniously dumped the dead body of Dorrin onto the stretcher, and backed away. “You’re a little late.”
“You’re a little slow.” The one with the sensors imdiately got to work taking his vitals. Not that it mattered. Dead was dead. “Cover .”
”Roger, Alpha-One.” The other dic glanced at the two of them, and then joined the other two Shocktroopers in shooting out the windows surrounding the courtyard.
A mont later, Alpha-1 pulled out a shock paddle and slamd it into the CEO’s chest. His body spazzed out, and a weak breath was pulled from his lungs. Alpha-1 wrapped a mask around the client’s, and set up a micro ventilator to start working. Then the dic injected him with sothing and pressed the shock paddle down again.
Tex and Cole didn’t go idle now that their goal was achieved. The prior likewise fired shot after shot into the surrounding building. Cole took up a slightly different role. His ranged options were limited since his rifle was destroyed by the drone swarm, so the big rc just stood in front of Alpha-1 while the dic worked to stabilize Dorrin like a at shield.
In the corner of his HUD, Dorrin’s vital signs slowly started to pick up once more. It was still an incredibly weak pulse, but at his heart was beating once more. Maybe he’d kept for this one afterall.
“Now, Beta!” Alpha-One put away all of the supplies and moved around to one side of the stretcher.
The other dic abruptly stopped firing, and shuffled around to the other side of the stretcher. The two picked up his client. Before they could move, though, Tex stepped past the two still-shooting Shocktroopers and grabbed one of the dics by the wrist. “We’re coming with.”
”Negative.” The dtech dic jerked out of his touch, and nodded to the other two. Their guns instantly snapped to Tex while the devac’s HMG picked up the slack by spewing wildly into the fortress to keep the attackers back.
”Letting him leave by himself isn’t an option.” Tex dropped his hands onto his revolver. He was unsure how fast their reaction speed was, but he had confidence in his chances to get out a couple shots before either one of the Shocktroopers pulled the trigger.
“We don’t have ti for this.” Beta bobbed the stretcher lightly, causing Dorrin to bounce around. “He’s fading quick.”
”I know.” The first dic sighed, and supported the stretcher on their hip. Alpha-1 raised a hand and touched the side of their helt as if talking through comms. “Fine. Just one of you, though.”
”You go.” Cole imdiately backed away, and pulled a stray bullet out of his synthskin. “I’ll try to find Fallout and get out of here.”
“You sure?” Tex looked back toward the man in surprise. This was a free ride out of here and to safety. Or as free of a ride as they were going to get. This place was rapidly descending into Anarchy.
The bruiser shrugged. “I’m way less likely to be attacked without him on my shoulder, anyway. And it looks a little tight in there.”
“If you get out of this, I’ll owe you a drink.” Tex didn’t argue with the man, and took a step toward the devac. They were both professionals here.
Cole moved back toward the fortress and waved a hand over his shoulder. A bullet slamd harmlessly into his chest, and he just kept walking. “I’ll rember that.”
Tex boarded the flyer with the Shocktroopers. The mont all of them were on board, the door behind sealed shut and the LRAT jerked into the air. A sense of vertigo, made worse by the sharp dicinal scent of the flyer, washed over him.
The two more heavily armored Shocktroopers sat down on either side of the LRAT and went idle. anwhile, Alpha-1 rapidly moved through the cabin and hooked Dorrin up to various machines, including a bigger ventilator. “Find dtech’s Sixteen-Zeta-Zeta Anti-poison. Should be the top drawer third from the left.”
“Roger.” Beta glanced at him, and then shuffled toward the side.
Tex watched them work. Really, it was just Alpha-1 working. Beta ambled around unless directly told what to do, and the other two Shocktroopers hadn’t even budged since sitting down. The more ti passed, the more he felt like sothing was off.
Despite his misgivings, they were working to bring his patient back to a stable condition. He silently watched them for a while. After a minute of flight, Tex asked quietly, ”how is he?”
”Stable,” the chanized voice of the dic ca once more. “Beta, grab a couple fresh needles. Second column, fifth drawer.”
”Got it.”
The mont Beta’s guard dropped slightly, Tex’s revolvers snapped up into his hand. Both of the barrels were pointed at the two dics. Behind him, neither one of the heavily armored Shocktroopers even twitched, which just confird his sneaking suspicions.
“What are you doing?” Alpha-1 paused, and slowly raised their hands.
His finger curled around the triggers as the air in the LRAT turned icy. “… you aren’t with dtech, are you?”
— — —
AN: Sorry I’m so late today. Totally fell asleep instead of writing earlier. Energy drinks, how I miss you.
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