Piercing Heaven's Net
I followed behind Master as she swept through the street, with Bell right beside me. The path was littered with mosaics scattered by her blade. Her great katana's heat edge traced violet streaks of light in its arcs, and every flash from those pale beams cleaved enemies in half, armor and all, sending them tumbling to the ground. It was a scene of utter domination, unstoppable as a landslide.
Shwick! Shwick shwick shwick!!
"Don't let her get close! Spread a barrage and hold her back!"
"Ah, we've been firing like crazy since earlier—"
Most of the enemies couldn't even track Master's movements. Even we, with our high-performance optic implants, could barely keep up through the shockwaves, flickering lights, and afterimages. On top of that, she casually deflected incoming bullets by spinning her blade. And when she couldn't spare the attention, some unknown mirage-like barrier rose to shield her. Spiraling rounds, wrapped in orange outlines, either plopped harmlessly to the ground or ricocheted away.
"We've got about 5 kilometers left to the rally point. We'll grab the prepped vehicle there and bail out of Acton."
"5 km is how many miles?"
"No idea. In our units, it's a bit over 1 ri and 9 cho."
She's still humoring me so well. It puts my mind oddly at ease.
"And the destination? You can tell us that much, right?"
"Fortunately, yes. Briefing says first stop is Slough on the northwest outskirts. Sorry I can't say more right now."
That's when an enemy in an exosuit leaped from the rooftop of a building beside our alley. He swung an axe glowing with an orange heat edge down at Master—
Bam!
But she twisted away effortlessly, as if she'd seen it coming. The axe sliced empty air before embedding in the pavement, melting the asphalt into a gooey puddle where it touched.
"Damn it!"
The enemy abandoned the stuck axe and leveled a grenade launcher mounted on his right wrist at her. Probably too close for safe detonation, but he was gonna fire anyway?
Thump! Tzzzt! Kagagang—!!
But his desperate last stand failed spectacularly. Before he could even aim properly, Master's blade severed his waist. He didn't hit the ground until after she'd already launched toward her next target. I couldn't help but be awestruck.
"First time seeing Master in action, and she's a monster."
"I could show you movements on that level too. Compared to swordplay focused purely on close combat, my varied attack options allow for far more efficient tac—"
"Yeah, yeah, our Bell's the best, of course. I always trust in my super awesome Bell."
"Get down flat! Ah, my apologies. I meant to warn you to take cover from the shock."
Taat!
Bell, who'd rephrased my half-hearted reply into something that didn't sound like a total flub, leaped into the air and fired at a nearby rooftop. I caught a glimpse of her gyrojet round twinkling like a star for a moment.
Boom!
The explosion followed right as she landed—likely spotting and neutralizing an enemy about to lob grenades or explosives our way. She turned back with a smiling crinkle in her eyes. But when I glanced toward the noise, Master was waiting for us, having wiped out an armored car blocking the alley mouth and an entire enemy squad.
Bell reverted to her prickly self. Thanks to her, though, we slipped out of the alley without much hassle.
And then, black-clad figures in net camouflage suddenly emerged around us, encircling our position.
***
As I gripped my gun warily, Master reached out to stop me.
"No need to be on guard—at least not right now. These are mercenaries dispatched alongside me."
"That's right, Sir William Wentworth. We're here to extract you."
A deep, gravelly voice rang out suddenly. It came from one of the netted soldiers, a guy with an orange armband on his bicep. He extended a hand as he approached, showing no hostility—probably the commander of this kidnapping op.
"Pleased to meet you, heir of Elson. We'll do formal intros in Slough. For now, just call me Team Lead."
"Understood. Thank you for coming to our aid."
Not exactly thrilled deep down, but no point showing it to someone being friendly.
The team lead laughed heartily, seeming pleased.
"Haha! No trouble at all. The encirclement's mostly broken already. What you guys took out were pretty much the last holdouts here."
Still, this was near the City, enemy lair central. We'd slipped their grasp for now, but no time to dawdle.
"Then we should head straight to the rally point. They might send reinforcements any second."
"Got it. Hooking up with you completes our objective anyway. Time to pull out."
The team lead turned back and flashed some hand signals. His men scattered immediately. As questions bubbled up in my mind, Bell's voice echoed in my head.
(They're probably lifting the jam now to give withdrawal orders. Doesn't matter if it's flares or comms, something's gonna give— ugh?!)
Whumm— whumm— whummm—!!
Neither Bell nor I could finish our words. Headache, nausea, muscle cramps, chills. Burning heat— every sensation in my body was glitching out wildly!
My vision warped like kinetic art. Balance shot, my legs wobbling like crazy.
"Ughhh... what the hell???"
I dropped to my knees right there, barely catching myself with my hands to avoid face-planting. Dry heaves wracked me from the vomit urge, and my retinas flooded with warning overlays.
[Warning. Intrusion attempt on computation augmentation system detected from unknown source. Severing external connections.]
[Warning. Excessive adrenaline release code activated in healthcare implant. Function temporarily disabled.]
[Warning. Content reflux code activating in digestive organs. Forcing shutdown.]
[Warning. Artificial womb embryo management code activated, but no such organ detected. Confirming implant status.]
[Warning, Warning, Warning—]
Each one sent chills down my spine. Every networked implant in my body—none excluded—was throwing errors big and small. Even unused functions had their coded programs firing up. A blatant hack on my body.
Thankfully, my semi-AI managing the internal network was blocking abnormal signals and fighting to normalize everything.
'Bell! How's Bell?!'
Her last transmission had that off tone too. Our defenses are near-identical, so she shouldn't lose control, but if attacked from outside while disrupted internally, we'd be sitting ducks.
I fought my trembling upper body to lift my head and check on her. But then my body froze.
The team lead, red eyes gleaming under his net, had a pistol aimed right at my face.
'Did I get duped again? Anastasis, or whoever's behind this, finishing me off here? ...No way Master's in on it too?'
As betrayal rage made me bite my lip bloody—
A flying slash severed the team lead's gun hand at the wrist. Cuts bloomed across his neck and waist next, his severed parts bursting apart from shockwaves and scattering to the ground. My cognition filters must've glitched too— the gore was stark and graphic.
Master dashed in, shielding me with her body. She deflected incoming fire with her blade while shouting,
"Young master, you okay?! Everyone suddenly lost control of their bodies, then flipped and started attacking everything!"
All at once? Master seemed fine, no computation implants to hack.
I forced my sticky lips to move. "Wh-where's Bell? Is Bell alright?"
"Bellatrix took some shots while down, but she's fine. You know how tough she is."
"Don't feed the young master false info to confuse him. It was just a brief balance error."
No sooner had Master finished than footsteps approached, Bell's sharp voice cutting through.
Relief washed over me as I turned to her. Her face was a bit scrunched from the glitches, but her movements looked unimpeded.
"More importantly, this wasn't your betrayal, correct?"
"As I stated clearly, my sole goal is extracting the young master safely. No thought of betrayal."
"I see. Regardless, assigning blame now is pointless. Protect the young master for the moment."
"What are you planning? I was about to ask you to get him to safety while I charge and clean them up."
"If you're asking what, then simply: firepower."
Bell shed her outer layer. Beneath was a bodysuit-like undergarment. She unfolded the heat sinks on her back, deploying her right arm's parts to connect cables snaking out from her ribs.
Her eyes glowed emerald, vents opened under her armor plates, and the oval barrel wrapped in dark crimson coils emitted red wavelengths. Bell's main weapon, the magnetic rail-mounted plasma blaster, fully deployed.
"Our so-called saviors are suddenly puppeteered, converging to attack. Multiple armored vehicles detected in the formation, but the narrow chokepoint makes targeting a breeze."
Bell vented heat, timing her shot. As three armored cars and a troop mass entered the boulevard—
She unleashed a magnetic-field-wrapped crimson plasma beam. The condensed heat ray tore the air with a roar, the superheated steam and shockwave distorting the space around her.
Kwaaaaa—!
The strike zone was a storm of dense particles, smoke, and vapor—pure devastation. Asphalt hadn't just melted; it boiled red. Mercs fused into the black-red goo, unrecognizable. Armored cars' hulls glowed cherry-hot, melting down as internals fried and seized. Nearby buildings had glass and rebar melting too.
Bell, having bulldozed the boulevard, spoke casually as if it'd been nothing. But with a triumphant V-sign from her fingers and mouth,
"Of course, a touch of personal flair mixed in. Even I crave that cathartic stress-busting shot now and then."