Two company operatives were lying in ambush on the fourth floor, waiting for their target to walk into their trap. But what they didn't know was that their positions were painfully obvious to V, the street kid.
On the other end of the call, V's voice remained calm and steady.
"There are two agents on the fourth floor. One's a netrunner, the other's got Gorilla Arms. The one you need to worry about is the guy with the Gorilla Arms. I'll handle the netrunner. I've uploaded their positions to your system."
Through V's cyber-enhanced vision, the two Arasaka agents were lit up in vivid red outlines—even through the walls.
"What about the guy next to me? What do I do with him?" asked Yogan.
"No choice. He's got no cyberware. If you want this mission to go smoothly, I suggest turning off speaker mode."
V was about to respond, but Yogan gave a subtle shake of his head. V understood the signal—there was no need to show all their cards in front of a mysterious hacker.
V and Yogan had reached the third floor. Johnson's office was just one level above. In V's sight, the agent with Gorilla Arms was stationed inside a room just off the hallway. The netrunner, meanwhile, was holed up in Johnson's office—they were not close to each other.
Thanks to the assistance of his system's "big daddy," Yogan also had a rough idea of where the agent near the hallway was located. After a brief whispering session with V, Yogan decided to go with an old but reliable tactic—climbing through the window. He then advanced further into the third floor.
---
On the fourth floor, the agent posted by the hallway was getting restless. He asked over internal comms, "What's taking them so long? You think they're onto us?"
The netrunner replied coolly, "Relax. Be patient. They found a pile of corpses on the second floor. Obviously, they're going to proceed cautiously."
He scanned again. "They're at the stairway landing now. Wait… they're heading up. Get ready."
The Gorilla Arms agent heard footsteps drawing near. His target didn't seem to notice any danger, charging forward like a rookie.
To the agent, this was just another routine takedown. He'd wait for the target to walk past the doorway, then use his cybernetic strength to knock them out cold with one punch. After that came interrogation—and information extraction.
At least, that was the plan. But when the target came into view, everything went sideways. Just as the agent launched into his swing, his vision was instantly bombarded with error messages. His Gorilla Arm froze mid-punch, like someone had hit pause on his entire system.
V had just reached the top of the stairs and saw the Arasaka agent stuck in a ridiculous stance. She raised her gun to fire, but the voice in her earpiece urgently interrupted, "Ignore him—go take out the netrunner!"
"Huh? Why—" V had questions, but she didn't hesitate. She charged toward Johnson's office.
Inside, the Arasaka netrunner was twitching violently next to Johnson's lifeless body. Smoke and sparks hissed from the neural port at the back of his skull.
At that moment, Yogan climbed in through the window. V shouted, "Take apart Johnson's computer!" She then fired a shot straight into the netrunner's head. Yogan responded without hesitation, firing two shots into the computer's core. He used the barrel of his gun to stir the wreckage, ensuring the system was well and truly destroyed.
Then chaos erupted once more.
Thunderous footsteps pounded the hallway—growing closer by the second. Other than themselves and V's unseen partner, only company agents remained in the building. The realization hit Yogan hard. He shouted, "Watch out!"
The warning and the danger arrived at nearly the same time. V heard the noise from the corridor, but before she could react, it was already upon her.
With a deafening BOOM, a portion of the wall exploded inward. Dust and chunks of concrete filled the room as a massive blue-glowing Gorilla Arm punched through, generating a blast wave with its force.
Fortunately, V had braced herself thanks to Yogan's shout. She dropped backward, barely avoiding the blow—the cybernetic fist whooshed past her face by mere inches.
Flat on her back, V squeezed off two quick shots, then rolled sideways without waiting to see the result—just in time to avoid another devastating punch that smashed into the floor.
Realizing his attacks had missed, the agent moved in for a killing blow while V was still scrambling to her feet. But Yogan didn't give him the chance—he fired both barrels of his custom shotgun. The impact staggered the agent, buying V enough time to retreat.
Yogan didn't let up. He fired two more rounds, tearing away strips of the agent's synthetic flesh. Despite the visible damage, the agent's subdermal armor absorbed the brunt of the assault. All four rounds had embedded themselves into the armor plating, but they hadn't truly injured him.
"Damn," V muttered under her breath. Their guns were practically toys against this kind of protection. Judging by the destruction of the wall, one solid punch from this guy could end them both.
Then, from across the street, a massive gunshot split the air like thunder. A streak of blue energy, crackling with lightning, zipped into the room—hitting the agent directly in the back.
This time, no armor could save him. The bolt tore a hole through his torso wide enough to crawl through. The agent dropped to his knees, and another echoing shot confirmed his death.
V's partner finally came back on comms. "Company reinforcements are incoming. They know you're here. Bad news—Militech's involved now. I've marked an escape route in your HUD. Move now if you don't want to get caught."
V leaned against the wall and pushed herself up. "Was that your shot just now?"
Silence.
"Shit." V clicked her tongue. "Let's move, Yogan!"
"Wait up, sis. Give me a hand."
"Bro, we're literally running for our lives. Can your withdrawal symptoms hold off a bit?"
"Next time. I swear—next time."
---
A little earlier...
Qiu Shui Xue Yue's drone pinged her with an alert.
Part of her HUD split off, projecting a live feed from one of her Wasp-class drones.
"Tch… Militech…"
In the footage, a Militech spec ops team was closing in on her location—though clearly unaware she was already there.
"Forget them. Kill the netrunner," she ordered the merc on the other end of her call.
She knew the two Arasaka agents wouldn't be easy to handle.
Although her puppet had successfully disabled the Arasaka netrunner, she wasn't about to take chances. Arasaka's software division was no joke—without ongoing interference from her side, their ICE would reboot the netrunner in no time. And if that happened, those two mercs—skilled or not—would be easy prey.
But if the netrunner was eliminated first, the Gorilla Arms agent—while dangerous—was manageable.
The Militech team moved rapidly and with expert precision. They were nearly on top of her.
Qiu Shui Xue Yue rolled up her sleeves. Twin thermal mantis blades sprang out from her forearms. Then, she triggered her optical camo system. Her body shimmered and vanished into a ripple of light.
Just as she disappeared, the squad's breacher entered, sweeping the room. After confirming it was clear, he gave the leader a thumbs-up.
Their comms crackled.
"This is HQ. Report status."
"Delta Squad here. No sign of hostiles."
"Continue searching the building."
"Copy that."
The squad leader ended the call.
Then the shot rang out across the street.
"What the hell was that?!"
"Gunfire, sir! In the opposite building. Arasaka has entered!"
"Shit!" The squad leader rushed to the window, while another soldier stepped back.
"Delta to HQ—"
No response.
"Damn it, not now…"
Suddenly, twin mantis blades stabbed straight through his chest. His cyberware glitched violently.
The killer didn't wait for a reaction. With a harsh buzz, her blades tore the man in half.
As his remains dropped, his eyes caught a final glimpse of what had hit them.
Five soldiers, all massacred. A black-haired woman in a spotless Arasaka uniform stood over the bodies, flicking gore from her blades with cold detachment.
Qiu Shui Xue Yue deployed a monowire from her fingertip, jacking into the fallen squad leader's neural port. She then picked up the cat-faced sniper rifle he'd left behind.
After a brief adjustment, the rifle let out another deep boom. The bullet shredded the subdermal armor that had repelled the mercs' firepower, killing the enemy in one shot.
"This is HQ. Delta Squad, report. Why are there gunshots?"
A tracking puppet piggybacked along the communication line into Militech's internal network.
Qiu Shui Xue Yue answered in a perfect imitation of the squad leader's voice.
"This is Delta. We've confirmed Arasaka presence. Engaging now."
Her puppet located both Militech's field commander and their top hacker. They were in the same room.
"This is HQ. Give us details."
She didn't reply. She just pulled the trigger.
The bullet tore through several floors of cheap prefab material.
Militech comms instantly erupted in chaos.
"All units, alert! There's an Arasaka sniper! Commander down! I repeat, commander down!"
"Beta Squad here—we're under attack!"
"Where's the medic? We need a medic, now!"
"Shit! Hacker's dead too!"
Qiu Shui Xue Yue calmly dropped the cat-faced rifle…