We exited into what remained of the street outside. A bomb, a missile, or some other explosive had left a crater in the middle of the street. Exposed wires and broken pipes could be seen below. A skyscraper to our right had fallen, cutting off the street. The neon signs and holo screens on it were mostly broken, but a few of them kept flickering, refusing to die out.

The carcass of the building prevented us from seeing what was going on further inside the central area of Nox City. The sounds of war were coming from that side.

Bodies littered the street. Some were nothing more than charred remains or stains on the asphalt. Others were whole, their cause of death either a hit to the head or a clean shot through the heart. And others still were torn apart by flying debris or by the impact of the explosion. Broken cyberware and flesh were bare for all to see. I felt bad for Kenzo, the smell for someone not in armor must be revolting.

The remains of cars lay in ruins, burning until the metal melted. The machinery of various vehicles was scattered through the street. A wheel there, a motorcycle handlebar there, a kid's bike there.

We were not alone in this desolation.

People scurried along the street while staying in the shadows of the broken buildings. Some of them were in groups like ours, with weapons bared. Our armor made them wary of us.

Others were alone, looking lost and hopeless. Among them I spotted a child, he couldn’t have been older than ten. He was on his knees, holding an adult metal hand against his chest, his eyes were vacant.

I looked away from the sight.

Kenzo spoke up, “We need to get an idea of the surroundings before we start moving around blindly.”

Revy turned to him. “Why not just walk to the nearby southern outer section and leave? The longer we stay, the higher the chances that we get caught in the crossfire.”

Batou shook his head. “The other members of Sentai are coming towards us from the western side. With their help getting out will be much easier.”

I looked at one of the more intact structures. “Where do we go scout then? I don’t think going into a random building is a good idea. They’re probably full of scared chromed-out people with weapons, or they're collapsing like the place we were in.”

Kenzo answered me, “We’ll go towards one of the wider streets on the west side. But we do not enter it, I’ll climb a nearby vantage point and use my eyes to observe the situation. They are the real deal, I’ll share the view so that you can understand that.”

A ping later I was using my left eye to see Kenzo’s view. He could see every minute detail of the surroundings for kilometers. From specks of dust to the number of wrinkles on that old person two blocks over.

Shifting his view to the southern entrance we saw Paragon soldiers setting up a blockade.

Guess we were not going through there.

“I’ll lead.” Kenzo started walking ahead while staying on the side of the street, close to the buildings.

I shifted Alex a bit higher up my back and followed.

Carrying unconscious people was not easy.

Not much later we were hiding in the shadows of a building adjacent to one of the big western avenues. Kenzo had left Jun to Revy and was now climbing the side of the building, his chromed arms making the job considerably easier. After he reached a certain height, he stopped and turned.

And we saw.

The perfect symmetry of the city was gone. Many skyscrapers had gaping holes throughout their form, some had collapsed on their foundations, and others laid on their sides.

The big arcologies that went up to the ceiling were being spared the worst of the fighting, only having minor damage.

Kenzo moved his sight to the central plaza, it was empty, like a no man’s land that separated the opposing forces. After a closer look, I noticed that the façade of the buildings facing the plaza was shredded off. Thousands of soldiers lay dead or dying inside. Just as many were trading gunfire while taking cover behind the inner walls of the buildings.

Some of the soldiers jumped across floors and repositioned at frightening speeds, others wearing much heavier armor would shrug off incoming bullets and repay the favor with heavy armaments like rocket launchers. As the mayhem continued the surface of the buildings kept being chipped off by bullets and missiles.

“We are staying faaaar away from that,” Revy exclaimed.

The older gangster shifted his view away and an unexpected sight greeted us.

Corpo sec and corpo elites were escorting civilians to the arcologies. They were keeping out of the fight and rescuing people on their way. Some teams were helping those who had been trapped under the rubble, others shot down looters that were tormenting the weak.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Huh,” Batou couldn’t help but express his surprise.

It’s not that the corpos were evil, they did improve the standard of living of your average citizen ever since they rose to power. But they weren’t renowned for being selfless either.

It was most likely a big publicity stunt to be viewed in a good light.

On the northern side, US tanks rolled down from the wide entrance at hundreds of kilometers per hour into the wide street. Their railguns fired as they moved, the cracking reverberating throughout the city. Hundreds of armored transports followed close behind.

To the south, near us, the city was being overrun by a sea of gray soldiers from Paragon. They were swarming into the eastern and western sides and setting up blockades as they went. On the roofs of the buildings that were still intact Paragon soldiers were setting up large caliber railguns and firing them at the US transports.

“Good thing we didn’t go south,” I commented.

Revy threw her arms in the air. “How the hell was I supposed to know that a bloody Paragon army was swarming the US spaceport!”

Kenzo, realizing that there was little time for dilly-dallying started descending.

While we waited for him Revy murmured, “How did Paragon manage to get here? Wouldn’t they be shot down while in the air by the station’s defenses?”

“Want to try asking one of them?” I offered.

Her armored helmet turned towards me, I could imagine the flat look.

Batou caught my attention. “Jack, I think we have to wake Jun and Alex and get them up to speed.”

I agreed with him. “Yea, now is not the time for napping.”

We placed them on a cleaner spot of ground and proceeded to wake them up, while doing so we kept them from moving their injured limbs as they roused.

The painkillers would prevent suffering, but as someone who went through a similar experience, I could safely say it would not be pleasant.

They both sat up, eyes squinting.

After getting their bearings Jun looked around and said, “Just what I needed, another headache.”

“Your plan this time.” I reminded him.

He looked at me cross.

Alex was being silent, she eventually asked with hesitation, “The- I’m guessing the VR set is…”

I placed a hand on her shoulder and grimly nodded.

She nodded back and kept nodding with glassy eyes.

I shook her lightly to bring her back.

As soon as Kenzo dropped the remaining distance we started running deeper in the western zone of Nox city, away from the Paragon army.

Batou carried Vera and I carried Jun, he had his assault rifle in his hands while being carried. Alex had a handgun in her working arm, Kenzo had unslung his cyclone and was leading the way.

“Five-minute ETA from the others,” Batou informed us.

Kenzo kept shifting his eyes around, continuously scanning the area with a hawk-like focus. Alex would scout by hacking any camera systems that were still working.

Despite that, Paragon soldiers kept flooding through, limiting our escape routes.

At some point, we had nowhere to run.

Soldiers were rushing in from every side and they were shooting at anyone who got in their way.

“How much longer?” Alex yelled.

“Two minutes.” Said a grim Batou.

“Follow me!” Kenzo ordered.

We sprinted to the nearest intact skyscraper.

Bullets chased us in, the entrance becoming Swiss cheese.

We climbed the stairs two at a time.

“What happens when we get to the roof?” Revy cried.

“Worry about getting to the roof alive first,” Jun told her.

Kenzo stopped climbing and rushed through a corridor instead. “I know this place better than these soldiers.”

We went after him.

He broke into an apartment by pulling the door with his chromed hands. Inside, a man with a gun bellowed a protest, Kenzo disarmed him with a lightning-quick movement and punched him in the throat.

Crossing the apartment, he broke a tall window that was at the perfect height for jumping to the roof of the nearby building. He managed the leap without armor. We had the suit’s thrusters that made it trivial, Revy made Alex climb on her back again.

We started roof hopping, beneath us soldiers took over the streets. Occasionally a railgun shot from the US tanks would create a hole in their formations.

Paragon soldiers that had reached the roofs of the previous buildings started shooting in our direction. Bullets whizzing past us. Alex and Jun fired back from our backs.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” Revy and I were letting our opinion of the situation be known.

“This is the building!” Kenzo stopped at the next roof and made for the door that led to the top floor.

We irrupted and ran down the stairs.

Five flights later we were forced to enter a corridor because soldiers started rushing up the stairs. We broke into a lobby area of an office and the older gangster started setting up his cyclone behind the desk, aiming down the corridor.

“So, what? This is it?” Revy exclaimed.

Batou placed Vera on a couch by the side away from the corridor and got himself behind the cover of a table that he overturned. I put Jun on a chair by the side.

He sighed then, “I’m starting to feel like the billion credits aren’t worth it.”

I didn’t pay him any mind and set up my cyclone next to Kenzo.

Alex and Revy got behind the cover of an alcove.

With Thor’s, assault rifles, and cyclones aimed down the corridor, we waited.

Shortly after a dozen Paragon soldiers detached from a larger group that was climbing the stairs and began going down the corridor.

They were intercepted by lead, tungsten, and railgun-powered pellets.

Like puppets with their strings cut they collapsed on the floor.

Unfortunately, the Paragon soldiers did not try to go through the corridor again. Instead, they sent a rocket to greet us back.

Absurdly, Kenzo managed to shoot it down while it was still flying.

The blast still managed to knock us down.

Soldiers hurried in after.

I rose up and counted another dozen enemies.

Before I could raise my rifle the two leading the group began firing at me, forcing me back down.

While taking cover I shifted through all our views to see what could be done.

I noticed that Revy had hidden behind the door after the blast.

The soldiers broke into the lobby packed together.

And then Revy moved.

The Thor’s cracking blew back four of them instantly, and a follow-up shot two right after. She tried to go for a third shot but one of the soldiers instantly closed the distance and kicked her in the stomach.

I had raised my rifle by then, I shot him in the head.

Kenzo shot two more in quick succession.

Alex managed to hit one through the visor with her handgun.

Batou got the last one.

Blissful silence followed.

And then footsteps broke it once more.

We could not keep this up.

I grimly aimed at the end of the corridor.

Only to see Jun’s father walking slowly past the bodies that were lying in the corridor. Despite being mostly covered in cyberware he looked like a slightly older version of Jun covered in tattoos.

He had an unlit cigarette in his mouth. Once he entered the lobby, he raised a finger to the end of the cigarette. A flame appeared from a small fissure of his chromed finger.

He inhaled,

And exhaled a cloud of smoke.

Batou grimaced as the smoke went his way.

Jun's father spoke,

“Sorry it took me so long, found some trouble on the way.”