Location: Pacific Ocean, Underwater Black Site

Date: Year 2127 Month 12 Day 15

With the vote completed Jun grumbled, “Fine, then we have no time to lose.”

He began running after the gangsters that went ahead, while doing so he spoke to Vera, “I do not mind your silence, but we need to know what it is that you can do.”

After a few moments of silent running, I answered for her, “Has cyberware for speed.”

Jun’s head turned towards me questioningly. After seeing my silence, he gave up and turned his attention in front of him.

Several minutes later we reached a large entrance. The two metal plates were barely open, leaving only enough space for two people abreast to pass.

Alex spoke at the sight, “The hacker that was with the forward group must have opened them, I’m impressed by how quickly he pulled it off.”

In front of the doors four corpo elites lay dead, their armor was intact, but the visors were shattered. Two bodies that belonged to the gangsters were also there. Unlike the corpos their armor was riddled with holes.

Jun stopped right before them. “These corpo elites were using armor piercing rounds. It is likely that those inside are doing the same. We have to split into two groups, one for covering and one for advancing. The plan is to gain ground while taking cover behind the columns that are supporting the ships.”

He stopped speaking as he likely watched the view of one of the gangsters inside.

Ten seconds later his eyes focused back on us. “We will proceed along the right flank. The others are having the most trouble there.”

I nodded. “Can’t have them take over one of the sides or we will be caught in a crossfire.”

Jun took a deep breath. “All right, then on my mark we enter the room and sprint towards the first column to the right.”

We all got in position and responded with a roger.

Our bodies were tense, ready to spring in action.

“3, 2, 1, Mark!”

Two at a time we set foot in the vast space beyond the doors.

The sound of gunfire was omnipresent. The middle area had depressions on the ground that were being used like trenches from the Corpo forces. They were trading shots with gangsters on one side and the troops in black armor on the other. Being caught in a crossfire had them in a disadvantage, but instead of hunkering down and getting killed to a man the corpos were pushing back towards this side. While retreating from Irene Croft’s forces.

Choosing not to admire the view any longer than was necessary, we launched ourselves in a run towards the first rightmost pillar.

After reaching it we decided not to bother with covering fire when moving to the second column since the fight was further ahead and nobody was paying attention to this area. The ship adjacent to this pillar had already been taken by the gangsters.

Arriving at the second column we stopped. Several gangsters were taking cover here. Shots were being fired this way and the sounds of fighting could be heard coming from the ship nearby.

Taking a peek forward I saw that the other gangsters were by the next pillar. Jun’s father had just forced a group of corpos to break cover with his flamethrower, the other gangsters shot down the exposed opponents.

The gangster’s numbers had reduced by half since we separated in the hallway. Some died, others had simply boarded a ship, and decided not to keep going after the prize in the middle. Probably the wiser choice all things considered.

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Before proceeding any further we checked the situation on the other side by switching our view to the one of Irene Croft.

Unlike before where they have been advancing on the sides, she and her troops were now advancing through the center taking cover in the depressions. They were chasing any corpo stragglers that retreated too slowly.

Irene herself was at the very front. She jumped inside one of the trenches, inside of which four corpo elites turned their rifles towards her.

She crouched low to the floor impossibly fast, just in time to avoid being shredded.

Before the corpos could adjust their aim she had already closed the distance, two armored hands snaked towards two visors, fingers first. One of the corpo elites dodged back in a burst of speed, the other one had his visor and eyes pierced.

The two corpos behind took the opportunity to shoot a couple of bursts. This time one aimed low, while the other aimed high.

Fast, but not fast enough to dodge bullets, Irene Croft limited herself to protect her face with her arms.

The armor piercing bullets managed to go through her armor but didn’t do significant damage to her metallic body.

At the sight, the corpo elites decided that discretion was the better part of valor. Therefore they kept firing in bursts as they started pulling back.

Not wanting to let them get away Irene Croft grabbed the body of the corpo next to her and threw it with superhuman strength. The corpos had to launch themselves to the side.

My vision blurred as she charged to the now vulnerable enemies.

An armored boot through the visor greeted one of the corpos, killing him instantly.

The other two started turning their weapons towards her.

She shot them both with the rifle of the corpo she just killed.

Despite being mostly unscathed from the encounter, she was limping ever so slightly. However, considering how she had probably been facing off against corpo elites for the last 20 minutes that was impressive.

After climbing out of the depression, we saw that only one more set of columns separated her from the ship at the center.

The voice of Jun’s father sounded in the comms, “We have to hurry up if we want to get there before that woman! All teams behind the third column provide covering fire! We are advancing to the fourth.”

At that, all the gangsters near us broke cover to provide support.

Jun pointed forward. “We will take advantage of the covering fire and move to the third column as a group. Now!”

We all bolted forward.

Most of the corpos were taking cover.

Some corpo elites were taking accurate shots, luckily for us they were more concerned with the gangsters that were closer to them than of us.

Except for one sniper.

Who unloaded an entire magazine of armor piercing bullets on us.

Batou being in the front as usual was the first one hit.

A shot to the head pierced the helmet, it missed his eyes and the cranium, instead piercing his left cheek and exiting through the right one.

A second shot hit Revy on her left shoulder, eliciting a cry of pain.

A third shot hit her on the arm attached to the same shoulder.

Had it not been for her synth muscles her arm would have been torn off from those two shots.

A fourth shot hit Jun in his abdomen, luckily for him, it missed his spine, or he would have crashed down hard. His pained shout disagreed with my assessment. Batou held him by the arm to prevent him from stumbling and falling.

A fifth shot mercifully missed us all.

A sixth shot hit Jun in his new cyber leg. It did not shatter.

A seventh shot pierced Vera’s right thigh, she kept running while cursing in our private call.

An eighth shot hit Alex on her left arm, piercing the armor and shattering the chromed limb.

A ninth shot grazed her leg, a gasp of pain escaped her mouth, but she kept running unhindered.

The final shot hit me in the chest. Nanites, painkillers and liquid adrenaline flooded my system. The impact was powerful enough to make me lose my footing.

Crashing down I rolled forward, eventually landing on my back.

I stared at the distant ceiling.

It seemed that the other group of gangsters managed to get to the control room. The glass ceiling had risen and was now opening.

A cloudy sky was revealed.

Rain started falling on the battlefield.

More bullets from the corpos started saturating the air as the gangsters stopped providing covering fire.

Turning my head I saw that Alex was being forcibly dragged into cover by Batou and Revy. Jun was sitting against the column.

And Vera was sprinting back towards me.

Bullets chased her.

The others stopped squabbling and tried to provide some covering fire.

Vera reached me, she lifted and carried me over her shoulder. In her other hand she was holding my cyclone.

In the private call I spoke to her, “Didn’t know you were this desperate to be even.”

“Woulda done it anyway.”

“Why?”

“Talk later!” She shouted as another bullet pierced her side. Followed by more cursing.

In a final burst of superhuman speed we finally reached the cover of the column. She placed me against it and sat nearby.

All six of us were sitting with our backs against the metal surface, rain falling on our armored forms.

Nobody spoke for a while.

We ignored all other chatter in the comms.

Batou started laughing, it was a weird whistling laugh caused by the holes in his cheeks. It was morbidly hilarious.

The rest of us started laughing too, low at first.

“Oh fuck! My abs.” Jun exclaimed.

We all laughed louder. The painkillers did not help.

After some time our laughs died out.

“Ready for round 2?” Vera asked on the team’s comms.

Everyone besides me turned to look at her.

“Surprise!”