Karla checked over her gear as they neared the factory. In the back of the van she had laid everything out and was stowing each item away as she went.

Selena had done a fantastic job. The revolver was sleek, long, and sturdy-looking, with a slots cut for heat dissipation over the barrel and a rail holding a holo sight. “It looks like it’s from the future,” Karla muttered.

“What’s that?” Freddie asked from the front seat. The van wound up the canyon, aiming for the cliff above the factory.

“Nothing, nothing.” She pocketed the revolver and reached for the semi-auto pistol. A short, octagonal body, with red polymers building up the bulk of the grip and underbarrel, the pistol was light, surprisingly so. When she tested the pistol, she realized it was several kinds of terrible to actually shoot. The light weight and large rounds meant each shot bucked heavily, jolting her harder than the revolver despite being lower-powered. It’s only saving grace was a long, angular silencer that made it mostly silent if she locked the slide. She pocketed it alongside the single spare magazine and a few pouches full of ammo for both. She went over the plan a few more times, making sure she’d memorized everything Freddie had told her about the layout and places where the three leaders should be. Offices on the upper floor, security system hardlines in the upper catwalks.

“This is it.” Freddie said form the front seat as the van coasted to a halt. “I’ll be up here with a winch to pull you out if you need it, but this should be the safest way in or out.”

“And I won’t get burned?” Karla hopped out of the van and peered over the cliff. Steam billowed past in large, superheated clouds lit blue by the shattered moon above, and red by the factories below.

“Not with your body, but don’t linger, or you’ll eventually start degrading certain parts. I doubt your brain would last long boiled. Keep me updated on coms.”

“Got it.” Karla took a cable wire that lead off from a winch mounted on the van, pulled a hood over her face shield, and began rappelling down into the thick steam clouds. The rocks were slick and eroded, something in the air wasn’t good for skin, and she kept getting messages about air quality.

[Warning. Air toxins above acceptable amount. Acid vapors present. Pausing intake.]

“No wonder it’s not guarded,” she muttered as she slid into one of the tall exhaust slots.

It was long. Far longer than she expected. The exhaust split, and split again, heading to several sources of vapor and steam. She shuffled into different branching paths until she found the correct route, one that was for ventilation of the work floor, and was clear of harsh chemicals.

[Air toxins acceptable. Resuming intake.]

The sides were slick, steel coated with some kind of resistant film that gave no purchase to her mechanical feet, nor the chemicals that passed by. She slid further, almost coming out of a vent above a walkway.

“Stop! Stop!” she said through her com to Freddie.

“Stopping, what’s wrong?”

“Vent cover. Give me a second.” Karla adjusted herself, placing her feet on the lip around the vent, and pulled out her heatblade. A thumb switch clicked, and its long thin blade humming for a moment as it came to life. Carefully, she slid the tip through the grate, and then in a large oval. It slid through without much effort at all, surprising her. She added heatblades as one of her new favorite weapons. She caught the heated metal cutout before it could fall, and pulled it up into the vent.

“Leave the cable at this length, I’ll come back for it if things go south.”

“Got it. Good luck,” Freddie voice echoed across her com unit, then fell silent. She took a moment to take a deep breath and calm herself.

Lowering her head through the vent, she peered through the cutout, immersing herself into the cacophony of sound that was the production floor of the forge. The outer shell of the forge was shimmering in heat from actual forges and casting tools, then closer to the middle was overtaken by hammers, grinders, and polishers. Massive was an understatement for its size.

Dozens of levels held lines of machinery that lead straight from forges and castings to a docking bay for the massive haulers that stood in long rows into the mountain. Parts flowed into the vehicles, a never-ending stream of finished pieces, tools, and products. Karla stood in awe for a moment, the scale of everything seemed so bizarre, unreal. How they even utilized so many parts and pieces in a single city she didn’t know.

She shook the thoughts from her head. She wasn’t here to daydream or sight-see. She dropped down with a loud clunk, the stiff rubber pads at the base of the military feet were loud on the metal flooring, but entirely drowned out by the racket of the factory floor below.

The catwalk she was on overlooked the highest floor and arced out over the space to the other side of the haulers. She began moving forward. The arcing catwalks extended for what looked like miles into the mountain, making forty guards seem tiny for the sheer volume of area they had to watch over. She supposed there was one entrance and exit to this place, and most of the guards could be there, or protecting the managers.

She grew impatient after thirty minutes of crouching. She stood and began to run, only to immediately drop back to the floor. Karla didn’t even notice the first guard she came across before he moved. He leaned his rifle against the railing as he pulled out a smoke and stretched. If he hadn’t moved, she would have probably alerted him with her heavy footsteps. She crept forward and took a good look at the man.

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He had black modified arms, body armor, and a helmet with a black visor. Ammo and stun grenades circled his waist, as was a stun baton and flares. They were more kitted out than she expected, though he looked more prepared for a riot of disgruntled workers than someone coming in to kill the bosses. She crept forward as he lit a smoke and took a deep pull.

The heatblade hummed to life in her hand as she drew close. She knew her heart was steady, controlled by some hardware, a program, but it felt like it beat harder and harder with every inch she drew closer. She froze as he reached down for his rifle, picking it up by the sling. With one last, long step, she dashed forward and thrust the shortsword down in a wide arc into the man’s neck. She aimed for a lump under his skin, a com unit. With her other hand she yanked the rifle out of his surprised grasp and tossed it down the catwalk. The man twitched, his arms reaching up and grabbing at her for a moment. She struggled, his arms were stronger than hers. He gripped at her and pulled at her blade, but soon he faded, slumping to the ground with a gurgle. She left the blade in his neck for a moment to cauterize the wound, then pulled it out with a hiss.

Karla huffed as she stood over the corpse. She had defended herself before, but this felt a touch more brutal. She shook off the feeling and picked up the rifle, slinging it against her back. Then came the grenades, the baton, flares, and magazines. She packed everything into her numerous pockets, feeling a bit heavier, but comforted by the now-full pockets across her waist.

She picked up the body and stashed it on the side where the catwalks were bolted right into the rock walls. He wouldn’t be seen unless someone walked right where she was currently standing. She took a moment to look around for any movement, any sign that she had been seen. Not seeing anybody, she crouched and began moving quickly inwards. She had to make it to a security panel before anyone raised the alarm.

She moved deeper into the forge. On the side were multiple rooms suspended above the factory floor, security headquarters. She located a pillar with a silver panel behind a small, locked door. She felt inside with her gift and twisted the lock, opening the panel easily. Freddie had given her a tool to pick the lock, but it remained unused in a pocket, unneeded. A simple display and an input slot greeted her. A security access point. She pulled out a small GPIO tool made by Freddie and plugged it in. Lights danced over the device, and a jaunty little tune began playing as a loading bar filled its small screen. Karla stared at it.

“Freddie…” she silently spoke over the coms.

“Yeah?”

“Why is the little tool you made playing a song?”

“Oh! You’re already using it? Well, it was a last-moment thing. I had to use whatever was lying around.”

Karla sighed, just as footsteps approached.

“What is that?” said a woman’s voice.

“Hmm?” a man’s responded.

“There’s like, a game console playing. I used to play with the same one when I was a kid. Do you not hear it?”

“Ah yeah. It’s from over here.” The guard stepped around the corner, finding the small console hanging off the access point by its cable. “What the—”

A heatblade cut him off, stabbing through a rifle that was brought up to shield himself, then into the chest beneath. With the rifle slowly melting, the man pulled a small heatblade dagger from his back and thrust it down onto his assailant. Karla caught his wrist and held on.

Shit! She cursed to herself. He's skilled, and He’s stronger than me too.

She pressed the shortsword deeper into his chest when a shot rang out. The bullet ricocheted off her face plate, snapping her head back. The guard she was grabbing onto wasn’t dead from the knife wound, and the momentary distraction was enough for his blade to sink into her shoulder. She shouted as pain filled her, real pain. The limbs gave sensations of pain, but this… she could feel every centimeter as it dug deeper.

The woman behind fired again, striking Karla in the elbow, allowing the man's knife to bury further into her shoulder. Karla grit her teeth and pushed. The man didn’t budge. He gripped her hand not allowing her to step back as he pressed the knife down with his other arm. She could see the woman as she lined up another shot from nearly point-blank range.

Karla thought over her gear, over what she could do to turn the tables on this. She pushed with her telekinesis, but it faltered against something held by a living target, sliding off the man’s dagger as if it was slick with oil. She fell against the pillar, pinned now as the woman fired again, missing, but sending shards of concrete splashing against her face.

Karla took a breath, and focused.

She had a thought, inspired by the video Olivia had shown her. Something she had wanted to try. She grabbed the pistol with her gift from her belt and slid it between herself and the man, placing the barrel right against his chin. He jerked as he realized what it was, but it was too late, the pistol fired. And again, and again. She unloaded half of the magazine into this man’s head, then turned it over his shoulder.

“Wait!” the woman shouted, but a bullet dropped her, a second made sure she was down.

Karla pushed the man off and winced as his dead grip pulled the dagger from her shoulder. She cursed. It hurt as if she was flesh and blood still. She washed her senses over her torso and found nothing important damaged, just a long, singed wound into her body. She stood there panting for some time, when the sound of the factory came back to her. There were shouts, and confused voices below. She looked down through the grating to see several workers around a production line. The woman bled from her two head wounds, dropping a constant stream of blood onto the machinery below. There wasn’t an alarm, so it seems like Freddie’s GPIO tool did its job. She looked over the dead woman.

“Freddie, first target is down.”

“Already? Which one?”

“Dalia.” Karla took flash grenades and smoke grenades off the man. His rifle was half-melted, so she left it behind, her coat was getting heavy.

Freddie sighed over coms. “Haah. Dalia, rest in peace.”

“What, did you know her?”

“Yeah. She wasn’t as bad as the other two, but she definitely understood that profit meant everything. She would kill to make a profit for the company, but she was at least logical about it. I can’t say the same for the other two managers.”

Karla shook her head as she pushed forward. The excitement below began to spread, undoubtedly she would see more combat soon.

“Freddie, these guards are better kitted out than you said they would be.”

“Are they?”

“Yeah, rifles and combat-spec limbs.”

“Whoa, did they really kit these ones out?”

“I heard one talking, they sounded like a normal human. Do your chipped people sound normal when they talk?”

There was a pause over the line for a moment. “Are you sure the guard was talking? More than simple yes and no?”

“Yeah?”

“The chipped ones can’t talk beyond simple responses. Shit. Those are probably mercenaries…”

As Freddie spoke, gunfire erupted over the catwalk, punching holes through the metal grating. Karla dove to the side, onto a ledge cut into the bedrock. Workers screamed and shouted below as six armed men and women unloaded onto the ceiling. There was a few moments of chaos before the gunfire petered out. The clicking and clacking of reloading weapons echoed up to her as she laid there, grabbing onto a small wound through her forearm.