The death of a samurai is always a strange thing. Some mourn the loss of a hero, while others celebrate the death of an enemy. As for me, I weep at the loss of technologies they could have brought into the world.

--Head of Research and Development at New Hope.

There is something that can be said about sneaking around an evil research facility, that makes you feel badass, like you are in some kind of video game. However, it smells much more like bacon than I expected. Or maybe that is just the corpses of the guards.

‘Lyssa, did the others make it out safe?’ I subvocalise, once I notice that the coast is clear.

They have managed to leave the building with minimal resistance.

‘Minimal?’

Let's just say that there are three fewer guards for you to worry about.

I shrug. Well, I guess it is not my problem anymore. I need to get back to breaking into whatever high-security vault they have installed here. I take off in a sprint again, racing through the hallways. I still have camera access for one more floor, so I know exactly where the problems lie waiting. And I really want some more chances to test out my new sword. The vault better be made out of something fun like titanium. I wonder if that melts as well as the rest of the stuff I tried it on.

The last floor is surprisingly empty. The only things blocking my way are some heavy-duty security doors, but seeing that I have the master key, they might as well not have bothered. I slowly creep into the last room, but there is no one as far as the eyes and my drones can see, just a big empty room with a sunken floor and some kind of server rack in the middle. Well, that makes things easy. Where is the super mech or the three-headed antithesis to fight at the end of the level?

“It is really that easy, huh?”

Lyssa thinks that they are more concerned with what is leaving rather than what is choosing to stay here.

‘I guess that works in our favour.’

I jump down to the floor of the data centre, install a shunt, and start sending all of the information. I start browsing through the relevant data to see if I can find anything fun. What I find interesting, I immediately send a copy to PsyCo HQ. The data shows a location deep in the Alps called Samurai’s Tomb. The problem is, that the data logs tell me it has been cleared.

“Well, that explains the mind manipulation and how advanced their genetic splicing is.”

Lyssa would advise caution; the likeliness of a samurai that only specialises in mind manipulation and genetic altering is rare.

“Fuck you, right? There is no way that was the only thing in the tomb or whatever the fuck it was; we should wrap this up quickly so we can go back and report.”

Suddenly, I hear a clink of metal, and I turn my head in the direction. I hear a loud bang as sparks appear in my vision, and my view changes slightly. My head explodes into pain as I feel something cold press against it. I jumped aside, trying to make the distance between myself and whatever that was.

I take a glance back at where I stood and see the remains of my mask lying in pieces on the ground. Well, that is not good. I slowly raise my hand to my face. There is only a small piece still connected, covering the right side of my face.

‘Lyssa, how good are the defences of the mask when it is like this?’

Three of the emitters are still operational, and the shielding capacity has been reduced to fifty per cent. But that is hardly your biggest worry.

‘Then what is?’

The bullet that penetrated your mask also penetrated your eye and is still lodged in your skull. Estimating full cognitive shutdown in 5 minutes.

‘That explains the headache. But I thought my mask could block bullets or at least a few.’

Lyssa thinks that the shot was made from a Vanguard-grade gun.

‘Great. Lyssa, emergency protocols! Use every point I have to keep me alive, even if I lose consciousness.’

Lyssa can’t fix your brain. You need a class two medical or combat stimulant catalogue for that. Lyssa can try to stabilise the wound and upgrade your online consciousness to unburden your bio-brain. This could buy you 5 to 6 more hours, depending on circumstances.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

‘What circumstances?’

Whether you get shot again or not.

I hold my breath at that thought, trying my best to listen for any sounds my unknown assailant makes. It is silent too, only noise coming from the server rack's cooling system. Okay, Maniac, I think you can do this. We don’t need to kill the guy. We just have to get out of here. Then I hear a step.

“You can’t be down already,” a man's voice echoes through the space.

I don’t answer, trying my best to think of a way out. The problem with that is that the data vault had been placed in the middle of the room, creating the perfect trap. Anywhere I run, the man will have a perfect shot. I knew it looked too good to be true.

“You know if you come out now, I can make it quick.” he says, a hint of amusement in his town.

“Does that ever work? Do people actually come out when you say that?” I ask, genuinely curious.

“So, you are still alive.”

“Yeah, you only managed to pierce part of my brain, not the entire thing,” I say with an easy smile.

Suddenly, I hear another metallic click. This time, I don’t make the mistake of looking in the direction of the noise; instead, I jump aside, letting my world slow down with the jet stream. I can’t quite remember why we don’t use it anymore, but it must have not been a very good reason. This is great.

I can see with my sensors, the spot that the bullet struck. It would have been another headshot. This guy does not want to let me leave, so I guess only one option remains. I turn, looking where the shot came from. In the dark, at the edge of the room, I spot the figure. I start to sprint towards him.

I could have thrown a javelin or something, but with my mask being as fucked as it was right now, I could not access the storage space. So, no javelin, which would leave my sword, but something told me I would need that in the near future, and I did not think that throwing it would be that great for the internal components.

Another bullet zips towards me. I try my best to get out of its path, but the thing is too fast. So I do the only thing I can think of: put my sword in the way and turn the heat to the maximum setting. Lucky for me, the bullet is made of something that melts, and I can easily slash it in two, greatly reducing its momentum.

Unlucky for me, I am now covered in bits of molten bullet, and let me tell you, that hurts like hell. I think a few bits even hit my face. Something tells me the man was not expecting that result either, and he was slow to release his third shot, giving me precious distance.

I bring down the burning sword and hit the gun with just the tip of it, which is still enough for it to melt straight through it. I smile up at the guy as he takes a few steps back, hitting the wall. He pulls out a knife, but fire is super effective against steel. It only slows my sword down by a minimal amount, and then it hits flesh. I make sure to cut all the way through, hitting some resistance, turns out this guy has some subdermal armour. Neat, it's not going to help him much here.

Once I am sure the guy is down, I stop the jet supply and let time catch up with me again. I glance at the gun. Yep, that is truly fucked now.

Lyssa would like to inform you that adding burns to your list of injuries does not help your case.

‘Ignore the burns for now. Focus on keeping my brain intact.’

There is a bullet in it. It is no longer intact. You are lucky to be alive.

‘You are right. I am sorry, don’t need to ruffle your processor.’

I start to check every nook and cranny of the room, making sure there are no other gunmen around. Look back into the data and make a decision. This stuff is too dangerous to give to New Hope, so let's send it all to PsyCo instead have them worry about it. In the meantime, I should call Mio.

“Maniac, what is up?” Mio asks, when picking up.

“Change of the plan. Are you all safe?”

“Yes, we are in a building across from you. We have not received the transfer yet.”

“About that, can you put me on speaker?”

“Sure, and… there we go. You are on speaker now,”

“So, small changes of plan, the data is too dangerous for New Hope to own, even if it is just for a second, so I am sending it somewhere else.” I say.

“So you are cutting us out?” Eva asks.

“Do you think I would have called if that was my plan?” I ask, a bit confused.

“I don’t know what is in that crazy head of yours,” Eva says.

“Currently, a bullet is occupying the space,” I say.

“What?” I hear a chorus of voices.

“I got shot in the head.”

“And you are still capable of speech. That is impressive. Will you be okay?” John asks.

“I will be fine, going to kill the rest of the aliens in this building to buy some extra time, then rush back home to get it removed.”

“I see, so you got a handle on it, so why did you call?” John asks.

“Ooh, right, I did not want to stiff you guys. Evelin enjoys your company, so why don’t you come work for me? I will pay a lot more than what New Hope will pay for this data, and you get to play with samurai toys.” I propose

The other side of the line stays quiet.

“Hello? You still there?” I ask, a bit confused.

“Sorry, I was just surprised, but yes, I think we will do it.” Mio says.

“That is good. We'll hash out the details when we are safe, okay?”

“So, is there anything you need us to do, boss?” Eva asks.

“Acquiring a vehicle would be nice,” I say.

“On it,” Eva says.

And with that, I close the call. I guess that is one less problem to worry about. Now, let's see where all the escaped prisoners are hanging out. I look over the security footage, and spot a big group a floor up, and not that far away. I take one last look around but still don’t see anything, so I head towards the Gaia’s rejects.

Suddenly, I hear a boom as the building starts to shake. Then, the booming sound gets louder as it feels like the entire floor sinks a couple of centimetres.

“Lyssa, what was that?”

You might need to seek cover. Someone just blew out a lot of the foundational structure of the building.

“Oh, in the name of the protectors, not again.”

The ground starts to shake even more as the whole room starts to stand at an odd angle. The floor starts to crack, revealing the large, big nothing underneath. I start to slide. I quickly turn around and jam the sword on the floor. Then, the walls start to crack as well, making large chunks fall.

I dodge most of them, letting the small pieces hit me as I do my best not to fall. Then the room plunges again, and I gain this sudden feeling of weightlessness. Then it stops, and I smack the ground hard, making me see sparks, as my head is sent into a spike of pain.

In agony, I let go of the sword, and I slowly start to slide down towards the hole as I lose consciousness.

“So, this is how I die.”