“Get the next bulkhead already, old man!”

Matthew clicked his tongue as he followed Ripper’s instructions and knocked through the next bulkhead, the two of them had gone through 18 bulkheads since they had been engaged by the local Anti-terror troops, and Matthew was starting to get tired of bashing apart combat grade automata

Of course the plasma accelerator pistol had been about as much use as a plastic umbrella in a hurricane as it had already overheated and melted away.

‘Of course that’s what I’ve started to expect from a weapon provided free of charge…’

Matthew kept his complaints to the back of his mind as he slammed through the bulkhead that Ripper had already cut apart, Ripper followed after him as she kept deflecting metal slugs and cut apart plasma projectiles fired by the approaching Anti-Terror troops that were hot on their trails, while they were augmented like Matthew and Ripper, their augments paled in compression to that of Matthew and Ripper, thus the two were mostly keeping above water, still things weren’t as easy for the two as they could be

“I swear you have to face reality soon, old man!”

Matthew had grown too tired enough of having this ‘talk’ with Ripper to actually respond to her as he kept himself out of the way of stay metal shards and plasma splatters from Ripper’s frankly supernatural defense, however Ripper had grown tired of Matthew’s reluctance to accept reality

“Listen to me already, you old stubborn bastard!”

To this, Matthew snapped back

“Why would I do that!? THIS ISN’T REALITY, IT’S A NIGHTMARE!”

To Matthew, this certainly was a nightmare, having grown tired of war to the point of seeking death by enemy fire he had instead been taken as an indoctrinated servant of an intergalactic conglomerate to do their dirty work, however to Ripper, a person who had taken the same path as him only several hundred years earlier (Despite calling him an old man) he was simply a brat whining about adapting to his new life

However, just as she was about to point this out a voice sounded out over the local net

[Doc here, I’ve released aerosol 42 at the ventilation hub of the target building, move to escalation now]

Both Matthew and Ripper stopped arguing at once and command their Aea’s to act at once

‘Aea, inject the antidote for aerosol 42!’

[Injection of non-mission critical stimulates carries a cost of 5000 credits, furthermore BlueArrow can not be held liable for any resulting bodily damage or addition, whether it be physical or mental]

The screams of the Anti-Terror troops hot on Matthew and Ripper’s trail entered Matthew’s ears, their bodies were melting within their armored suits, and Matthew felt his skin itch as he tasted blood in his mouth

‘Just do it!’

[Affirmative, injection of chemical antidote to aerosol 42 injected, assigning all nanite patters to counter other bodily effects and damages caused, 5000 credits deducted from balance]

After a few moments, Matthew felt the pain searing at his skin disappear as the antidote took effect, however just as he did he felt a chill and leaned back as Ripper’s sword passed right in front of him, Matthew didn’t need to think, he acted on instinct and twisted his body to the side as he sent a left hook to her side, needless to say of Ripper’s small statue in comparison to Matthew, she was sent flying

“You cracked my rips, you shitty old man!”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Ripper twisted in the air as she cursed Matthew out and kicked off the wall and charged back at Matthew once again, her monomolecular sword turned into a whirlwind as she attacked Matthew again, fully intent on cutting him apart, Matthew was quickly pushed back as he dodged and redirected the blade to avoid getting chopped apart, despite his unfavorable position he neither yelled nor pleaded, he simply spoke in an ice-cold tone of voice

“Knock it off”

“Why don’t you make me!”

Matthew narrowed his eyes, his remaining patience spent, and already being in a bad mood he snapped and instantly matched Ripper’s ferocious attacks with his bare hands, blood splattered as cuts appeared on his hands and arms, but despite having the weapon advantage Ripper failed to server any of Matthew’s tendons, she wasn’t even able to server any of his fingers, and just as their fight heated up Ripper made a lethal mistake by shifting her balance too much to the side, Matthew instantly exploited the opening as he sacrificed his arm by impaling Ripper’s sword through his forearm and instantly twisted, shattering the thin blade between the two bones in his forearm

“MY SWORD, YOU ARGHHH!!!”

Ripper’s complaint was immediately cut short by a cry of pain as Matthew snapped her right knee with a kick from the side, as he stepped in he snapped the femur in her already disabled leg as he delivered a punch to her stomach which sent her crashing into the wall behind her, without half of her right leg of cause

“...Ehehe~”

At Ripper’s creepy laugh, Matthew stepped off the remains of her lower right leg which he had just tron from her body and walked over to where she sat slumped against the wall, her head down, as he neared he suddenly kicked off the ground before he kicked the knife out of Ripper’s left arm, shattering her forearm before he grabbed her by the shoulder and lifted her up to his eye height and asked

“Are you done?”

Ripper rose her head and looked him in the eyes for a few moments before she let out another creepy laugh, her eyes were hollow and blank without light, much like Matthew’s

“Ehehe~ There he is”

Matthew clicked his tongue before he threw her over towards her served leg and spoke coldly

“Hurry up and get ready to move, or I’ll leave you behind”

Ripper giggled to herself as she grabbed her served leg and held it against her open wound for a moment as the Trauma nanites reconnected her femur

“Come on now, old man, isn’t time to admit it?”

Matthew felt his anger flare up again as he turned towards Ripper, his hand grasped her neck, but just as he was about to snap her neck he loosened his grip and let out a deep sigh, he knew it too, his immature dream of buying his freedom and retiring on some backwater world where he could live out his days with a wife and a couple of kids were never going to happen

‘Even if I somehow managed to buy back my freedom I have no identity, best case I would be chopped up for spare parts in some back ally…’

Matthew had to admit it, while he had not been born to fight bloody war, he had been molded for it all his life, when his home world of Eirmal 4 had been put under blockade his fate had been sealed and while admitting you reveled in slaughter and mayhem wasn’t exactly the easiest change of heart for anyone Matthew had to admit it had taken him too long

‘...Get me a coil rifle Aea… a high-powered one’

[Weapon delivery doing an active mission carries a—]

‘I don’t care, just get me one fast’

[Understood, under placed a service fee of—]

‘Mute all further balance chances, just give me a time until delivery’

[Time until delivery, 1 minute and 23 seconds]

Matthew turned and continued down the hallway without answering Ripper’s question, there was no need to, judging by the entrapped expression she gazed after him with she already knew he had decided to embrace the real him, as soon as her leg were reattached she stood up and hurriedly followed after Matthew, she walked next to him while she peeked up at his face for a bit before she asked

“Wanna fuck?”

“...No, ew”

“Ehehe~”

As the two reached a bulkhead it opened up, now that they had finished drawing the local Anti-Terror troops into the structure there was no more need to hide their technological superiority, however behind the next bulkhead was an unpleasant surprise

“Ew!”

Ripper let out a half fringed shriek as she jumped up and grabbed Matthew’s shoulder to keep herself off the nondescript bio matter floor that flowed out from the other side of the bulkhead, given that it reached well up to Matthew’s knees and the numerous loose clothes and other articles that flowed along with it he figured Doc had herded multiple students and staff into this barricaded section to get a better sample size, Matthew let out a sigh before he asked the weirdo standing in the middle of the hallway

“How did it go?”

Wearing a full bright yellow biochemical suit that exposed none of what the weirdo that wore it looked like underneath it Matthew had been working with Doc for about 100 years, yet he had never seen them without it on, still he was well aware ‘Doc’ had been working on some sort of pharmaceutical drug

“...It’s a failure this time too… Well, another 1 or 2 trillion souls should ensure the completion and my sweet 0.0002% commission… Wait, why are you so chatty today, Major?”

Matthew shrugged and continued into the hallway, where he walked up to a wall section with a ventilation shaft behind it, the maintenance panel opened up and Matthew retrieved the coil rifle that a drone had just delivered there along with a dozen extra magazines as Ripper piped up, still attached to Matthew’s shoulder

“Matthew finally stopped being stubborn”

Doc dropped the sample glass in their hand and after a few moments they spoke again

“...Weird, I thought it would be at least another 50 years before that would happen, I guess your persistence is commendable, Ripper”

“Ehehe~ Well there’s still a while to go, he still won’t rough me up for real, let alone do me”

Not feeling like dignifying Ripper’s comment with a response, Matthew cycled the action on the coil rifle a few times before he took aim and did a dry fire before he checked the trigger a few times, then he began configuring the optical sight for the variable zoom he wanted, however he would regret not shutting down the chatter with Doc’s next sentence

“Oh, that’s because he’s been neurological neutered, even I would find it close to impossible to seduce a person without any feelings of lust”