There are a few times in life when you’re faced with two choices and you have to, and I mean really have to, pick the idiotic one. From the bathroom, I could feel Terus, or who I assumed was Terus, in the next room. He was fishing a rifle from behind the couch as Sam landed quietly on the bathroom floor with a light crunch of glass behind me. I twisted the dial in my mind and weighed my options. On the one hand, I could wait for Jack and Keg to fly heroically through the window behind us, due to hours of practice in the real world, breaching rooms was more of their specialty. On the other hand, I could just knock the door aside and slice my way into a fight with limited backup against what was now an armed person, who’s rank and strength were completely unknown to me.

Of course, I went for the latter option, which is why when I kicked through the door I was face to face with the business end of a rifle. Dodging and deflecting bullets was an interesting game. It wasn’t a case of seeing the bullet with super sight and extraordinary reflexes. As Deborah had explained and forced me to practice, the only way to reliably deflect or dodge a bullet that was traveling at over two thousand feet per second was to judge the trajectory by the placement and angle of the barrel. If you know where the bullet will go, you could intercept it or get out of the way before it ever properly leaves the gun. This becomes harder the further away from the rifle you were, or as was the case for me in that instant, It became almost impossible when you were less than six feet away.

With the dial twisted in my mind, I looked along the length of the rifle, measuring the direction that it would fire, but it was too close. When the rifle exploded with a deafening crack all I could do was move my chest to the side by inches, the plated armor cracking under the force of the high caliber bullet and I spun from the impact. Before I tumbled to my knees, I flicked my sword out. The flat of the blade slapping against the side of the barrel, knocking the second and third shots wide and into the wall.

As I rolled to the side, there was a blur as Sam leaped over me. In a flash she was across the room, knocking the rifle from Terus’s hands with the butt of her shortened spear. She spun her spear and there was a grunt as the blunt end popped to full length, right into Terus’s chest, sending him back into a wall.

He raised his head and stretched his hand towards his rifle, but froze when the tip of Sam's spear press lightly under his chin, a trickly of blood rolling across his thin pale scales. “Leave it,” Sam hissed. Terus stared up at her then agreed with a shallow nod. There was a crash from the bathroom as Jack rolled through the window, followed by a cry of alarm that grew louder and louder, Daron slamming into the bathroom floor in a ball. Had Keg just thrown him? I wondered from where I knelt. I winced at the dull pain as I laughed.

“What do you want?” Terus asked, his voice cracked and high pitched like a pimpled teen.

“Just information,” Jack called from the bathroom, brushing pieces of glass from his clothing and pulling Daron to his feet. Another crash from behind them let us all know that Keg was here too.

“Information? You didn’t think to knock on the door and ask?!” Terus spat.

“Honestly, it never crossed our minds. Besides, that was far more fun,” Jack said,

“Speak for yourself,” Daron muttered, shaking his head.

“I’m not going to tell you anything now, Breaking into my home, assaulting me like this!” Terus shouted.

“We don’t have time now. We have company coming up the elevator. Keg, help sam bag him. Erick, get out and make sure the hallway is clear, were only five floors from the roof so we can take the stairs. Daron, can you try to stop the elevator?” Jack began ordering us around.

No one offered me a hand as I stood, rubbing my chest. The cracked armor plate wouldn’t stop another bullet, so it would be up to my strengthened body. If it was a high enough caliber, it wouldn’t go too well. I sheathed one of the swords and pushed past Keg as he stuffed a cotton bag over Terus’s head. The hallway was clear. I stood on the threshold, watching the others in the room and monitoring the hallways with my EM sense.

Keg tightened the cord around Terus's wrists and pulled him to his feet. Having no patience to direct or lead the bound and blinded man, Keg squatted down and picked the man up, carrying him over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift.

“I’m trying to slow the lift, but they’re fighting me. Someone else is in the system. I can’t hold them long and they’re only four floors away,” Daron said, taking large steps the keep up with Keg as he pushed past me and began following Sam down the hallway. Daron had his head down in concentration as he tried to slow the elevator. He only looked up to shake his head at Jack.

“Right! If we don’t want to have a meet and greet, you better shift your arses,” Jack barked, bring up the rear out of Terus’s apartment. At the front, Keg began jogging with Terus being jostled around like a sack of potatoes. I didn’t envy Keg, Terus would be a synthetic meat covered metal skeleton. An advanced AI made purely for training, and he wouldn’t be light.

We were just reaching the emergency staircase when the elevator chimed. Jack and I turned to watch the doors slide open. The occupants didn’t get a chance to step out, the second their bodies cast a shadow on the carpet, Jack opened fire. His automatic rifle sending a tight spray of bullets ricocheting off the corner of the elevators doors. The shadows disappeared as Jack's targets hunkered back behind cover. They weren’t cowled though, it took less than a second before two small metal balls bounced off the walls and landed with a soft thud on the floor. Jack grabbed me by the collar and flinging me backward through the stairwell's door as the hallway exploded with fire and shrapnel.

“Are they wanting to bring the fucking building down!” Keg yelled from the stairs. The crew from the elevator abandoned cover, sprinting towards us.

“Go!” I said, hoping to my feet and pushing Jack after the others up the stairs.

Jack didn’t need to be told twice, taking the stairs two at a time. I slammed the door closed and stepped back onto the narrow landing, feeling the four bodies as they legged it down the hallway. Taking a deep breath I waited, my body tensed like a coiled spring, every cell in my body prepared for a fresh fight.

As soon as the door crashed open, I kicked out. My foot dented the metal door and it flew back again. There was a cry of pain as a man's arm and head were crushed. I plunged my sword through the door and when it came out, it was slick with blood. The man crumbled in the doorway and for good measure I kicked out again, crushing his head against the frame. 1 down, three left.

Our pursuers were quick to retaliate and began shredding the door with automatic fire, bullets covering the landing. They only hit empty air and steel walls as I leapt up onto the railing, using it as a stepping stool to propel myself up to the next floor and haul myself up. Jack was only meters ahead of me and I began to sprint after the others. “Jack! Give me a nade!” I yelled over the roar of the rifles. Without looking back, Jack pulled a grenade from his vest, armed it, and tossed it casually over his shoulder. I caught it loosely and flicked my wrist, sending it dropping over the railing and down to the landing below. Right into the middle of the man and two women following.

There were shouts of alarm before the grenade detonated. In the confined space of the stairwell, the explosion was thunderous. The stairs shook and dust rained down from the ceiling. A spout of flame burst past us, then just when I thought it had disappeared there was a roar.

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The sound grew louder and louder shaking my skull, I glanced down over the edge to see a swirling mass of fire. It twisted and spun in a tight ball of searing energy, The three stood to the side of the landing, unsinged and uninjured except for a few small shrapnel wounds. The two women held their arms out, moving them in unison as they manipulated the flames. Morphing them, growing them into something devastating. A sickening feeling developed in my gut. Burning to death would be a horrible way to go.

“Fucking move!!” I screamed, sprinting after the others, leaping whole sets of stairs at a time. The roaring growing ever louder. The others were disappearing onto the rooftop as I rounded the last corner. It was only five steps to go when the ball of fire erupted up at us. Like being trapped in the barrel of a cannon, the shockwave that preceded the flames knocked me sideways into the wall as I jumped the stairs. My shoulder buckled the steel panels. Dazed from the force, I reached a hand out, desperately grabbing the doorframe and pulling myself through at the same time as the flames punched out into open.

Scorching hot air evaporated the moisture in my throat and lungs, burning as I gasped in pain from the flames melting my pants leg that was caught in the blast. I was pulled to the side by Jack and I fumbled with the melting clothing, ripping it apart at my hip to pull the material free from my skin before it roasted. My skin was red and blotchy with small blisters already forming on my calf.

“Fuck me!” I gasped again, this time the air only mildly fiery. I grabbed Jack's arm and pulled myself up with his help. “Fucking Elemental augments!” I swore. I adjusted the grip on my sword as I forced down the pain in my right leg. I had felt worse, and I would do worse.

Footsteps pounded on the stairs and I lept from my left leg as a figure emerged at the edge of the smoke. I gave them no time to gather themselves and slammed a flying knee into their face. They tumbled back through the door and I felt the body fold over the edge of the railing then fall into free space. Lost from my EM sense as he tumbled.

I landed, my leg screaming as my skin stretched. I had no time to consider it as I ducked a thin spout of fire that broke through the smoke. I stabbed, slicing through an arm before leaping back from the doorway, abandoning dexterity for distance. I skidding across the rooftop on my back, watching and waiting for someone to start firing at me. Instead, the nose of Mia’s shuttle rose over the edge of the building, and as soon as I was clear her turret exploded.

Mia had complained that the shuttle was old, shitty, and woefully under equipt for aerial combat. For blowing apart the stairwell while two people were inside? It was perfect for that. The shuttles turret gun spewed bullets comparable to a 20mm round firing at almost fifty per second, and it shredded the entrance to the stairs. Pieces of steel and glass violently spitting as the structure was reduced to ruins. The life forms lost in my EM sense.

Once again I hauled myself to my feet, limping slightly as I walked through the cloud of dust, chunks of glass crunching under my boots. I smiled as the shuttle spun, and the door lowered, revealing Mia’s face as she looked back at us.

“Good timing,” I muttered, sliding into a seat behind the cockpit.

“Where’s the rest of your pants?” Mia asked, frowned at me.

“Just been playing with fire. I’m fine. Just get us out of here,” I said, wincing as I bent my leg against the seat.

“Fine. Hold on children,” Mia called out, looking forward as the door closed and the ship banked sharply.

Jack handed me a can of med spray and I began applying it to the growing blisters on my leg, the wound's sting being replaced with a pleasant cold numbing sensation as nanites sunk into the flesh and began repairing it.

“Who the fuck were they?” Keg asked with a relieved sigh. He had dropped Terus and was now stretched out on the seat opposite me.

“Another school? They were probably wanting to know the same thing we do. I wonder how much this guy knows?” Jack said. tapping on his scanner.

“What now?” Daron asked.

“Now, we find somewhere quiet and interrogate our friend here,” I said, nudging Terus’s bound body as he rolled around on the floor with the rapid jerking of Mias flying.

There are plenty of ways to get information from people, there was even a set of lectures on interrogation techniques, so many in fact that I really did struggle to remember them all and had zero practice with any of them. I had been surprised when the lecture bot had never heard of waterboarding, telling me that it did not sound like a sufficient torture technique. I wasn’t going to try it out, and it wasn’t even a pure morality issue, I just now knew there were far easier ways of getting information from people.

I knelt on the floor of the shuttle beside Terus as he lay squirming on the floor. Mia had landed the shuttle in a forest clearing thirty-five miles from the city, somewhere quiet and out of the way where we could work in peace. I pulled Terus’s sleeve up to reveal his scanner, taking a cord handed to me by Sam.

“What are you doing?” Keg asked,

“It called direct extraction,” Sam explained as I worked, stabbing one needle end of the cable into my arm just along the edge of the scanner, I felt the tip of the needle slot into a small port just under the skin. “You can hard line into a scanner and extract data.”

“That’s not going to work,” Daron piped up, “Scanner data is heavily encrypted,” he argued.

“Sure some of it, hell most of it. But The Company provides some pretty nice software for this shit,” Sam added.

Daron stared down at the cable as I stabbed it into Terus’s arm and slotted it into the port. Deep in thought.

I tapped on my scanner, opening the Grey Scarred licensed program and beginning the data transfer.

I wasn’t looking for information on troop location, enemy planning, or numbers. There was no way he would have that on his scanner. Bank account information and most messaging applications were too heavily encrypted for a quick evaluation like this. I was looking for something completely ordinary and after only ten minutes I found it.

As we had been taught, it was often the simple things that people overlook that created the best bargaining chips. When combined with a deep archive of information from the Grey scarred company, I evaluated Terus’s location data and the list of local networks he connected to, all geotagged. When cross-referenced against the Grey Scarred archives for intelligence I hit the jackpot.

“Hey Jack, have you heard about the Iron Tunnel?” I asked casually.

“Nope, why?” Jack said, looking up from his scanner. Terus stopped struggling against his bonds.

“They’re pretty interesting actually." I said, reading from my scanner, "It’s more or less a smuggling operation, using tunnels to transport goods around the cities of this continent. Transport all kinds of things but mostly weapons and narcotics. What’s interesting is that they have been in a two-year crime war against their rivals the Nerion Core. I know stupid names,” I said.

“And what do they have to do with what we’re doing right now?” Jack sighed.

“Well, they hate each other. I mean really hate each other. There was a case about five months ago where a tailor who made suits for the leader of the Iron Tunnel, accidentally made some clothing for a few of the Nerion Core guys. Want to know what happened?”

“Sure,” Jack said, humoring me.

“Well, They went to the tailor, pulled him out onto the street in the middle of the night and poured molten Iron down his throat…Then they did the same to his wife. They even found his suppliers and shut them down. Scorched earth type of shit.” I let the silence hang in the air as I watched the back of Terus’s head. He had fallen completely still, as though we might forget he was there.

“That was just a guy making some clothes. Could you imagine what they would do to someone who was intentionally doing business with both groups? Someone who sold weapons, or even information. Someone who worked with the schools for example. I wonder what they would do to someone like that.” I asked, honest curiosity in my voice.

“I suspect they would pour molten iron somewhere else,” Jack mused, clearly understanding where I was going with that.

“I’d say so. Might be worth getting in contact and letting them know that we have information on just such a person,” I added,

“Alright!! I’ll tell you what you want to know. Creators, it’s not worth the life of my family!” Terus cried out from the floor.

“Excellent. Now we want the truth, no bull shit. If anything you say turns out to be false we won't hesitate to talk to your friends. If the information is good, you can go on doing what you want, it makes no difference to us,” I said. Terus nodded, his hands shaking as I pulled him to his feet and removing the cord from our scanners. I shoved him down onto the seat across from Jack who began questioning him.

“That was smart, how did you know?” Mia said when I moved to the front of the ship and slid into the co-pilot's seat.

“His scanner had records of visits to bars and businesses owned by both groups. I just guessed that he was working with both of them,” I muttered.

“And the tailor?” Mia asked.

“All true. There are records tied to the groups in the archives,” I flicked my scanner and sent the files to Mia. She looked down and read the notes.

“That’s horrible,” She muttered.

“What’s worse, the action or the sick mind of people who programmed the bots?” I said, leaning back in the chair and closing my eyes.