Chen opened the door. Or, he tried to. Kiara watched with a mix of amusement and impatience as he fumbled with the alien mechanism. "Looks simple enough," he muttered, more to himself than to her.
As he worked, she went over the plan again in her mind. They would exit this door into the alley on the north side of the building. Then, they would either go east or west, depending on what they found. The goal was to get back to the first raptor unit they were in the middle of salvaging when two other units had stumbled upon them. With the new salvage module on the Hub, they should be able to gather more resources and credits.
After a few more attempts, Chen whispered, "Got it," and the door finally slid open with a soft hiss. He glanced back at her with a grin. She rolled her eyes but couldn't help a small smile.
Chen stepped out first, his silhouette framed by the dim light of the alley. She had expected the bright light of day but assumed in that moment that the alley was in shadow. "Clear," he called back, then added with a hint of surprise, "Well, just have a look yourself."
She followed him out of the storeroom, her senses alert as she took in the scene before her. They were in the kitchen of a commercial restaurant, a chaotic mess of cooking utensils and ingredients left behind in a rush, as if the chefs had just walked out mid-prep. Pots clattered softly against each other as they moved, jostled by the opening of the door that should not have been there.
"I thought you said the walls would be bumping out into the alley?" Mendez whispered, scanning the room with a practiced eye.
Chen frowned and turned back to the storeroom, presumably to double-check the Hub's display. Mendez took a quick peek into the restaurant's seating area to make sure they were alone. It was the usual fare, judging by the decor, but she saw nothing to cause concern. Looking back at Chen, she found him pacing between the kitchen and their new headquarters. He kept glancing at the screen and then back at the wall, clearly trying to figure something out.
Kiara took a look around the kitchen, but her eye was drawn to the new back wall and connecting door they had recently added. Unlike the dark spuncrete surface on their side, the kitchen just looked like a kitchen. At first, she thought the spuncrete had stopped just short of replacing the existing wall fabric. But when she ran her hand along the surface, she felt the same texture she had felt on their side of the wall.
Chen finally spoke, sticking his head through the doorway. "It looked smaller on that display," he said, frustration creeping into his voice. "Compared to the other buildings."
"It's small for a skyscraper," she said, pointing to the new back wall and drawing his attention. "But it's still seven stories tall. Have a look at our new addition to the layout."
Chen joined her, running his hand over the seamless blend of alien and human architecture. "They really know how to integrate their tech," he murmured. "This looks like it's been here forever."
"You say 'they'," she said, raising an eyebrow.
Chen paused, his hand still on the wall. "Yeah, I guess I do," he replied thoughtfully. "It's just... the way this tech feels, it seems like it was designed with a specific purpose in mind. Almost like there's an intelligence behind it."
Mendez considered this, her fingers tapping lightly on her shotgun. "Are you suggesting that all this might be the result of, what? Evolution? It's a complex technological system."
"In origin, there's no doubt about that," he said.
She nodded in understanding. "Ah, you mean, is the system directed or automated?"
Chen shrugged, glancing around the room. "Could be either. But one thing's for sure—this tech is too advanced and well-integrated to be accidental. Whoever—or whatever—designed it knew exactly what they were doing."
Mendez nodded slowly, her mind racing with the implications. "Well, let's hope they—or it—are on our side, or at least neutral."
"Yeah," Chen agreed, his voice tinged with uncertainty. "Let's hope."
From the kitchen, they moved cautiously into the restaurant's dining area, where shadows and silence reigned. The room was a jumble of tables and chairs, some knocked over in the frantic rush to leave. Mendez took stock of the room, noting exits and potential cover spots with a practiced gaze.
Chen approached the window, looking out at the snow-dusted street beyond. Mendez joined him, "this is the east side then," she said, "17th street."
They stood side by side, watching snowflakes dance in the air, a scene so unlike Alabama's familiar landscapes. Mendez saw Chen's brow furrowed in thought. "We need to get a better grasp of the layout," she said. "We can't afford to get trapped if things turn bad."
Chen nodded, his fingers tightening around the grip of his shotgun. "Agreed. We need to be able to navigate back here quickly if needed." He paused and held up a hand. "We should close the door to our base first."
"Make sure we can open it back up before you do," she replied.
They walked back to the kitchen to examine the door closely, looking for the handle.
"There's nothing on this side," she observed. On the kitchen side, it was just the plain wall, blending seamlessly with the rest of the kitchen décor. It was as if the door didn't exist from this perspective, making it difficult to find any visible mechanism or handle.
Chen let out a breath, his hand against the wall. "Hub, what's the security protocol for the door we just came through?"
The Hub's calm, mechanical voice echoed lightly from the other side of the door. "By default, the door operates on a biometric scan system. This will automatically grant access to authorized personnel."
Kiara tapped her emblem. "Emblem, can you send the Hub's voice through your channel?"
"Connection established," the emblem's voice said in her ears.
Kiara couldn't help but compare the voices of the two systems. The Hub, though impersonal, often made unprompted observations and suggestions that gave it an air of sentience. She and Chen had taken to addressing it as if it were a person, attributing a certain level of intelligence to its responses. The Hub's voice fell on the masculine side of the line—authoritative and steady.
In contrast, the emblem seemed to be nothing more than a simple vocal interface, providing straightforward responses without any hint of personality. Its voice was more artificial, yet still carried a feminine quality. If she had to categorize them, the Hub would be the wise, knowledgeable guide, while the emblem was the efficient, unyielding assistant.
Shaking off her musings, Kiara refocused on the task at hand. They needed to ensure the security of their base, and the first step was understanding how to control access to it. She glanced at Chen. "Hub, how do we open the door if there's no handle on this side?"
"Entrances on the exterior of a defense force compound are concealed. The mechanism for gaining access is similarly concealed," the Hub's voice said sounding crisp and clear. The emblem's sound projection was going to take some time to get used to.
"Can you reveal the mechanism?" Chen asked the Hub.
"Indeed," the Hub replied. "The exterior mechanism can be revealed and operated using a concealed biometric panel. Would you like to reveal the panel now?"
Chen looked at her and she gave him a nod of encouragement. "Go ahead, Hub," he said.
A small section of the seemingly plain wall shimmered and shifted, revealing a sleek, touch-sensitive panel. It glowed faintly, awaiting input.
"That looks easy enough to use," Kiara said, examining the panel. "But what about security? Can the enemy bypass it?"
"The current biometric system is designed to recognize authorized personnel based on pre-set parameters," the Hub responded. "For more stringent security, additional protocols such as passcodes, multi-factor authentication, or manual overrides can be established. However, the enemy lacks the capability to replicate authorized biometrics under the current settings."
Chen considered this for a moment. "Can we set it so that it alerts us if someone tries to access it without authorization?"
"Affirmative," the Hub confirmed. "Unauthorized access attempts can trigger an alert to your emblem channel."
She looked at Chen. "I think the automated scan is fine for now, as long as it alerts us if something goes wrong. We don't want to make it too complicated."
Chen nodded. "Agreed. Hub, set the door to use biometric scans with an alert for unauthorized access."
"Settings updated," the Hub confirmed. "The door will now alert you to any unauthorized access attempts."
"Confirmed," the emblem's voice said.
Chen stepped back to the door and watched it close with a soft hiss, the mechanism locking into place. He turned back to Mendez, feeling a bit more secure. "Alright, let's move. We need to get those components before more raptors show up."
"One more thing," she said, scanning the dimly lit interior. "It's a restaurant. Let's have a look around, see if there are any surprises."
"Good idea," Chen replied, though he added with a smirk, "I'm not that hungry, you?"
She shook her head. "I'm good."
"I'll take the kitchen, you take the office?" Chen offered.
"Deal."
Mendez approached the office door, only to find it locked. She considered kicking it in—something she had always wanted to try—but stopped herself when she noticed two things. First, the door swung inward, and more importantly, it was made of metal.
"Chen," she called out, "let's see if that salvage tool can take out this lock."
"What do you need?" Chen's voice came from the kitchen, slightly muffled, and she had the distinct impression that he was speaking with a mouth full of food.
Mendez rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help a grin. "The office door's locked. Think you can work your magic?"
Chen appeared a moment later, wiping crumbs from his hands. "Found some bread that wasn't completely stale," he explained with a shrug. He held out half of a slice of brown bread, and she waved it away. Chen shrugged again and popped the bread into his mouth.
He had his salvage tool out and was mumbling something through the mouthful of bread. She just pointed at the locked door.
Chen set to work on the lock, the tool emitting a low hum as it melted through the mechanism. Mendez watched the door give way, revealing a small office cluttered with paperwork that had been left in a hurry.
"Let's see if there's anything useful," Mendez said, stepping inside.
There was nothing useful. The office was little more than a broom closet with a tiny desk and a plastic trash receptacle. The paper was strewn about, and she saw the outline of what she assumed to be a missing laptop in the dust on the desk.
"I think we're done here," Chen said, glancing around one last time before turning to head back to the dining area.
"Right behind you," she said, stepping back and closing the door behind them.
Back in the main area, Chen needed his salvage tool again at the front door of the restaurant. He carefully worked the lock, the tool humming as it burned through the mechanism.
"Good thing the bunker door is sealed," he said as the piled-up snow forced the door open as soon as the lock was burned out.
The cold air hit her face like a physical blow, a sharp contrast to the warmth inside. A moment later, she felt her armor adjust against the chill, the material subtly warming to compensate for the drop in temperature.
They stepped out onto 17th Street together. Mendez held her shotgun out, elbows bent and her finger just off the trigger. Chen's grip was tight to his shoulder, taking a tactical stance, whereas she felt more comfortable treating it as if she were checking the yard for coyotes at night. She scanned the street from north to south. Seeing no sign of the enemy in the direction of Franklin Parkway, they headed south, toward the intersection with Arch Street.
The silence of the city was ominous, the only sound their boots crunching through the thin layer of iced-over snow on the sidewalk.
"You scared?" Chen whispered, his voice crystal clear in her ears due to the emblem's wizardry.
"Out of my mind," she whispered back, "but we need this stuff."
As they approached the intersection, she heard a new noise. A mechanical noise.
"Stay back," she told Chen, using her hand to press him back against the building. She did the same, putting her back against the wall.
"What?" Chen started. She shushed him and pointed in the direction of the corner, and then to herself.
Mendez steeled herself and, making sure to keep the shotgun out of view, poked her head around the corner for a brief instant. Her breath caught in her throat.
"What is it?" Chen hissed.
"Raptors," she said, her voice louder. "Three of them at the body, they can't hear us and I don't think they saw me."
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"What do you want to do?" Chen asked.
"We've got to take them out," she said matter-of-factly.
"Just making sure you're still on board," he said.
"We need the resources, don't we? That's the enemy, and we've got these guns."
"Who knew you were such a badass?" Chen said with a hint of admiration.
She shook her head. "Don't get me wrong, I'd rather just go lay down in our bunker and wait for the cavalry to arrive. But they ain't coming. They don't even know we're here. They probably think we went AWOL or got killed by a patrol back in Birmingham."
"That's an inspiring speech," he said. "It's a good thing the enemy can't hear you." He held out his rifle; she hadn't noticed that he had exchanged the weapon on his back. "You ready?"
She instructed the emblem to attach the shotgun across her chest and pulled her rifle from her own back. She took a quick aim down the iron sights and then nodded.
"There are three," she said. "You go around me on my left and take the one on the left. I'll take the one on the right, and we'll take it from there."
He gave her a nod and held his rifle ready, using a similar stance to the one he used with the shotgun, tight to the shoulder.
She edged around the corner and went to one knee, taking aim with the rifle for the first time. There was no reaction from any of the raptors.
"The sensors on those things are pathetic," Chen scoffed. "We are looking right at them." He tapped his helmet. "Let's see what our sensors can do."
"Three enemy units detected," the voice of the emblem said in her ear. "Do you wish to initiate iron sight targeting?"
She glanced at Chen, but his eyes were fixed on his target.
"Yes," she said.
The shift was subtle. As she focused on the iron sights of the rifle, she noticed them moving slightly back and forth, aligning as she took aim. The sights adjusted to guide her, a mechanical precision that was both reassuring and strange.
"On three?" Chen asked.
"Count it," she said.
----------------------------------------
The echo of gunfire faded into the eerie silence of the city, leaving only the rhythmic sound of snow crunching underfoot. The snowfall began to pick up, swirling around them in thickening flurries that danced through the cold air, slowly erasing their footprints and softening the harsh outlines of the street.
Mendez tapped the side of her head, her ears still ringing from the gunfire. "We forgot about hearing protection," she said, stating the obvious.
"We forgot about the earmuffs," Chen confirmed with a frown.
"Should we go back inside?" Mendez asked, glancing back at the restaurant they had just left.
Chen stopped in his tracks, evidently thinking about the question. "Hub," he said, "or emblem, can the helmets protect our ears against loud noises?"
"Organic beings are sensitive to high-frequency air compression," the voice of the Hub said in their ears. "Calculating options."
They stood in the falling snow, watching the flakes swirl and dance in the wind. Chen adjusted his grip on the rifle, waiting for the Hub’s response.
"Adjustment can be made to auditory reception systems," the emblem chimed in. "Initiating sound wave redirection to mitigate excessive noise."
"Go for it," Mendez said, and suddenly the world went mute.
"Not all sound," Chen said. She could hear him in her ears, the work of the emblem's magic communication method, but she couldn't hear Chen himself. That slight echo was removed.
"Only filter noises as loud as the gunfire," she clarified.
There was a brief pause and suddenly the background noise of the world returned to her ears. "Adjustments complete. External sound levels normalized for optimal awareness and protection."
"That’s better," she said, appreciating the quiet but grateful to hear the soft crunch of snow underfoot and the distant hum of the city.
Chen grinned, testing the limits of the new setting with a sharp clap of his hands. The sound was muted, a mere whisper in the air. "Impressive. Looks like we won’t be going deaf anytime soon."
Mendez chuckled, the tension easing slightly as they resumed their path toward the raptors. "Let’s get to work. We’ve got resources to collect."
Before them, alongside the original unit, lay the three new raptor units they had just taken out. They were sprawled across the snow-covered ground like fallen sentinels. Their metallic exteriors, once gleaming, were now marred by bullet holes and streaks of frost. The red sensors that had glowed menacingly now lay dark, lifeless.
The raptor units were each distinct, their angular forms partially buried beneath the fresh layer of snow. One lay with its central core exposed, a thin trail of steam rising from a breach in its side. Another had one leg twisted beneath it, the joint sparking intermittently as it lay motionless. The third was on its side, legs splayed wide, surrounded by a small crater of displaced snow where it had crashed into the ground.
Mendez scanned the scene, the wind whipping snowflakes against her face. The snowfall continued to intensify, a relentless curtain that threatened to obscure the raptors completely.
"We should work fast," she said, glancing at Chen. "Before they're buried and we lose the chance to salvage."
"Cover me while I finish this," Chen said, kneeling beside the original raptor remains and pulling out his Field Salvage Tool.
She nodded, taking up a defensive position. She kept her eyes on the surrounding buildings, watching for any sign of movement. The snow crunched softly under her boots as she shifted her weight, ready to respond to any threat.
"These are different, give me a minute," Chen muttered. She saw that he had finished the older salvage and had moved on to one of the three new ones.
The sudden, insistent chime of the emblem jolted Kiara from her focus.
"Proximity alert. Raptor unit patrol, three hundred yards and closing fast." It was the emblem's voice, but it carried a new tone of urgency.
The words hammered in her skull as she turned to Chen, his brow furrowed in concentration over the exposed raptor circuitry. A surge of panic threatened to overwhelm her, but she forced herself to remain calm. "Chen, heads up! We've got company," she said, trusting the emblem to deliver her words to his ears.
Chen's head snapped up, his eyes wide with startled awareness. "Raptors," he muttered, the word a low growl in the frigid air. He exchanged the weight of his pack for the familiar heft of the rifle attached to his back. "Give me a direction," he said, his voice clipped.
The armor, a synthetic skin against her own, offered a false sense of security. The world outside was a hostile, unforgiving expanse, and they were two small, isolated figures caught in its icy grip. She scanned the desolate landscape, her gaze searching for any sign of movement. Nothing. Just the relentless fall of snow and the oppressive silence.
"Can't see shit through this snow," she said.
"Emblem, audio target mode," Chen commanded, his voice cutting through the quiet.
Her helmet seemed to come alive with sound. When she faced directly west, where the raptors were coming from, a sharp, urgent beep resonated in her ears, growing louder and more insistent the closer they approached. As she turned her head slightly to the left or right, the beep softened, replaced by a series of lower tones, indicating that the immediate danger was not in those directions.
What struck her as most impressive—and slightly unnerving—was the emblem's ability to track her gaze. As she moved her eyes focusing on different points than the direction of her head, the audio feedback adjusted accordingly. If she glanced to the north while still facing west, a softer warning tone would sound, indicating that the primary threat remained to her west, but there was less immediate danger in the north. When her eyes returned to the west, the sharp, urgent beep resumed, as if the emblem knew exactly where she was looking.
"I've got a fix on the bearing," Chen said.
"I think I do too," she confirmed, "this is crazy."
"Raptor unit detected," the emblem said, "two hundred yards."
"Let's try another trick," he said, "emblem, calculate firing position and display crosshairs."
She felt her own emblem pulse with energy, and a series of pinpoints of light materialized in the swirling snow. They were faint at first, but as the emblem focused its power, they grew brighter. It worked in tandem with the audio targeting. Kiara was not a gamer, but the implication was clear. Aim here to hit the enemy. She raised her own rifle.
"Emblem," she said, "how many are there?"
"Five units detected," the emblem said.
"Keep a running count," Chen instructed.
The crosshairs glowed in the dim light, providing a clear target despite the snowfall. Kiara marveled at the advantage they now had. The technology was astonishing, and she couldn't help but wonder how Chen had even thought to ask for this. She'd been by his side the whole time, and he had never mentioned anything like this.
"You're full of surprises, Chen," she said, a mix of awe and excitement in her voice.
Chen smirked, eyes locked on the target. "You're the one that said to think about this like it's a video game."
Chen fired.
"Four raptor units, one hundred seventy-four yards," the emblem said, its calm voice contrasting sharply with the chaotic noise.
She felt a subtle adjustment in her helmet, the emblem's systems working to dampen external noises. Chen's next shot, though still loud, was bearable, the ringing in her ears gone. She took a deep breath, grateful for the quick fix.
"Three raptor units, one hundred fifty-one yards."
"Hot damn," Chen's excitement sounded in her ear.
"My turn," she said, a confident edge to her voice.
She raised her rifle, the white dot glowing steadily as she aligned it with the closest raptor. The audio cues guided her, the beeps growing sharper as her aim locked onto the target. She squeezed the trigger, feeling the recoil against her shoulder.
The shot rang out, echoing through the snow-covered streets. But to her frustration, it went wide, she had missed the angle of alignment with the glowing dot. The targeting noise continued, which meant only one thing, the raptor had continued its advance, undeterred.
She gritted her teeth, resentment flaring. She was the better shot, yet Chen had just taken down two raptors. She adjusted her stance, determined not to miss again.
"Missed the first one," she muttered, re-aligning her aim. The crosshairs steadied, and she fired again, this time hitting the raptor squarely. It came into view, sparks flying from its damaged frame and it toppled over, the enemy unit was down but still moving. She cursed to herself.
"Two raptor units, one hundred twenty yards," the emblem reported. Apparently, the emblem had judged that unit to be out of the fight.
"Nice shot," Chen said, his voice filled with encouragement.
She forced a smile, but the frustration lingered. "Let's finish this," she replied, focusing on the next target.
The emblem interrupted her focus. "Thirty-seven raptor units, multiple groups. Closest unit one hundred eight yards."
Chen stood, slinging his pack over his left shoulder. "Move and fire," he said calmly. "We've got this. Stay focused and keep moving."
"Move where?" she asked, her eyes darting around.
"East, in the direction of our building," he said, squeezing off another round. "Walk backwards, keep shooting."
"Thirty-six raptors, eighty-nine yards," the emblem reported. That was the last of the first pack of five, Kiara reasoned. She took aim, waiting for the white dot to line up with her sights.
"Thirty-five units, three hundred twelve yards," the emblem updated.
"Let's use this SUV," Chen said, nodding towards a nearby vehicle. "I'll take the far side."
She nodded, moving quickly to the near side of the SUV. The vehicle offered some cover, a temporary shield against the advancing raptors. She kept her rifle trained on the incoming units, her breath steady despite the adrenaline coursing through her veins.
"Ready?" Chen called from the other side of the SUV.
"Ready," she confirmed, her voice steady.
Chen peeked around the edge of the SUV, firing off another shot. "Thirty-four units, two hundred ninety yards," the emblem reported.
She leaned out, firing at the closest raptor. The shot connected, and the raptor staggered but kept moving. "These things just don't quit," she muttered.
She took aim and squeezed off another shot. Nothing happened.
"I'm out," she said, "reloading."
Chen's next shot finished off the damaged unit.
"How many shots was that?" Chen said; she realized he would need to reload soon as well. She tried to think.
"Thirty-three units, two hundred seventy-seven yards," the emblem said.
"Fifteen at least," she guessed.
Now, where the hell was the reload button on this rifle?
She ran her fingers along each side, searching for a similar clasp or catch to the G-100. There it was—more of a switch than the button on the pistol. Having found it, she felt along the waistband of her armor and located the cell pack clipped to her hip. Kiara brought the rifle close to the power cell and pressed the switch. The rifle hummed softly, the power indicators on the side lighting up as it drew energy from the pack.
"It's the switch on the right of the stock," she said to Chen, pointing to the location on his own rifle.
He looked down, his hand playing over the bumped-out switch. "Got it, thanks," he said. Chen reloaded his own rifle, not waiting to find out precisely how many rounds it would fire on a single charge. She made a mental note to keep track this time.
Her eyes caught a sudden, terrifying blur of motion—a raptor springing into the air like a monstrous predatory bird, its three legs coming together to form a single point, an inverted pyramid of falling death. The world seemed to slow as she saw it, the glinting metal limbs slicing through the falling snow like a knife through silk. "Chen, incoming!" she shouted, her voice a sharp note in the frozen silence.
In that split second, she could almost feel the crushing weight of the raptor's impending impact, a steel avalanche aimed straight at her. The air seemed to crackle with the raw, electric menace of the machine. With a swift, practiced motion, she raised her rifle, the cold metal a reassuring anchor in the chaos. Her breath plumed in the frigid air, time hanging suspended as she took aim.
The trigger pull was smooth, almost gentle, yet it released a violent explosion of force. The bullet tore through the air, meeting the raptor mid-flight in a shower of sparks and shattered alloy. The muffled shot rang out, echoing like a distant thunderclap in the still, snowy street.
Even as the raptor's trajectory faltered, Mendez knew she had only bought herself a moment. She threw herself to the side, her body moving with a dancer's grace and desperation, the ground rushing up to meet her. She hit the snow hard, the cold biting through her gear, but she was already rolling, driven by instinct and adrenaline.
"Chen, it's coming down!" she managed to gasp, her voice tight with effort.
The raptor crashed down where she had stood, a metal beast denied its prey. The ground shuddered with the impact, sending a spray of snow and debris into the air. Mendez felt the tremor through her bones, a reminder of the narrow margin between survival and destruction.
"Run!" Chen called out.
Her vantage point shifted as she scrambled to her feet, her eyes darting to Chen, who was already making a break for the nearest cover—a glass-fronted office building a few yards away. The snowfall thickened, swirling around them, creating a veil that obscured everything but the immediate threat.
Chen didn’t hesitate; he swung his rifle and fired at the window, the bullet shattering the glass with a sharp crack that seemed to echo forever. The fragments glittered like diamonds in the falling snow, the opening a jagged maw offering a temporary refuge.
"Inside, now!" he yelled, motioning her to follow as he ducked through the newly created entrance.
Kiara sprinted toward him, her boots crunching against the snow as another raptor lunged from behind, its leap cutting a dark arc across the white sky. She could feel the mechanical predator bearing down, its shadow falling over her like a harbinger of doom.
She ran for the cover of the building, Chen firing dangerously back in her direction at the units landing behind her.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she reached the broken window, her hands gripping the cold, sharp edges as she hauled herself through. Chen reached out a hand to guide her the rest of the way in.
It was the ground floor of an office lobby, the floor littered with shattered glass and the cold wind howling through the open space. Outside, the raptors regrouped, their silhouettes moving through the snow like ghostly apparitions, relentless and unyielding.
Chen kept his barrage of gunfire up, but there were too many. She looked frantically for another exit. There was no time to wait for the elevator, but there was another set of doors.
"Chen!" she yelled, much too loudly for their emblem-aided comms. "I'll cover you. Use your tool to open that stairway door."
Chen nodded, ducking and weaving through the glass-littered lobby. He sprinted toward the stairwell door, his Field Salvage Tool in hand, the device humming as he brought it to bear on the lock.
Kiara took up position near the broken window, her rifle ready. She fired at the closest raptors, the bullets sparking off their metallic frames and sending them staggering back. Each shot echoed through the lobby, a desperate attempt to buy time.
"I'm in, come on!" Chen shouted.
Kiara dashed across the lobby, her boots skidding slightly on the polished floor as she sprinted through the open door. Chen was already halfway up the stairs, his feet pounding on the metal steps.
She followed, taking the stairs two at a time, the heavy thud of her boots echoing in the narrow space. They reached the landing on the next floor, breathless and tense, and paused to catch their breath.
A sudden, metallic clang echoed up the stairwell, and Kiara glanced down to see the raptors pouring in below them, their limbs clattering against the steps as they ascended with mechanical precision.
"Right where we want them, eh?" Chen said.