Chapter Five
Susie rested her head against the door, closing her eyes and listening attentively to the hall on the other side. She didn't have fancy ears or the ability to echolocate but she didn't really need them.
Evolution had given her a predator's edge, gifting her with a sense of hearing her prey as they cautiously inched down the hall. Not that their caution did them any good. They might as well have been banging a fucking drum with the way their kit clattered with every step. Three sets of feet, the first vanguard of corporate security they hadn't managed to pin down in the parking lot.
Susie glanced over her shoulder, seeing that Catti was currently hosing down the convoy, rattling off fire before diving out of the way and slamming a fresh magazine into her gun. For her trouble, a cascade of bullets ruptured back, slamming through the fractured windows and embedding themselves into the ceiling above. She would've said they were ruining the place but this was Pacifica and it had been ruined long before their sorry asses had ever shown up to this forsaken place.
Paint flakes, shards of glass, and wood chips cut through the air, biting into them and sleeping beauties. It hurt like a motherfucker, leaving so many sensitive little cuts behind.
``How are they?'' Susie chimed over comms. Best not to use her actual voice lest they lose what little advantages they still had.
``Bad,'' Catti grumbled. ``Berdly?''
``I'm still looking for them in cyber space,'' Berdly chided in, hammering away at his keys. ``They went through some pretty weird firewalls and just poofed out of existence on my end. Makes me think that...'' A pause. ``Oh, thank the Angel. I have them in my sights.''
Thank fuck...
Susie wasn't ready to say goodbye to the freak just yet. Especially after how much their sorry ass was going to owe her for this job.
The footsteps grew closer to the door, the chatter of corpos bleeding through from the other side. Their voices were hard to parse, hidden away behind so many layers of encryption that it barely even sounded like a spoken language in the first place.
Still, it was more than enough for Susie to know where exactly they were. It was now or never, do or die, and Susie had no intention of dying.
She plowed through the door, smashing her way into the hall. The corpos seemed caught completely off guard, fumbling for their weapons while she was already in range to do some serious fucking damage.
Her movements were quick as she levelled her pistol and fired, the recoil nearly knocking it out of her hand. The force of the round was something downright terrible, booming with an ear-shattering explosion. Its tungsten ripped through one of the corpos with violence as it tore visceral chunks out of their flesh.
And that wasn't even the worst fate that one of these freaks had the misfortune of enjoying.
Back when Susie had first met Kris, she had threatened to bite their face off. And that was exactly what she did as she sunk her metal teeth into the head of one of these enforcers. Her mechanical jaws compressed, gears churning and clunking as she applied more pressure than any natural creature could ever hope to match.
The corpo screamed bloody murder, hollering in anguish as he feebly hammered his fists into her chest. He must've meant it as Susie could hear his frenzied panic over the ringing in her ears. That was until there was a wet pop, like an overripe piece of fruit bursting. Something warm and coppery flooded Susie's mouth and her pupil's dilated as these primitive urges took over.
She wanted more... MORE... MORE!
She let go of the thug and pushed him away, shoving his corpse roughly against the wall. His complexion was mangled though she couldn't enjoy the view for long as she focused upon the last corpo in the hall.
The figure turned towards Susie and levelled his gun. She'd been so focused on the last kill that she hadn't thought to spare him any attention until now. Still, it was great to see his fear, pulsing and burning away inside of him. She didn't need any fancy tech to tell her that this freak was about to piss himself.
But even fear wasn't enough to stop him from putting her right in his sights. She dipped to the side, just as the corpo fired, rattling off a burst of light machine gun fire. Two rounds clipped her arm, making her hiss as her own blood splattered against the wall behind her.
That was all he achieved as she fired her own gun again. Unlike him, her round found its home, dead centre, tearing through his midsection and spilling his cybernetic viscera within a puddle of his natural blood.
She quickly snapped open her pistol, yanking out the two discarded cartridges and shoving fresh ones into their place. Her side ached and she could see that streams of blood ran down her arm, pooling at her wrist before dripping onto the floor below. That must've meant that she'd been wounded.
More glass shattered back in the main room and Susie's eyes widened. She'd been so focused on the hunt that she'd nearly forgotten why she was there in the first place. Her feet moved so very quickly as she pivoted and rushed back, flying through the door.
One of the corpos must've had augmented legs, managing to get up to their roost on the third floor. He was aiming his pistol at Noelle and looked like he was about to put one right through the rich girl's skull.
Catti was quicker, however. She grabbed Susie's Cup Udon and flung the hot water at him. The corpo shielded himself from the soup, cussing as the hot broth coated his hand, searing it.
That was all the distraction that the medtech needed as she snapped open her mantis blade and plunged it right into his stomach. She tore upwards, gutting him like he was a fish. It was not a wound that he would likely hope to recover from as he fell backwards, crashing into the parking lot with a wet and meaty thud.
Susie blinked. ``Nice kill.''
``You're hit,'' Catti chided, looking at her. She rushed to her side and grabbed some sort of needle from her belt before shoving it into a spot between her scales.
Susie hissed but whatever entered her system had some serious kick, soothing the aggravation of the wound. That was the good shit, magical morphine or whatever they were packing for monsters these days.
Catti drew back, moving into the room once more. Maybe she wasn't all bad... just mostly bad.
``You might owe me some new chrome, Holiday,'' Susie grumbled.
The hoarse voice of their employer came through the comms, pixelated with a mental fatigue. ``Are you okay?''
``Just had some punk try and fill me with a few new holes,'' Susie jeered, lifting her arm and seeing that her coat hadn't been spared as it was now riddled with a few fresh ventilation ports to help with airflow.
Great, just great. She hardly ever got to cleanly kill gonks with this sort of fashion sense. Where was she going to find another one of these coats? Since it was garbage anyways, she wiped at her robotic mouth with the sleeves, clearing away only a tiny fraction of the blood which still coated her teeth.
More footsteps came thundering up the stairs, far more than this little entourage who had stumbled up here before. It was steep odds but Susie wasn't about to bail. It wasn't like she really had a choice.
They had at least chosen the location well. The apartments here were tight and narrow, perfect for a defender just as long as they could keep firing. If these corpo freaks wanted them then they would have to pay the price.
The first freak turned the corner and Susie squeezed the trigger. The recoil was as steep as always but well worth the price as the slug punched right through his armour and exploded him backwards with considerable force, leaving a bright red imprint upon the wall. It bought her a little more time to duck into another room across the hall, firing wildly to give herself even a few more seconds to get into cover.
``Overheating,'' Catti snarled.
Susie grunted and kicked over an ice chest from across the hall. It was their last one. ``Then keep them fucking cold.''
Catti looked at it, snapping it open and pouring its contents into both Kris and Noelle's tubs. Susie had seen enough Netrunners overheat and she had no interest in adding her best friend to that list.
Nor the cute girl with mommy issues...
Focus on not dying first before you think of chasing tail.
``Berdly,'' Susie snarled. ``Can you get them out of there?''
``Working on it, Susanne,'' Berdly growled.
``Not my fucking name,'' Susie snapped, poking out and firing off another round. At least the corpos seemed to realize that rushing her wasn't going to end well for them. ``Any news on when Chara's crew is-''
There was the noise of a car screeching to a halt outside with its doors crashing open. Frantic voices screamed from out of sight before the hue of rapid gunfire exploded from beyond the apartment building. There was a melee outside, that much was obvious.
``Good news,'' Berdly teased before adding, ``well good just as long as you don't let them catch you.''
