JanePtinum

  Everyone steps out of the car, their weapons raised, ready for anything. I climb out a moment ter, both pistols drawn and Corax on my shoulder, ready to fly. We scan the desert for a few seconds before Vince speaks.

  “Ivy?”

  “I don’t see anything.”

  Vince doesn’t dare to lower his rifle as he looks around. He stares at the metal ptform and the entrance for a second before once again speaking.

  “So much for pn A. Pn C is still an option.” He says.

  “We both know that’s not true.” Ivy says gently.

  “Let’s get this over with then.” Vince takes a few, methodical steps towards the opening.

  Ivy keeps her rifle perched just over his shoulder, and walks in step with Vince. Cassie and I take either side of the two of them, and Corax keeps his eyes pinned behind us, keeping every angle covered,

  Vince leads us to the entrance, and tentatively looks inside. I can’t help but take a look as well.

  The trench is far denser than the small town we visited yesterday. A flimsy metal bridge stretches across an empty expanse. It leads to a building with a seemingly abandoned concrete bunker built into it. If guards were inside it, it would be nearly impossible to assault.

  Beneath us are a hundred buildings, so densely packed it’s impossible to see the bottom. The streets are abandoned, but hints of light can be seen bleeding through closed curtains.

  Cameras are attached to nearly every surface, hundreds in total. Every single one looks up at us in sync.

  AI. Vince's hand signal mimicks my own thoughts.

  When we’re halfway over, the hydraulics of the door hiss behind us. The fp that leads to the outside world closes and tches shut.

  “Blue, can you get that back open?” Vince asks aloud. Unsurprisingly, we don’t have a hand signal for that.

  A small control panel is built into the wall. It’s just a solid metal box welded to another steel pte with three bundles of wires coming out of it. The harpoon could absolutely weave its way in, but I’d have to fight with another AI to do it. If they have a sizable server somewhere in here, it’d be just like Vegas all over again.

  “Cassie, knife.” I put one of my pistols away, and Cassie passes me her knife without hesitation.

  The function of the wires coming out of the box are pretty obvious. A data cable going to the hydraulics, one running deeper into the town, and a third, a power cord. I sever the data line heading deeper into the trench, cutting the box off from whatever AI lives here.

  “It’d take a minute to open, or I can use the harpoon to do it instantly.” I fall back in beside everyone and hand Cassie’s knife back to her.

  “Good.” Vince continues leading us on our slow march.

  We step into the bunker. Racks and shelves that once held armor and weapons have been emptied. Three doors lead out of the octagon bunker, and only one lies open.

  Blue, Cassie. Check doors. Vince signals.

  I walk over, only to find it blockaded from the other side. Cassie finds the same, and even a hard kick from her legs can’t dislodge it.

  The both of us return to Vince and Ivy, who are already investigating the open door. A grand, spiral staircase heading down is the only thing visible. Every surface is highly polished gold, silver, and wood. Somehow, it’s even more opulent than Vegas was.

  Vince leads the way down, his finger already squeezing the trigger half way down. The smallest movement and anyone who shows up on the stairs is dead.

  The staircase leads down a few floors before leveling out in front of massive wooden double doors. Vince pushes them open and Ivy sweeps the room as he does.

  She fires.

  The staircase reverberates with a shockwave that hits me hard in the chest. In one smooth motion she pulls back the bolt on her rifle, letting the spent case fly into the air. A bullet jumps from inside her sleeve into her hand, which is then loaded into her rifle. She’s ready to fire again before the case hits the ground.

  Vince throws the door open fully, and Cassie ducks under his arm, rushing inside. In front of us is a rge, richly decorated room. Ten doors line the walls, and a throne sits in the center of the back wall. A woman is slumped atop it, missing her head. Instead of blood, she spouts oil from her shredded, steel neck.

  “Vincent.” A voice booms through the room. A voice so powerful, so filled with malice and hate that it forces away all other thoughts, demanding my complete attention. “Even after all these years I can’t trust you to pick good friends.”

  “Mind rip.” Corax growls.

  “Aww, your little pet’s pet is smarter than you ever were.”

  “Corners!” Ivy calls out, firing two shots into two separate corners of the roof. Vince bsts a few bullets into a third, and Cassie and I take care of the fourth.

  Four turrets began to descend from the roof, only to be destroyed before they could fully deploy. They hang limply from the ceiling, dripping oil down the walls and across the floor.

  “You’ve changed.” Vince calls out, as we fall back to the stairwell. It’s not good cover, but it’s better than nothing.

  Pn? I desperately fsh to Vince. I’m not going to let anyone die here.

  Thinking. He responds. Need time.

  “And you should have.” The voice ughs, shaking the entire building. “I see young Cassandra had the right idea, it’s just a shame she decided to steal from me.”

  Cassie lets out a piercing scream and her body begins to seize. I try to catch her, only to have an electric charge pass through my body, sending my mind reeling. It’s all I can do to get away from her.

  There must be some kind of battery bank hidden in her arm, but how? Didn’t Sonia check it?

  I let her fall, lean against the wall, and aim my pistol at her shoulder. I kill the thoughts screaming at me not to do this, and fire a few times, ripping massive chunks from her artificial arm. I fire until her seizing stops, but she doesn’t wake up.

  “We’re getting out.” Vince says without hesitation, scoops Cassie into his arms and hands me his rifle. I sling it over my back, my pistols are more important right now.

  Ivy rushes up the stairs, repcing her loaded bullet with another as she runs, and I follow just behind her. Corax perches on Vince’s shoulder to watch our back.

  At the top of the stairs, inside the bunker, a few men are armed and waiting. Ivy fires, and an explosion rips through the room. It’s not strong enough to kill them, but it is enough to buy us time.

  Don’t process anything, just do this one simple thing. Point at head, pull trigger, point at head, pull trigger, point at head, pull trigger. Only a second ter a small pile of corpses y where men once stood. Don’t process, just move.

  Ivy runs through the room, tossing one explosive through each door, which detonate just as we reach the bridge. Don’t process what the screams mean.

  I take out my harpoon, fire at the control box, and plug myself in. The bolt gets stuck in the steel, but wires snake out and around, weaving themselves into the bundles of wires that lead out from it.

  It only takes an instant to change its programming. The box will tell the hydraulics to open, close once I tell it we’re through, and increase its voltage until every st processor in there fries itself.

  A shot rings out through the canyon, and Vince screams. His leg gives out and he falls to the side. He tosses Cassie safely into the center of the metal bridge as he goes down, but the motion causes him to slip off. He falls ten feet onto the roof of a building with a sickening crunch, bounces, and falls another eight feet onto the street below.

  “I’ll keep him alive, get out of here!” Ivy yells, and jumps down without any hesitation. She nds smoothly on the roof, but poorly on the ground. I can see her nd wrong on one leg, and she limps as she drags a still conscious Vince into a nearby alley.

  “Find Clover! Quantum!” Vince yells through gritted teeth.

  I can’t leave them. I can’t do this without them. I can’t get Cassie down there safely. I can’t make this decision.

  “Vincent, what do you think hurts more?” Mara’s voice reverberates through the canyon. The malice and hate has been repced by pure euphoria. “Me putting a bullet in their heads in front of you right now, ending things cleanly and easily. Or are you the coward I know you are? You can’t stand to see them die, so you’ll leave young Cassandra to get slowly sanded to the bone by the storm, and your pet buried, with the faint hope that they’re still alive fading with each passing day. Your choice, it’s the only kindness you’ll get.”

  “Blue! Just go! Please!” Vince cries out, and Corax gives me a nudge on my cheek.

  There is no other option. I pick up Cassie and move as quickly as I can under her weight. It’s slow-going, knowing at any moment Mara could snap out of her excited emotion and put an end to us. That emotion is the only thing keeping us alive. The more pathetic I look, the happier she’ll be. Or at least that’s what I tell myself as the tears flood my eyes.

  Below me a group of men are trying to get behind Ivy. She pulls a brown package out of Vince’s satchel, tosses it down the street, and fires into it. The package explodes, spttering fire against road, wall, and flesh alike. The fire sticks to everything it touches. Don’t think about what those screams mean either.

  “Alright fucker! How about we make a deal before I kill every st one of your men!” Ivy screams out just as I reach the outside world.

  JanePtinum