19:20 Safe House, South Side of Annapolis

The condo was a mess, several small fires were going on. A large hole where the door used to be exposed the hallway. The sprinkler system just engaged in the hopes to stop the fire. Most of the agents were dead. Those that weren’t discombobulated began were scrambling for their weapons

It was barely a handful of heartbeats after the first gunshot was heard. Alice’s face was stained with blood. She was stunned for a moment, but then time appeared to return to normal. She quickly grabbed her helmet and slammed it over her head. She kicked with her heels and slide backward and began engaging the hostile.

Jess Markos fell to her side. The high explosive pistol round entered her pack and exploded in her chest. She wasn’t wearing her pack armor plates like she was supposed to. She died protecting the least likely person she’d want to defend, Alice.

Alice emptied the pistol’s magazine. When the slide locked back, she looked in disgust at the diminutive gun. Her sidearm was but an impotent aggravation to the assassin in the power armor. She threw the gun at the hostile and dove for the gun rack that had the assault rifles in it.

“Oh, you poor little kitty kat, that isn’t going to hurt me,” Alyssa May said with her suit vocalizing it, “I’m going to enjoy gutting you in front of him.”

Four agents began firing their rifles from different directions at Aly. She lost track of where Alice, then began attacking her newly exposed enemies. The first agent got punched in the ribs, then backhanded across the face. It wasn’t an instant kill, but the man would bleed out from his injuries in minutes.

The three other agents continued to fire. The one nearest the outside wall was then dropped by sniper fire. One of the other two shouted instinctively.

“SNIPER, STAY…” his warning was cut short by a knife that almost decapitated him.

Aly smirked inside her helm. She drew her handgun and fired at the last agent. She then looked around the room to find one of her targets.

Alice made that job easy for her. She had crawled away from the windows and was near the hole Aly had created where the door once was. Alice leveled her assault rifle and fired in three-round bursts. These rounds, given enough time, could actually kill someone in a power suit. She was firing armor-piercing rounds that had a depleted uranium core that was coated in an anti-electromagnetic coating.

The rounds were fired true. Chunks of ceramite began to be chipped away. The back armor plates were severely damaged, the right pauldron had several pieces break off of it. Just as Aly had turned to face Alice, the assault rifle bolt locked. The magazine was empty.

Aly took one step towards Alice when the original target, and true threat, made his presence known very aggressively. A hilariously sharp tungsten-bladed combat knife, appropriately sized for power armor, embedded itself in her left pauldron.

John was no longer unconscious. He can thank the power armor’s VI for registering a hostile enemy and delivering a cocktail of drugs to wake him up. He was still feeling the effects of both the explosion and the drugs though. Anger, hostility and a massive among of killing intent were radiating from his power armor.

She turned around to see a blue helmet with a white skull painted on its faceplate and its green lenses shining. John's blue suit leveled a battle rifle and began firing in response. Explosions left and right could be heard. The spent shell casings slammed into the wall and floor. The additional damage to the condo unit was more insult to injury.

Battle rifles, which are effectively upsized assault rifles designed for power armor use, were not things to be trifled with. Aly ate a couple of armor-piercing rounds but dove through a wall to try and avoid some of the incoming fire. This tactical retreat into the master bathroom was largely successful in avoiding the lion’s share of fire. Unfortunately, her suit was registering moderate damage, her worst fear was blinking in the HUD. Her kinetic shield array was fried.

Alice crossed the hole in the wall and made herself as small as she could as she crouched against the pantry door while she reloaded her rifle. John kept the gun’s trigger depressed. The barrel was begging to glow a dull orange. The explosive rounds have shredded the room and started new fires that the fire suppression system was struggling to keep up.

Then his bolt locked back, the drum magazine was now empty. There was an eerie quiet in the room for but a moment. John flicked the magazine release button and quickly loaded another one. The empty magazine bounced and clanked loudly off the floor. He was about to start firing again when laughter could be heard.

The laughter stopped and out jumped the would-be assassin. She managed to fire two rounds with her pistol. John had flicked his gun into burst-fire mode and pressed the trigger once. Both of Aly’s rounds struck and were pancaked against the kinetic shielding. The sharpened edges stuck into the floor when they fell down.

John’s round struck her right forearm plate and the pistol. Aly’s power armor was shredded and looked like it’d been through a meat grinder. It was still functional, which is saying something about its resilience. But the armor wasn’t offering any effective protection now. Even the rifle that Alice was aiming at her would be enough to put an end to their attacker.

This wasn’t much of a Mexican standoff, but no one fired a round. The tension in the air was palpable. An unlikely source cut the tension; the would-be assassin of the pair spoke.

“Well played. Seriously well done,” Aly was smiling sadistically in her helmet, “I suppose I’m lucky that you didn’t get me five years ago.”

4 Years Ago. January 5th 2256. 02:15 New London Slums, Alpha Centauri

John was creeping through a real shithole of an old residential building. He wondered when the planetary government would wise up, level this area and several others, and begin rebuilding something useful

His cover was blown by pure happenstance. A former high school classmate of his recognized John and called out to him. Unknown to Aly at the time but she was literally seconds away from being arrested. Instead, John had been shot, though thankfully all that cost him was a broken rib because of his vest. But he would not be denied his target. Not this evening.

The problem with this area of town was who controlled it. The Bernardi mob family ruled it with an iron fist. Though most of them lived in far nicer parts than the run-down shithole that John was in. If Aly got to the safe ground here, then there was no way to apprehend her. Though he could kill Aly and end her threat to the Confederacy once and for all.

He reached out with his mind to see if anyone was out there. Moments later John knew the rough locations of where dozens of vagrants were, a pedophile hiding from his arrest warrant and a pair of murderers in their safe house. A mental note was made to beat up, then drag the pedophile to the nearest police station and turn his sick perverted ass into the local authorities.

It wasn’t a big surprise that he couldn’t sense Aly. She was a trained psychic and had a unique ability to minimize her psychic presence to near-nothingness. No one in the Confederate Psi-Corps knew how she did it, but they were all eager to learn who taught her that skill, and better yet how to train themselves to do the same.

John peeked around the building and saw movement near a broke down car in some overlong grass. He dashed around the building and made for the car. Halfway there Aly popped up from cover and fired several rounds at John.

“Fuck me,” John said as he dove through a broken window frame.

To add insult to injury John landed on the shattered glass. He picked himself up and ran out of the room and down the near blacked-out hallway. Three rooms down he quietly crept into the room and peaked outside. Aly was nowhere to be found.

“Fuck fuck fuck,” John swore as he hopped through the window frame.

John looked down at his data slate and reviewed the map. Aly was heading straight for a known mob hangout. He slid the device in his back pocket and ran down the street. He turned the corner and sprinted towards the destination.

Ten minutes later John had arrived. He had hoped that he made it there before his prey. He took the more direct and open route and hadn’t seen any sign of Aly anywhere. Then he heard footsteps behind him.

John drew his gun, turned, and fired off a single shot. Aly was raising her gun, but John struck the gun knocking it out of her hand. She could see it bounced several feet away from her, she tensed up but then she heard her wan-be bounty hunter scold her.

“Wouldn’t do that if I were you. I don’t care if you’re alive.”

“All you fucking bounty hunters are all the same,” Aly spat the words out.

John was confused about her accusation for a moment but then ran with her misconception, “Like I said, dead or alive I still get paid. Turn around, drop to your knees and get your hands behind your back.”

Aly slowly and reluctantly complied with the commands. When she locked her hands behind her head John slowly walked towards her, never once did he lower his gun. Only eight feet of distance separated the two.

“Young man, I can appreciate a hardworking and eager scamp like yourself. But you’re on my turf without permission. That little lass over there is under our protection. Throw the gun away,” a voice said from behind him.

John groaned inwardly, “Not sure who you are, but if your anything like me, the moment this gun is gone you’d just shoot me. At least now we can bargain.”

“What makes you think you’re in any position to bargain?”

John smiled, “If you try to kill me, I can guarantee she’s going to be dead. So, the question I have for you is her life worth mine? If it is then y’all should kill me.”

The mobster laughed, “What’s your name kid?”

“John.”

“You little asshole, you said your…” Aly said before being interrupted by her part-time employer.

“Well John, you are right. Your life means nothing to me, I could have you killed easily. But you strike a hard bargain, and I’m not in the mood for bloodletting tonight. My final deal is that you walk away and I keep my employee out of trouble.”

John sighed, “Deal.”

John walked forward but never once lowered his gun. It always stayed aimed at Aly. He strafed by her then walked backward as he passed her. There were eight other men in that general area, with two being on the third-floor balcony aiming rifles at him. Neither of the men were marksmen, but it wasn’t worth the risk to fight.

Aly stood up and stretched her arms and waved at John, “Cya around kid.”

John then disappeared around the fence out of view from all of the mobsters. He cursed and swore at his horrific luck. He headed to where the pedophile was hiding. That perverted bastard was going to get an especially vicious beating because of his failure this evening. The locals wouldn’t bat an eye if one were a little more roughed up than normal given that sick fuck’s rap sheet.

19:28 Safe House, South Side of Annapolis

“Who hired you?” John asked.

“The doctor did. Pompous ass that one is,” Aly’s sadistic smile showed no sign of waning, “I’m likely dead, but at least I’m going to take you to hell with me John.”

A pair of knives then briefly levitated in front of her. Then, almost instantly, they were flung forward at John through an unseen force. When they got near John, something strong happened. The knives stopped dead in their tracks, about four feet in front of John, and hung in the air for a couple of seconds. Then they fell to the ground unceremoniously.

Aly stared at the knives in disbelief for the briefest of moments. John wasted no time and fired a single three-round burst and rushed at her. As he did, he flung the combat rifle around to his back. He punched the assassin with his right hand, after connecting he ripped the knife out of the pauldron with his left hand. John twisted the knife in his hand and brought the knife down hard by the suit’s gorget.

The knife entered just under Aly’s shoulder blade and pierced her right lung. John wrapped his right hand over his left and drew the knife down as hard as he could. The knife eventually slid out of the target, but the damage was done. Aly was dead, very nearly split in two.

“John, what was…” Alice said before getting interrupted.

John bent down and tore out the communications port from her helmet. In doing so he heard the distinctive beeping from a countdown.

“Oh, fuck me sideways,” John said as he threw the communications device to Alice.

He bent over and grabbed a hand and foot of Aly’s and flung her bisected armor out of the window. He then grabbed Alice and dove toward the corner of the kitchen near the pantry, using his body as a shield. The armor exploded almost halfway across the way to the other building. Shrapnel from the power armor would pepper the glass panes, crack some, but not cause any injuries to the occupants of the other condos in the building.

“No time to talk. We need to get the fuck out of here.”

Alice nodded and ran through the hole and down the hallway. John pushed himself up and dashed out of the room. He didn’t play the angles correctly and slammed through the wall and made the opening larger. He created a new exit away from the sniper. John stopped in the hallway and turned around and gestured at Alice.

“Keep going,” John shouted from down the hallway.

“On it!” Alice said as she ran out of the hole and down the hallway.

John followed suit behind her. As he did, he brought up a map of the area. There was a small alleyway outside of the building along the wall they were running towards. There was a forty-five-foot gap to the office building. They were twenty stories up.

Inside the helmet, John flashed a reckless grin and sped his run-up. He caught up to Alice in a flash and as he did, he scooped her up gently and held her in a princess carry. She looked at his helmet then at the end of the hallway and knew instantly he had planned to do something incredibly risky and idiotic.

“John, no, no, NOOOO!”

John ignored Alice’s protests and sped up down the hall. Just before he got to the end of the hallway he leaped into the air and rolled over so the back of the power armor would strike the wall. He also held Alice so that she was completely within his silhouette. The speed John was running coupled with his overall mass in the armor caused him to easily smash through the outer wall and window.

They were now free-floating in the air twenty stories up, heading across the alleyway. Gravity, as it always does, began pulling them towards the surface. Alice was screaming bloody murder and was not comfortable with anything that had happened in the last fifteen minutes, but this probably was the most uncomfortable situation John had involved her in. John’s next action, which did not improve her feelings one bit, was to curl up in a ball with Alice in the middle.

Whether through sheer dumb luck or a good calculation, John’s back armor plate struck squarely against a glass panel two-thirds up the height of the thirteenth floor. Had he been six feet higher he’d have struck in-between stories. When his back landed on the floor, he rolled to one side and forced his right hand into the ground spinning the couple in the air.

With the grace of an Olympic gymnast and the strength of a strongman, he set Alice down on her feet and completed the flip, and landed on his feet. Then arrested his momentum and came to a complete stop. Alice ran up behind him and punched his back.

“John Lief, you are a monumental asshole,” Alice pulled her rifle and fired a three-round burst at him, his kinetic.

“Woah, that’s totally uncalled for,” John said entirely shocked at her response, “Now’s not the time to get all pissy, remember the whole assassin bit.”

“MONUMENTAL ASSHOLE,” Alice rose her voice as she kicked his shin plate as hard as she could, “Tell me next time you do something like that you dick.”

“You still have that doo-hickey from the bitch?”

Alice tossed it over to John while wearing a look of disgust on her face. John switched hands with the device and ordered his armor to unseal his right glove. He grabbed the device and looked at it quickly, then tried to connect his suit to it. A panel on the left forearm plate opened and he connected the device to it. The VI was familiar with its communication standards and began trying to connect to them.

John pointed in the distance and the pair broke out into a run. He jumped over the railing and landed halfway down the steps down to the next floor. Alice followed suit. She wasn’t exactly sure where John was leading her, but he was usually right about these things so following him made sense here, despite her misgivings about their recent exfiltration.

“Where are we going?”

“Working that out now,” John said as he hopped off the stairs, he stopped and looked both directions then took off towards the stairs that went down to the lower floor, “Didn’t exactly have time to plan that far out. I was on step one, which was simply, get the fuck out of dodge.”

“How about you piss the other one off real bad and we lure him in? How far are we from campus? We know the lay of the land there. Though would he follow you there?” Alice said trying to keep up with John’s pace.

“Oh, I love you,” John said smiling.

“I know. But you’re still a massive asshole and definitely are on my shit-list for jumping out of a building while holding me like a sack of potatoes.”

“Well, I’m sorry but it was the best I could under the situation. As for luring our target in. I’ll put on my charms and go full asshole to get under his skin. I got a neat idea. And some new toys for you to play with.”

“Yeah, with that bright and bubbly personality of yours,” Alice rolled her eyes at him.

Just then, the VI in John’s suit gave off a chime and displayed that it had successfully broken through the encryption. John smiled inside his suit. It was time to turn the tables on their other would-be assassin.

“Speak of the devil, hold on for a second honey,” John said as he smiled inside his helmet, “Looks like you’re not getting any hot pussy tonight, Vic. We have a score to settle”

“Fuck…”

“Think of how much cash you can score if you take me down. Our score can be settled and if you’re the better man you’re going to make bank on this contract. Think of all those credits you’ll get if you can off me. Nice resume builder. I’ll get back to you in a few where we’ll be.”