Damien sprinted down the dark corridor, ignoring the repetitive sounds of metal clashing within his head. “What the hell’s going on?”

Kat’s voice only just made it through the thundering commotion around her. “One of them got their hands on the turret’s guns. I’m pinned behind some cars and can’t move. Get your ass over here.”

Sounds like she’s in trouble. Damien thought. I can’t let her die so soon. “Hold on, I’m on my way.”

Once again using the building projection as a map layout, Damien rushed through the passages of the hideout. As he moved, he kept his blade at the ready in case of an enemy ambush. Luckily for him, the hideout seemed mostly barren, and all the action was likely centered around Kat.

He took a set of stairs down to the second floor, then turned at a wide hallway until he spotted a pair of large double-doors. The overlay, along with the blaring noises, made it clear that the excitement was just up ahead.

He barged through the doors and found himself on a metal walkway that surrounded the perimeter of the shop floor below. The chaos of the battlefield was immediately evident as he spotted dead bodies sprawled out beneath him. To his left, a bald-headed man gripped a massive machine gun as it spit rounds relentlessly at a wall of broken cars.

That must be where Kat’s taking cover.

Below him, another Skull member was maneuvering to flank her position. She was clearly in trouble.

Without time to waste, Damien swooped in behind the preoccupied machine-gunner and delivered a forceful kick to the man’s back, sending him over the metal railing and finally ending the barrage. The large man landed with a thud, signaling to Damien that he now had a landing pad. He took aim and leapt, landing on the fallen man and planting his feet firmly into the target’s chest.

In one swift motion, he sliced his blade across the man’s neck, cutting it open and releasing a small eruption of blood. One enemy down, one more remained.

A gunshot rang out and Damien felt a slight sting in his left tricep. The flat figure of an arm from the status screen flashed in his vision along with a number underneath: -3%.

Damien swerved his head to find the final enemy pointing a gun straight at him from ten feet away.

This isn’t good. I can’t reach him from this distance.

Three more gun shots rang out in quick succession, and the Skull member dropped to the ground, bullet holes having ripped his chest open.

A moment later, Kat appeared from behind the wall of cars, her gun still pointed at the enemy she’d just killed. She examined the area one last time before lowering her weapon and letting out a sigh of relief. “What a shit show this turned out to be. Thanks for saving my ass.”

Damien gave her a cheeky grin. “What can I say? That’s an ass worth saving.”

Kat rolled her eyes, ignoring the statement and turning to face the broken cars she’d used as cover. “If these things didn’t have bulletproof armor, I would’ve been a goner.”

“How did all this happen, anyway?” Damien said. “I got a message saying the virus was installed successfully.”

“It was installed successfully. Otherwise the other turrets would’ve killed me when I first appeared.” She turned towards the man that Damien had killed. “That asshole popped in at the last second and ripped the machine gun out of the turret. I would’ve focus fired him but I was distracted with the others.”

I wonder if that was the second guy I heard upstairs… Damien thought to himself. Maybe if I’d killed him up there he wouldn’t have made it down here to pin her down.

Kat turned back towards Damien and pointed at his arm. “Looks like that bullet just grazed you. Had it been a direct hit, it would’ve done a lot more damage to your sub-dermal armor. Count yourself lucky on that.”

Damien looked down at his upper arm. His shirt had been ripped at the tricep, revealing a tiny piece of metal where the bullet had shredded the skin off. He opened the Status screen and saw that his left arm had taken a little damage; it now read 97% while every other part of his body, along with his overall HP, remained at 100%.

“Anyways,” Kat said, “let’s get back to the task at hand.” She walked past him and squatted down beside one of the dead bodies. “So this is him, huh?”

Damien closed the screen and pulled up beside her. To his surprise, the man she was studying had a full head of hair with no skull tattoo visible on his body. “Who is this guy? He’s not a Skull member, is he?”

Kat shook her head. “No, he must be the third party I mentioned earlier.” She pulled out a white wire from underneath her jacket sleeve and slipped it into the man’s neural slot.

“What’re you doing to him?”

“Just extracting some information.” She said. “Nothing you need to worry about.” A few seconds later, she ripped the wire out, then took the black suitcase-which had been lying beside the body— and began fidgeting with the lock mechanism.

Damien continued to study the man out of curiosity. He looked as dead as they come, so how was she extracting information out of him?

The suitcase opened with loud click, and after seeing the contents, a huge smile sprawled out across Kat’s face. Damien tried to have a look inside, but Kat slammed it shut before he could sneak a peek.

“Aww, come on.” He said in a disappointed tone. “I saved you and you won’t let me have a look inside?”

“Doesn’t concern you.” Kat said as she locked the suitcase up. “You’ll get your share of the funds like I promised, but I can’t show you the contents.”

“What, you don’t trust me?”

“Nope.” She said bluntly. “Not with this stuff.”

Why does she have to be so secretive…

She grabbed the suitcase and stood up. “Alright, our job here is officially done. Let’s get out of here.”

A small screen abruptly popped up in front of Damien, and he felt a rush of excitement flow through him once he read the notification.

Level Up!

You have reached Level 2!

Skill Unlocked: Parry

Talent Unlocked: Way of the Samurai