I come out of VR hearing the sound of laser fire and screaming. This confuses me for a few seconds, the simulation didn’t have sounds. Then it occurs to me that I’m not even in the VR game anymore. There is no sign of Ashley.

I jump up, rip the revolver out of its holster. I step through the curtain barrel first. Smoldering corpses litter the floor. Craters have been melted into the walls; stray bullets have left their marks on every surface. A thin haze of smoke hangs in the air.

There is the sound of another laser blast, followed by sporadic gunfire. I move in that direction, aiming down the iron sights, eyes peeled for pale flesh and shiny black claws. A shadowy figure stumbles out of the smoke. I hold my fire, as it is humanoid.

The mysterious figure reaches me, it is an Untouchable. The first thing that I notice is that he is missing an arm, blood pores out of the end of the stump, the man is struggling to catch his breath. I holster my weapon, grab the man and haul him back toward the partition.

I sit him down in one of the rooms and start feeling my way along the outer wall of the partition. After what feels like a long time, I find the medkit that I had noticed earlier. I get back to the room, tear the kit open, dumping its contents onto the bed. I shift through the bandages and other supplies, searching for the tourniquet. The sound of gunfire and death hustles me along.

The man had been staring in shock at the particle board wall. Now he looks over at me, “That thing is going after Jill.”

“Ya, I know,” I say, as I slip the tourniquet into place. I take a few extra seconds to make sure that the bleeding has stopped. “Where?” I ask my patient.

“By the routers, but he moves so fast, he could be anywhere.”

I exit the room, weapon at the ready. The sounds of a barrage of laser fire guides me toward the far side of the room. The smoke has started to dissipate a little. I see bolts of energy coming from behind a sturdy pillar. As I close in, I see that terrible head peak out from behind the support, it moves around as he locks onto a target. He is holding onto the column, pushed flat against it so that it provides cover from the guns of the Untouchables.

My shot goes through one of the countless eyes. The impact jerks the head backward. But it quickly recovers, tracking toward me. I take off running, bolts hit behind me. Then they strike around me as Goëtia adjusts his aim.

I leap over a table that has paper pamphlets stacked up on it. A blast hits the pile, sending flaming leaflets flying. I land on the other side, tripping over an old, busted up printer that had been left lying there. I fall, throwing out my arms to soften my landing. Goëtia crawls to the other side of the pillar so that he can stay locked onto me.

Ashley steps into view. Her mechanical arms have opened up. The right one is pointed at the creature. Something glows white hot as it is ejected from the barrel, it hits with the force of a charging bull, tearing the abomination off of the pillar. He lands out of sight.

I pick myself up. A message comes in on my IC, it is from Ashley, “Thanks for drawing him out.”

“You’re welcome. Where is Jill?”

“Good question.”

In frustration I send her a picture of a very rude hand gesture. We meet up near the pillar, there is no sign of him. Ashley switches arms, keeping a different weapon at the ready. Several Untouchables move in to help us, I tell them about the armored section in his body.

“How could something that big just disappear?” one of them says in astonishment.

Mason steps out from behind cover, a pistol in hand, “Don’t get flustered,” he looks toward me, “Why didn’t you warn us about him?”

“I have had to escape him, along with tactical teams, ninja commandos, and demon gangsters.”

“Demons?”

“Don’t ask. Let’s just find Jill.”

A woman screams. Our eyes shoot to an area that is clearly being used for storage. She comes running out from behind the stacks of boxes, the thing hot on her heels. She turns around, sees that he is closing in. It moves in a strange, almost liquid manner, intentionally putting her between us and him. Before we can tell her to get going or move out of the way, he has reached her.

The tail stabs at Jill, a spike pops out of the tip. She hops backward, narrowly avoiding the point. Goëtia tries again, this time the spike sticks her in the shoulder. It must be armed with some kind of toxin, because she almost instantly passes out. A few of us take aim. Goëtia hunkers down low, making it impossible for us to shoot without the risk of hitting her.

The tail wraps around Jill. He leaps forward, the girl still held in place. The fiend lands claws first on one of the Untouchables, gleaming black metal razors rip his flesh apart with zero effort. None of us shoots, for fear of hitting the poor man. By the time he has landed, Goëtia has rended the man to pieces. He shows no hesitation as he crawls toward the door, moving with horrifying speed, keeping Jill positioned so that we can’t fire. He reaches the exit, we are left standing their in shock.

Damn it. I should have stayed inside. He thought that I was working with Mason. He knew that this is an area that is frequented by Untouchables. He was probably patrolling around Zachariah street, spotted me when I stepped out to get food.

I take stock of the situation. The wounded are being attended to, fires are being put out. Mason is stooped down over what is left of the man that was torn to pieces by the bounty hunter. He is staring at the bloody remains, this was one of his people, a friend and a comrade.

I walk over to him as I reload, “I have the access codes to the Grotto. But you won’t get them until we have Jill.”

A series of looks cross his face as he realizes how close he is, considers what he will have to do, questions if it is still worth it, and ultimately decides that it is. He sends a message to everyones’ ICs, telling them to get armed and ready to move out.

Toni limps over to us, the slash mark in her thigh is bleeding through the hastily applied bandage. Mason waves her over to a chair and inspects the wound. He undoes the dressing, electing to redo it completely. She protests at first, but gives in.

Mason completes the task. He stands up and gestures for me and Ashley to follow him, saying that he is heading for the armory. Toni calls out to us as we walk away, “He will take her to the Burabō detainment facility on North 419th Street.”

His response is as much him talking to himself as asking us for advice, “How the hell are we going to get into that place.”

It is a good question. The detainment center is as secure as any prison. They keep runners there, along with criminals that the state pays them to keep behind bars.

Ashley has clearly been researching the facility using her IC, “We would need an army to break into there,” she says in frustration.

She’s right. We would need more firepower than the Délta Corp tactical team that attacked the doctor’s lab. And then it hits me. “Wait. Ashley, you are a genius!” I yell out, startling everyone.