"Pull!" Alice shouted. "Give it everything you've got." She ignored the insistent low battery warnings from her suit; either they would get the door open, or they would drown.

The two women gripped the door handle from opposite sides, suits thrumming with power. The wheel strained under their augmented force, cold-forged steel bending under pressure.

A narrow crack opened along one edge of the door. Water rushed into the gap, seeking the lower level of the other side. The flow through the door built to a torrent as they pried the opening wider. They were doing it!

The door lurched backward and Alice's grip failed, her hand slipping from the wheel. Confused, she tried to lunge for the handle. Her armor didn't respond. It was then she noticed her display had gone dark. Out of power. She was dead in the water.

Without Alice helping the door swung back. Weizza shot a gauntleted hand into the gap before it could close. The door slammed on her wrist, pinning it in place. A trickle of water continued to pour through the narrow opening, but the pumps were replacing it faster than it could leave.

"Stand clear," Weizza warned through gritted teeth. The back of her armor glowed red and the air filled with the hiss of steam. Great clouds billowed from her armor as she heaved against the door. The opening grew wide again, big enough to slide into. Weizza deftly twisted into the gap, bracing with her legs to hold it open against the immense water pressure.

"Quickly, come to me."

Alice stumbled clumsily forward, bogged down by inert armor. Weizza got a hand on her and tossed her through the opening, then rolled clear. The door slammed shut behind them.

Alice pulled the release on her defunct armor and the pieces splashed into the water. She was shivering all over now, and not just from the cold.

Weizza inspected her own suit. "Lucky," she said, "drawing that much power should have set the battery on fire." She looked over and saw Alice trembling.

"We're through Alice, the past is past. Look ahead. Lynch is behind that door."

Alice took a few breaths to regain her composure. The shaking subsided.

This was it. This is what she had fought for.

"Okay. Let's go."

The final door looked no different than the others, though according to the map it opened to a small cavern rather than another tunnel.

"Are you ready?" Weizza asked.

"Ready." Alice nodded.

Weizza stepped in front of Alice and threw the door wide. As soon as it opened four pistol shots rang out from the darkness, rattling off of Weizza's armor.

Weizza disappeared into the room in a blur of speed. There was a brief struggle, then the lights came on.

"It is safe now, you may enter."

Alice stepped inside. Weizza had Lynch pinned against a wall-sized screen. A pistol lay discarded on the floor, next to a thin splatter of blood.

Weizza noticed Alice's glance. "He grazed my arm. I am fine. The suit deflected the other bullets."

Alice stooped to pick up the fallen gun, then aimed it at her old boss. "Hello Aden."

Lynch let out a rich, full belly laugh.

"Is this funny to you?" Alice asked. "Your secret is out, your guards are dead, and the only reason you're still breathing is I haven't pulled the trigger yet. You're finished Lynch. It's over."

Lynch completed his hearty laugh, tears in his eyes. "Oh I know it's over. It was over before you got here. Can you call off your dog so we can talk? I'm not going to try anything - as you point out, I'm at your mercy."

Alice and Weizza exchanged glances. Alice shrugged. Weizza took a step back from Lynch and leveled her rifle at his forehead.

"Yes, yes, you will shoot me if I misbehave. I get it." Lynch waved his hand dismissively. "Honestly I expected better from you Alice. Though I'll forgive your lack of manners, given the circumstances."

"I'm not your guest Lynch, I'm your executioner."

"Quite. I do applaud your successful infiltration. I did believe this facility impenetrable. Though in the end it does not matter." Lynch chuckled gently.

"Cut the crap Lynch. Give us your Petbe access and maybe we let you live."

"That may be a bit of a sticking point. You see, my brilliant engineers figured out a way to update the access list for Petbe." Alice nodded. It matched Robert's suspicions after they were locked out in Portland.

Lynch continued: "Unfortunately they made an error. Instead of blocking your receiver, they blocked all of them. Including mine. No one can control Petbe now."

"Bullshit," said Alice. "You bombed more cities after you locked us out of Petbe."

"Pre-programmed," Lynch replied. "I set the targets after the previous wave was launched."

"How many more strikes are coming?"

"Oh, that's all of the targeted strikes." Lynch began to laugh uncontrollably. Alice punched him in the gut and the air went out of him.

Alice pulled up a terminal on the wall sized display. Tapping out commands on the screen was clunky, but she knew what she was looking for.

"Here we are, the logs of his Petbe access attempts. Damn, he's telling the truth - the last successful login was two days ago. Nothing but 'ACCESS DENIED' since."

Weizza frowned at Lynch. "It sounds like you are of no further use to me." She turned to Alice. "You may kill him now."

"Wait! Let's not be hasty ladies. We can still make a deal."

"You're not going to buy your way out of this one Aden," Alice answered.

"Oh, I have something much more valuable than money." Lynch smiled like a crocodile.

"As you might have guessed, I've been watching you Alice. Closely. I wasn't surprised to see you show up in town, but I was curious about your stop at the storage unit. I wondered, 'what could Alice have stashed out here?' So I checked. And lo and behold, I found something."

Lynch reached for the control panel, Alice's gun snapped to his head.

"Relax dear Alice. I'm just making a brief phone call - I have someone you'll want to talk to."

Alice looked to Weizza. She nodded. "I don't have time for games Lynch, make this quick."

"This will not take long. Klaus, please put your guest on the line."

"Mom!" Julian's voice shouted over the speaker. "Fuck these guys, don't– oof" The line went dead.

Alice's blood boiled. "If you harm a hair on my boy's head–"

"What, you'll kill me?" Lynch replied. "I believe that was already your plan. But now it looks like we have grounds for negotiation. Let us be clear, you can deal with me, or your son can bleed out in an anonymous storage unit. Which will it be?"

Alice sighed. "Fine. What do you want?"

"Rather little, actually. Give me safe passage out of this mine. A helicopter is on its way. You let me board and leave. When I land safely, I'll release your son. I'll even call off the manhunt on you and Robert. As a gesture of goodwill."

"No." Weizza's answer was devoid of emotion.

"What do you mean 'no'? Did you hear me? If anything happens to me Alice's son is dead."

"I heard you. But your offer holds nothing of value to me." Weizza raised her suit rifle.

"Weizza!"

"Quiet Alice." Weizza's free hand flicked up to Alice's neck, her suit knife springing out. The blade pressed gently against Alice's throat.

Lynch's cocksure smile slipped. "What do you want Weizza? Money? Soldiers?"

"I have plenty of both," Weizza responded. "I want Petbe."

"Are you simple? I just told you, Petbe is as lost to me as it is to you."

"So let us un-lose it, Mr. Lynch. Space Core has rockets, yes?"

"Space Core had rockets. We destroyed all Earth's rockets and launch pads the day Petbe came online, including our own. Didn't want them falling into the wrong hands. Ironic, isn't it?"

"Yes, a real shame."

A staccato burst sounded from Weizza's arm. Lynch's body jerked and fell to the floor.

"No!" Alice shouted, she swung her pistol toward Weizza.

Weizza's blade pressed harder against her throat, a single drop of blood formed on its tip.

Alice stopped.

"Lynch was too dangerous. You know I had to put him down."

"You've killed Julian." Alice's arms went limp. Her fight was gone.

"We will see. For now I suggest you worry about the yourself." Weizza pointed to a video feed on the display wall, which showed two troop transport helicopters landing at the entrance to the mine.

Weizza tapped away on the control wall. "Could you please inform Robert of our visitors," she said without taking her eyes off the display, "I have some business to conclude."

Alice hurried to the intercom next to the door.

"Robert–"

"Alice! How did it go?"

"Badly. There's no time to explain. How much juice is left in your armor?"

"Huh? About a quarter, why?"

"There are more Blackmountain troops landing at the surface now. My guess is they'll go straight for the pump room. Can you hold them off?"

Robert took a ragged breath. Alice tried to picture him steeling himself for combat. She came up empty.

"Yes, I can do it. Are you ready to come back through the tunnels?"

"I'm ready. Same plan as last time."

"Okay, I'll start up the pump."

"And Robert?"

"Yeah?

"Good luck."