The lights went out.

Kirk found himself groping through darkness, trying to make out Targe's big body up ahead of him. The thunder of the rifle had long since receded, and any hope of Detective Doser somehow surviving this hell along with it.

The corps must've found the generator. He suspected the gear their attackers were packing included some pretty high-end night vision. The kill-teams didn't need light to finish the job.

"Shit, shit," Nevay snarled as she scurried along in front of them. Her implanted eye seemed able to pierce the gloom enough for her to carry on. Kirk blundered after her, panic beginning to rise up in his throat.

Then a tepid yellow glow lit up their section of the passage. Up ahead he saw Holly Lockley, amplifier raised to generate a nimbus of light. The AmpCore agent was still bleeding from the shoulder, but she ignored it, moving to the head of the column.

"Follow me," she hissed through gritted teeth.

Kirk started moving again, but he felt the grip on his jacket slip away. He started to turn, dreading what he might find there. Visions of Treysi's body finally giving out under the strain flashed in his mind.

He needn't have worried. She looked oddly peaceful in the dim light.

"You okay?" he ventured.

"I... I think so," she replied quietly as they shuffled onwards. "Doesn't hurt so bad. Feels like I've got my... what's that phrase? Sea legs?"

"You're getting use to the cybernetics?"

"Better than I was. Legs feel steady." She shrugged. "And I think I can see in the dark."

"Well, whoop-dee-fucking-doo for you," Nevay growled. "Think you can shoot a gun?"
Treysi blinked, hesitating. "I ... well I'm not..."

"Then shut up and move."

Kirk resisted the urge to rebuke the gang leader. There would be a time to tell her what an unbelievable bitch she could be sometimes. Instead, he turned to Tresyi and flashed her a quick thumbs up. They continued on, the sounds of fighting in the hideout slowly but surely dying out. Kirk had no idea if anyone else was going to walk out of the place alive

When they reached the maintenance crawlway, Kirk at least tried to console himself with the thought that Doser hadn't died for nothing. At least they would get out. After groping around for a moment for a hidden catch, Targe wrenched the plain slab of metal loose, revealing a boxy tunnel just wide enough for them to crawl through in single file.

"Everybody in," Nevay told them, stuffing Doser's revolver into her belt and following him inside. Holly ducked in next, her amplifier still giving out a tepid glow to illuminate the claustrophobic space.

"Go," Kirk urged Treysi forward. "I'll be right behind you."

She crouched down, her metal feet biting into the floor plates as she levered herself inside. Chancing a glance over his shoulder, Kirk tucked his pistol close and clambered in after her. Twisting his body awkwardly, with his free hand he dragged the plate back into place over the mouth of the crawlway, shutting them inside. Then he rolled over and started wriggling his way along after the others.

Behind them, an eerie quiet descended, punctuated by the occasional solitary gunshot. Nobody spoke. The only sound in the metal confines was the heavy breathing of the ragtag band, and the odd muffled thump as they squirmed their way around corners. Nevay led them upwards, navigating the emergency access shafts until they reached a thick, sealed grate, its surface smeared with rust. He could see the faint tingle of lights beyond it.

She gave it a firm shove, but it didn't move.

"Son of a..." Nevay began wrestling her pistol loose.

"Jesus, hold on," Holly whispered harshly. "Let me."

He heard cursing and scuffling up ahead as the former AmpCore operative shuffled into position. Then her amplifier pulsed. Kirk winced at the sound of scraping, corroded metal, then something clicked loose. Peering up ahead, he saw the grate slowly lower outwards, touching the ground with a soft clunk.

"You don't have to shoot your way through everything," Holly muttered, earning her a middle finger.

They emerged from the crawlspace out into the thick, stinging air of the AllChem Bridgeways. Kirk had never been happier to taste it. Treysi turned back and extended her metal hand to help him up. Quashing the faint hesitation, he took it, the grip solid and cold against his palm as she tugged him to his feet, as though he were a bag of feathers.

The street around them was dark and derelict, with dead neon signage glaring in on them and several ratty looking cars scattered near the sidewalks. They waited for a moment, guns scanning left and right for any sign of corporate pursuit. Kirk looked back into the dark mouth of the crawlway, memories of codewraiths, and the pictures of the Lurker flickering in his mind.

The tunnel remained empty – an unobtrusive square of black nestled at the base of an abandoned construction zone.

"Let's go." Nevay nodded to Targe who was already moving forward, pivoting back and forth with his cannon, hunting for threats. Giving Treysi what he hoped was a reassuring smile, Kirk moved to follow them.

"Wait..." Treysi twitched, looking left and right and squinting, even as the metal grip of her cybernetic arm clamped down around Kirk's bicep.

"Hey-ow! Treysi, what is it?"

"I'm not sure. Something's going off inside my head. I can't..." She shook her head.

"Hold up," Kirk said, waving with his free hand to Nevay. "Something's up."

"They install a fuckin' spider sense along with everything else?" She turned back, brow furrowed in irritation. "C'mon, isn't gonna be long will the corps figure out how we slipped the net."

Treysi was still looking around, only half-listening to Nevay's words by the look of it. Then, as though she'd just locked onto a target, her head jerked sharply to the left, eyes narrowing as she glared up into one of the dark structures.

"They already know," she breathed.

"What?"

The bullet hit Targe before she could answer.

The shot went clean through his eye socket, and blew out the back of his skull. The big man was thrown back by the force, crashing straight into Nevay as she swung Doser's revolver towards the sound. She let out a screech of anger, the heavyweight police weapon booming as she fired.

Football-sized holes appeared in the walls of one building, and he saw dark shapes ducking for cover as she blasted out one of the window frames. Slithering clear of Targe's corpse, Nevay rolled as more shots snapped back in response, biting up the ground around her.

"Down!" Holly screamed, amplifier blazing. He saw the air around her shimmer and warp, bullet impacts tearing up the ground around her as she scrambled clear of the kill zone. She got behind the corner of a building across the street, while Nevay managed to slide beneath a bulky, rusting jeep.

Kirk dove for cover, blindly spraying a burst of fire from his pistol where he thought the shot had come from. Half-crawling, half-rolling, he tried to get behind a nearby car, but not before a spray of shots tracked across the ground towards him, one of them shattering his ankle.

He screamed, pushing with his good leg, the strength of desperation propelling him behind the derelict automobile in the nick of time. Blinking back tears and grinding his teeth together, he forced himself to look.

His right ankle was a bloody ruin, and he could see the white of bone. Fighting the urge to vomit, Kirk took several deep breaths and hugged his pistol close, before opening his eyes again and craning his leg to look out.

A bullet pinged off the car chassis barely a centimetre from his eye and he jerked back with a yelp. Then a dark shape flashed past his eyes.

Treysi landed beside him, eyes wide and breathing heavily. The implants in her skull were still glowing red, giving her irises a demonic tinge. After a moment she looked down at his ankle.

"Shit, are you alright?"

Kirk shook his head. "Nope. You?"

"I could see them. I think..." She broke off for a moment turning one hand back and forth in front of her face. "My eyes, they've got some kind of targeting sensor in them. Picked up the motion and body heat before I even knew what was happening."

A rending crash of breaking masonry ripped his attention away, and he poked his head out again to look. The wall of the building across from them had caved in completely, and out of the corner of his eye he could make out Holly standing with her amplifier outstretched, lines of force just visible between her and the collapse. Amongst the rubble he could see a dark armoured leg sticking out, bloodied and crushed.

Three more of their attackers came darting from the adjacent structure, long black rifles aimed. He'd seen what AmpCore agents could do in anger, and any minute expected Holly to tear them apart.

One of the troopers tossed a small sphere out into the street in front of them, and it detonated on impact. A bang rang Kirk's ears and he grimaced, blinking from the light flare, but it didn't feel like the device had done much. It was like a half-assed stun grenade.

But then he looked back across at Holly and saw her convulsing on the ground, clutching her skull with both hands. Her amplifier lay off to one side. The three soldiers began to spread out, two edging towards Nevay's hiding place beneath the van and the other approaching the prone agent.

"Shit."

"Mierda," Treysi growled, wrenching her head from side to side like she was trying to shake something loose. "Some kinda pulse trying to fry the electronics."

"Are you alright?"

"Guess they built my shit better than hers." Treysi glanced over at Holly disdainfully, then heaved in a deep breath. "Stay here, Kirk."

"What are you going to-,"

"Just stay here!"

"I... are you sure you can...?"

"Gonna have to test drive this stuff sooner or later." She shrugged. "We're fucked either way if I don't."

He couldn't have stopped her if he wanted to, so instead, he just nodded and tapped his pistol against his chest. "I'll cover you."

"Don't die." She bit her lip, then ripped her gaze away from him, slinking over to the opposite end of the car. Glancing back once, she gave him a nod.

Biting down against the pain in his ankle, Kirk twisted his body at the hip and started shooting.

He never really expected to hit anything, but that didn't matter so much. Squeezing the trigger tight, he set a wild spray of fire from the auto pistol that roared through the street. The three corporate troopers all turned towards him, rifle barrels twitching.

It was all the distraction Treysi needed.

She moved like a gazelle, the augments of her feet springing her with fearsome speed and power, imparting force that would easily have broken human ankles. Muzzles flared and bullets gouged the street as their attackers frantically tried to track her movements, caught off guard by her sudden charge.

Then Treysi was amongst them. With a terrifying, banshee scream, she punched her cybernetic arm into the first trooper in line, driving her fist straight through the heavy armour and into the body beneath. Blood exploded from the impact, spattering over her face and chest, but she didn't seem to notice.

With a sharp, violent yank, she ripped her arm sideways, tearing herself loose and sending the dead trooper flying straight into the next soldier in line. Armour cracked under the tremendous force, and the woman went down. Before she could free herself, Treysi jumped, a single bound carrying her in an arc to land squarely on top of the corporate agent. The claws of her cybernetics rammed down through the helmet and chest, killing the soldier instantly.

The third trooper levelled his rifle, but before he could fire, Treysi snapped her head towards him, her eyes blazing a demonic red.

The man lurched backwards, frantically pawing at his helmet plate. Kirk saw sparks crackle around the edges and a series of dark scorch marks burned across the main visor. Some kind of short circuit, though he had no idea how it had been triggered. By the time the unfortunate soldier managed to tear the helmet off, it was too late, and Treysi opened his throat with a single, wild swipe of her cybernetic arm.

He staggered drunkenly for a moment, gurgling and clutching at the fatal wound before slumping to his knees. He toppled forward, his head smacking off the concrete once before he went limp, leaving them in an eerie quiet. Seconds dragged by, and Kirk stared, dumbfounded by the savage display he'd just witnessed.

He couldn't help wondering how much of that came from Treysi, and how much came from the cybernetics. Was some of that aggressive code still lingering in those metal limbs like a deadly echo?

Gripping the car, Kirk hauled himself upright, balancing unsteadily on one leg and trying to ignore the excruciating pain. Nevay emerged from beneath the van, suspicious eyes fixed on Treysi. Across the street, Holly had managed to get to her knees, her eyes watery and blood on her lips, but seemingly recovered from whatever seizure the corporate grenade had triggered.

Panting with effort and covered in gore, Treysi turned to them, her face streaked with blood like some barbarian from ancient tales.

"C'mon," she managed to gasp. "Let's get the fuck out of here."