"GO! GO! GO!" I roared, my voice raw from the dust and adrenaline. I scrambled to my feet and pulled Anya up.
She stumbled, her wounded leg nearly giving out, but her grip on the Phantom was like a vise. We ran. We charged headfirst into the swirling cloud of dust and debris that marked the engine block's grave. It was our only cover, a temporary, choking fog of war. The air was thick, tasting of rust and concrete. I could barely see a few feet in front of me. My lungs burned with every breath.
My HUD was our only guide. The glowing green waypoint for the terminal pulsed through the haze, a beacon of hope in the chaos. I kept one arm around Anya, half-supporting, half-dragging her forward. She leaned on me heavily, her cybernetic leg doing most of the work, but I could feel the tremors of pain from her other leg with every step. Her willpower was the only thing keeping her moving.
"Fifty meters!" I shouted, my voice muffled by the thick air. "Keep pushing!"
The dust began to settle. The thick gray cloud thinned, revealing the stark, metal landscape of the factory floor once more. We burst out of the haze and into the open. The relative quiet of the dust cloud was instantly replaced by the familiar, terrifying crack of gunfire.
CRACK! CRACK!
Sniper fire from above. Seraph's team. They had a clear line of sight now, and they were not holding back. Bullets slammed into the floor around us, kicking up showers of bright sparks, forcing us to weave and zig-zag like hunted animals. They weren't trying to kill us yet. Not exactly. Their shots were precise, landing just behind our heels, just in front of our path. They were trying to slow us down. They were "herding" us, guiding our path, making sure we would miss the deadline. It was a cruel, calculated game.
"They're toying with us!" Anya grunted, her teeth clenched in a grimace of pain and fury. "That snake Seraph is watching us dance!"
"Keep moving!" I yelled, my eyes darting everywhere at once, trying to process a dozen threats simultaneously.
Then, a new threat emerged from the wreckage of the fallen crane. A dark, sleek form, coated in gray dust, rose from the rubble. The Ghost Enforcer. The falling engine block hadn't crushed it. It must have leaped out of the way at the last second. Now it was back, its single red eye burning with an unholy light, a pinpoint of pure hatred in the vastness of the plaza. It completely ignored the last remaining Dominion hunter, who was trying to crawl away with a broken leg. The Enforcer's sole focus was me.
It raised its rifle and fired. A bullet whizzed past my ear, so close I felt its heat wash over my skin. The Enforcer wasn't missing on purpose anymore. Its psychological games were over. It was trying to kill me.
We ducked behind a massive hydraulic press, its thick steel body offering a moment of real cover. The timer on my HUD was a frantic, blinking red. The numbers were dropping with sickening speed. 0:45... 0:44...
"We're not going to make it," Anya gasped, leaning her full weight against the cold metal. Her face was pale, slick with sweat. "My leg… I'm too slow, Leo. You have to go on without me."
"No," I said, my voice hard, absolute. I looked at the battlefield, at the path ahead. It was a deathtrap. But it was a deathtrap with a rhythm. I could see the patterns. "They're reloading. Seraph's team. They're firing in coordinated volleys. I'm timing their shots. When I say run, we run." I glanced back at the Enforcer, which was methodically striding towards our position. "And he's predictable. His programming is perfect. Too perfect. He always aims for the center mass. We use the environment."
"Leo..." she started to protest, but I cut her off.
"Trust me!" I commanded, my voice leaving no room for argument. "Get ready."
I peeked around the edge of the press, watching the sniper nests high above. I saw the faint glint of their scopes. I counted the seconds between their volleys. A three-second pause for reloading and re-sighting. It was an eternity. "NOW!"
We sprinted from cover. As predicted, a volley of sniper rounds rained down on the spot we had just left. We had a few seconds of grace. We ran past a row of massive industrial welders, their silent, multi-jointed robotic arms frozen in mid-task like metallic skeletons. The Ghost Enforcer was right behind us, its heavy footfalls a terrifying drumbeat on the metal floor, getting closer with every step.
It fired again. Its aim was perfect. I could see the tracer round coming right for my chest.
Instead of dodging, I shoved Anya forward with all my might and dropped into a slide on the greasy floor. The bullet sailed over my head, missing me by inches. It hit the main control panel of the industrial welder behind me. With a loud hiss of broken hydraulics and a shower of brilliant blue sparks, the massive welding arm, freed from its programming, swung down with immense force. It slammed into the floor, blocking the path behind us. A temporary barrier. It wouldn't hold the Enforcer for long, but it would buy us a few more precious seconds.
We were almost there. The control room door was just ahead. Twenty meters. The green light above it pulsed like a dying heart.
The timer was a blur. 0:10... 0:09...
The last Dominion hunter, the one with the broken leg, propped himself up on one arm. He was fighting with the fury of a cornered rat, screaming curses at us. He opened up on us with his sidearm. Anya, in a feat of incredible strength and will, spun around. She planted her good leg, ignored the searing pain in her other, and fired the Phantom from her shoulder. The force of the recoil was immense, sending her stumbling back into me. But the shot was true. The hunter's panicked firing stopped abruptly.
The path was clear. Just us and the door.
0:05... 0:04...
We scrambled for the door, our lungs burning, our legs screaming. The Ghost Enforcer smashed through the robotic welding arm like it was made of paper. The sound of tearing metal echoed behind us. It was ten meters behind us, raising its rifle for the final, perfect shot that we would not be able to dodge.
We hit the door's control panel with the palms of our hands. 0:02...
The door hissed open. 0:01...
We threw ourselves inside, collapsing in a heap on the floor.
The heavy steel door slid shut with a solid, definitive thump. The world went quiet.