At that moment, the dust kicked up by the convoy became the perfect cover for the four of them.
They cut straight across the empty road in front of the factory and rushed toward their destination on the opposite side.
Lucy, stopped earlier by Arthur, didn't resist. Only after they ducked back into cover did she whisper excitedly,
"He has to be there. What do we do now?"
Arthur tilted his head, listening closely to the sounds ahead.
If they struck during David's transfer, with so many combat personnel around him, even if no one deliberately aimed at him, the kid would still be at risk of getting shot.
On the other hand, hitting during the surgical prep stage seemed safer.
After briefly sharing his thoughts, and seeing Lucy agreed with the latter option, the rough rescue plan was set.
They moved on toward the location Lucy had pinpointed.
In a corridor, Lucy suddenly raised her hand, halting them. She pointed upward.
The others followed her gesture—there, tucked into a corner, was a surveillance camera. An easy detail to miss if you weren't looking for it.
But for a team with a top-tier netrunner, this was nothing.
Data flickered across Lucy's eyes. The camera swiveled in a seemingly routine motion, and in that moment, the group slipped inside.
With Lucy's guidance, they avoided every camera's field of view and stopped in an empty room not far from the lab.
"They're not inside yet."
Pressing her eye to the crack of the door, Lucy anxiously watched the direction opposite their entry point. That should be the parking area, where the convoy had already poured into an underground passage.
"Then we wait."
Arthur crossed his arms, showing no concern.
They didn't wait long. Soon, the corridor echoed with the sound of many boots.
But it was only footsteps.
Lucy quietly backed away from the door and shut it completely. She didn't need to peek—she could probe the "lab" directly through its surveillance feed.
The moment she jacked in, Lucy found exactly what she was looking for—David.
When they first met, he had been thin and frail. Half a year of life as an Edgerunner had broadened his shoulders, giving him a trace of manhood.
But now, after only five short days, he looked as if he had regressed. His pale face showed how weak he had become.
On the cold surveillance feed, Lucy's eyes welled up again.
Inside, the experiments continued. A man in a white coat stepped forward and snapped at a portly middle-aged man.
"Why is the host in such terrible shape?! Damn it, what the hell are you doing?"
It sounded more like a complaint than true anger. Without waiting for an answer, he brushed past the man and ordered soldiers to place David onto a bed.
Tanaka, the one being scolded, stayed silent, his cheerful grin unchanged.
He was a sadist, but one who knew how to keep himself in check. When it came to things that truly mattered, he would never jeopardize them over trivial urges.
Which meant his torture of David had been deliberate.
Arasaka Counterintelligence had already told him about this experiment. Anyone implanted with the so-called Cyberware Titan would likely tip into Cyberpsychosis instantly.
If David were in top physical condition, there was no telling what kind of unexpected accident that might cause.
And speaking of the person David hated most—it was probably him. If the kid had been healthy enough to come charging at him, that would've been a real problem.
"Strap him down."
The medic shot Tanaka a sidelong, malicious glance, already working his own angle.
To collect combat data from the Cyberware Titan, it had to fight. And what better targets than these intruders?
Seeing what the kid had been reduced to, letting him unleash his fury in his final moments almost felt like mercy.
As for himself... heh... a madman like him had no concept of self-preservation.
Not far away, in the other room, Lucy's eyes glimmered with cold streams of data, but her tears still slipped past the barrier, rolling down her cheeks.
She couldn't know what those men were thinking.
But David's state alone was enough to tear into her heart.
He'd been brought in face-down. The exposed Sandevistan on his back still looked intact, but sparks kept spitting from it, making his body twitch with every burst.
She saw the severance cables driven into the implant—Arasaka's tool for torturing "prisoners."
"We have to... move now..."
Lucy's voice trembled, urgent, before her hacking sequence was even finished.
In her feed, David was already strapped to the bed. Several figures in lab coats surrounded him, yanking the cables free. Each tug sent sparks flying.
Lucy could almost feel the pain—like ripping nails out of flesh and bone.
But that wasn't why she panicked. Once the cables were cleared, David was flipped over, and his gurney was being pushed toward the massive container holding the Cyberware Titan.
This wasn't the ideal moment—security forces were still pouring out, none of them far away.
But Arthur didn't hesitate after hearing Lucy's desperation. He drew the Frontier from his hip.
With one heavy kick, he blasted the metal door open.
Muzzle flashes streaked from the Frontier—six blazing arcs.
And for a single heartbeat, the world fell silent.
Then the sound of bodies hitting the ground shattered it, like stones cracking the surface of ice, spreading fractures through the stillness.
"Enemy attack!! Dammit, raise the alarm!
Hurry—"
One quick-reacting Arasaka employee shouted.
But before he could finish, the shrill alarm blared across the entire factory. A grating, metallic screech tore through everyone's ears.
In this era, raising the alarm required no levers or switches—just a neural command. The process was always fast, but this time it was almost too fast.
The panicked Arasaka worker didn't dwell on it. He quickly hoisted the rifle from his shoulder.
...
(70 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / GhostParser