Rebecca's body, strengthened by the serum and Compound V, is far beyond what it used to be. The Voodoo Boys netrunners here are slight, and their hardware is weak. Small-caliber rounds smack into her and barely crack her defense; they cannot even punch through.
Bullets squeeze back out as her self-healing closes the wounds in an instant. The gang's fire keeps up, but none of it has a real effect. With a Pain Editor running, Rebecca only gets more excited under the "tickle" of the bullets.
"Hey! Did you eat today? Why is your fire this light? If you can't kill me, it's my turn. Hahaha."
Placide, pinned under her boot, stares in horror. He watches rounds enter her and does nothing. Her wounds vanish a heartbeat later. He has never seen a monster like this. He cannot resist; he can only wait for death.
Rebecca does not make him wait. After enjoying a while of their "barrage massage," she pulls the trigger without hesitation. The muzzle of her iron-bore shotgun rests against Placide's head. The blast carries massive kinetic force and blows his head away in an instant.
Placide becomes a headless corpse. What is left paints the wall behind him.
His death ignites full panic among the Voodoo Boys.
"Cyberpsycho. She's a psycho, a monster!"
Their fear does not save them.
"Hahahaha."
Rebecca shoulders the iron-bore and rushes into the base like a wolf into a flock, laughing as she starts cutting them down. She swapped her kit to heavy firepower; one shot can blast an enemy off their feet and tear them apart. The recoil would launch an ordinary shooter, but she is in her element.
Inside, Rebecca rampages through the base. Outside, alarms pull more Voodoo Boys to the fight. They rush in and run straight into Rocky, who has been waiting.
They pull weapons and open up on him without hesitation. Linked to the Poseidon subnet, they know precisely how bad it is inside and what their people suffered. They know a so-called immortal monster is tearing the place apart. They are relieved this one is not her. So they decide to drop the man in front first.
They do not know he is worse.
Rocky does not bother to dodge. The difference is simple: none of the rounds reach him. No blood, no impact—just bullets losing energy and falling like dead insects. It is not as bloody as what they saw with Rebecca, but it is more elegant and more impossible.
"What is with these people? How is this even possible?"
Their pride in netrunning means nothing against these two. Guns and bullets do nothing either. Fear of death wraps around their hearts. Some start to shake and look for exits.
"Hey. Push a little harder, will you? Your firepower is weak. If it is that bad, ask the corps for heavy guns. Oh, right—those corps don't take ghost money."
Rocky feels energy accumulating in his body and shakes his head. For a hacker crew, the Voodoo Boys' firepower is too thin; the rate at which they can absorb their energy is not satisfying. It feels like trying to drink through a thin straw when you are thirsty.
Still, he has stored enough.
He raises his right hand. He concentrates the gathered energy into his fist and lets it all go in a single swing.
A powerful wave erupts in the direction of his punch. Voodoo Boys caught in the arc are flung backward as if hit by a speeding truck. Bones shatter as if each one took Rocky's full punch at point-blank; bodies slump like broken mud.
Everything inside the blast zone takes the hit. Walls, columns, and fittings in the hotel explode and collapse. In an instant, the area turns to rubble. The shock is massive. Residents in and around the hotel feel the building shudder.
The tower does not fall. The structure was finished before the project was abandoned, and the main frame holds.
After clearing the reinforcements, Rocky rolls his shoulders. It does not even feel like a warm-up. He cannot help muttering that this crew is garbage.
Across the hallways, Rebecca also finishes her work. The Voodoo Boys are not a large gang; compared to others, their headcount is thin. There are not many left to shoot.
Seeing Rebecca still unsatisfied, Rocky pats her head. "It's fine. They have another nest."
The Bati Hotel cell is wiped, but Rocky does not find Brigitte. If nothing unexpected happened, she should be in the underground intercontinental maglev tunnel base.
He will not let that base go. The moment he chose to hit the Voodoo Boys, he never planned to leave them a single survivor.