The door shook again, harder this time. Flashes of sparks issued from the locking bolts. Kai braced the shotgun, racing heart against the limits of his ribcage. Ash was at his side with her pistol, lips pursed thin, and Nyx with her rifle supported against the wall in her one good arm.
The air was thick with the scent of ozone and disinfectant. The gentle hum of Ash's med-machines was too gentle, too delicate, in contrast to the storm outside.
The second crash ripped the door off its hinges. Pieces of metal bounced across the clinic floor. Vision enforcers hurried in, dressed like walking tanks, their blue visors flashing.
Kai did not pause. He ripped away. The shotgun roared, sending the first soldier crashing into the wall in a cloud of sparks and blood. Nyx provided accurate shots, her amber eye burning as her bullets found vulnerabilities in their armor. Ash crouched, firing in bursts, each shot a furious hiss of rebellion.
Chaos in the clinic—gunshots, shouting, ricochets shattering holo-screens and medical equipment. Medical jars shattered. Antiseptic and blood poured on the ground.
"Kai!" Nyx shouted. "Left flank!"
He swung the shotgun, taking out a soldier who had flanked low. The man fell into Ash's workbench. Wires and glass fell around them.
There were more soldiers approaching, though. Too many.
"Seventeen hostiles. Ammo insufficient."
The AI's voice pierced Kai's mind, calm and cold.
He clenched his jaw, forcing himself not to react. "No kidding," he muttered under his breath.
He grabbed a spare magazine, slammed it into the shotgun. Nyx jumped over the surgical slab for a better angle, firing nonstop. Ash ducked behind an overturned gurney, cursing between shots.
A bolt of plasma streaked through the room and slammed into a med-tank. The tank erupted in a blast of fire that swept along the floor. Flames shot upwards, filling the clinic with choking smoke.
"We can't keep this up!" Ash shouted, choking.
Kai fired again, his chest aching from the kickback. "We don't have a choice!"
The AI spoke softly again.
"Hidden exit still open. Coordinates marked. Thirty meters, behind the east wall."
His HUD lit up once more with the red glowing panel.
Kai glanced at it. His throat tightened. He couldn't tell them—not yet. What if Nyx thought the "voice" in his mind made him volatile? What if Ash thought he was compromised? They'd report him to Envision themselves.
No. He couldn't let them suspect.
"Kai!" Nyx ordered, pulling him back into battle. She let loose three precise shots, taking out another soldier. Her shoulder ignited a third time, oil and blood mixing. "We're getting torn apart here!"
Kai tightened his grip on the shotgun, gasping jagged breaths. The AI kept preaching in his mind, unflinching.
"If you fight, you die. If you run, you live. Decide."
Another enforcer broke through the fire, carrying a shock baton. Kai dodged just in time, whacking the shotgun butt into the man's helmet. The glass shattered when he fired at point-blank range. The body of the soldier slumped back, smoking into the flames.
"Fall back further!" Kai yelled, attempting to sound frantic, hiding the reality. "They'll pin us here!
Ash snarled, firing her last rounds before ducking behind the slab. "We are trapped, genius!"
The doorframe sparked again—more enforcers were pushing through. The clinic floor was a graveyard of broken tech and blood.
Kai's HUD blared another warning: Ammo depleted.
Nyx swore, producing a knife from her boot and charging at the nearest soldier. Dancing in darkness, slicing between plates, but tripping as her wounded shoulder buckled. The enforcer raised his rifle to put her out of her misery.
Kai barged ahead, firing the last shell into the man's chest. The armor burst, sparks flew, and the soldier crashed backward.
Nyx clung to the wall, panting, eyes blazed with fury and pain.
"You just love taking me to hell, don't you?" she hissed.
Kai said nothing. His gaze darted toward the illuminated panel on the eastern wall, the door the AI had opened. Smoke thickened. Enforcers reformed.
The AI's voice became harsher, more pressing.
"Now, Kai. Or none of you escape."
He swallowed hard, the burden of his decision weighing on his chest. He couldn't risk revealing the voice—not yet.
"Back wall!" he shouted to Nyx and Ash. "We can break through!"
Nyx's brow creased in confusion. "That's steel! Solid steel!"
"Trust me!"
They didn't have time to argue. Kai thrust his boot into the thrumming panel. Metal screeched, then hissed as hidden hydraulics were drained. The wall opened, and a narrow passage with red emergency lighting was revealed.
Nyx's eyes widened. "What the—?"
"No time!" Kai screamed, pulling her in. "Move!"
Ash tarried, her eyes blazing with anger at the burning wreckage of her clinic. Her lip worked in a snarl of rage. She spat on the deck, reloading, and followed after.
The door closed behind them as plasma rounds burst against the clinic. The cries of destruction echoed through the steel, far away but never-ending.
They stumbled into the red-lit corridor, choking, bleeding, and alive.
Nyx glared at Kai, amber eye creasing. "That wasn't chance. You knew that door existed."
Kai wiped blood away from his face, catching his breath. "I just got lucky."
She wasn't stupid.
Ash's jaw cramped as she loaded her shotgun. "Chance isn't going to save us twice, Mercer. Next time you'd better have something better than secrets."
The AI whispered in his head, almost smug.
"Good job. But the deceptions won't hold forever.".
Kai held his tongue, further back in the shadows of the corridor, carrying both the shard-drive and a secret that would be fatal to him should his crew ever find out.