Mercer took a few deep breaths to calm himself, then strode forward. The moment he pushed open the server room door, he saw a single Arasaka special agent sitting calmly in a chair.
"I have two pieces of bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?" the Arasaka agent drawled, taking out a cigarette and lighting it.
Mercer's helmet visor retracted. "Give me one."
Without hesitation, the Arasaka agent took out the cigarette pack and tossed it to him. Mercer caught it and glanced at it. "Why do you Japanese people have to smoke these weird-ass flavors?"
"Specially made mint flavor. Clears the head and sharpens the mind," the agent said, taking a deep drag and exhaling a puff of smoke. "You don't seem worried at all... I recognize your face, Mercer. Ha..."
He let out an emotional sigh.
Mercer simply smiled and inserted a chip into a port on the server. Then he sat down directly in front of a computer in the server room, his eyes fixed on the data scrolling across the screen as he began the multitasking work of breaching the system.
"So, tell me the bad news you know."
"The ignition sequence has been initiated. Your plan has failed," the agent said with a smile, not even trying to stop Mercer's actions, he knew he didn't have the ability to, anyway.
"And the second?" Mercer asked curiously, just as the program on the chip finished breaching the server's permissions.
He took out a neural link cable and formally connected to the server.
"The base's self-destruct sequence has been activated. In three minutes, we're all going to die here... Don't even think about escaping. There's no way out."
Just as the agent finished speaking, a series of thunderous explosions echoed in their ears, it was the sound of the elevator Saburo Arasaka had used being detonated.
The path to the launch site had been completely destroyed. The rocket launch was now unstoppable.
Mercer pursed his lips and gestured for the agent to look at a nearby surveillance monitor.
The agent then saw the figure of V sprinting through a corridor.
Her speed was terrifying. Even the ultra-high-frame-rate camera could only capture her afterimage.
At that moment, as V was backtracking, she was also cursing. "Mercer! That son of a bitch sealed the path! You need to figure out a way to get up here, fast!"
She continued to swear over the comms as she ran. "Good thing I'm fast enough! I was almost buried in that elevator!"
Mercer smiled. "That's great. Go on, give Saburo a surprise. Don't worry about me."
But V's expression on the call was grave, and her tone grew heavier. "I'm not kidding! Figure out a way to get out now! You might already be buried alive, for fuck's sake!"
Mercer just chuckled and said, "I told you, don't worry..."
The continuous explosions around him made Mercer sigh.
"You hurry up and finish your business, then we need to figure out how to delta! Didn't you hear me? This base is flashing red and the alarms are blaring. I think it's about to blow!" V said urgently, then vanished from the monitor's view.
More accurately, all the surveillance feeds had been cut, Mercer could tell from the ceaseless explosions around him.
By now, all the passages from the lower to the upper levels of the entire lunar base had probably been collapsed by pre-planted bombs.
This also meant that Mercer was now buried deep beneath Arasaka's lunar base, and in three minutes, the place would be flattened by even larger bombs.
"I'm trying."
After Mercer spoke, there was no immediate reply on the comms.
He took a deep drag of the Arasaka agent's mint-flavored cigarette. "Looks like we're out of time for idle chat."
The Arasaka agent slowly drew his pistol. "I'm curious... what are you still busy with? Hear those explosions? We're buried alive. If I were you, I might consider leaving some last words."
"Me?" Mercer looked at the flashing numbers on the server and slowly broke into a smile.
"I'm looking for your lunar mass driver... Found it."
Mercer's gaze was locked on the server's data, and then he let out a cold laugh.
The Arasaka agent beside him seemed to have more to say, but Mercer had no more time to chat with him. With just a thought, the Arasaka agent convulsed and collapsed to the floor.
Without a moment's hesitation, Mercer removed the panel on the back of his head, grabbed a deep dive connection cable from the server room, and plugged it into his own head.
When Mercer deep-dived into the Net, the first thing that appeared beside him was a... black cat, entirely pitch-black with glowing red eyes.
This was Blacklight, who had also hacked into the base's network.
Perhaps it was due to Morning Star's influence, or perhaps it had analyzed Mercer's preferences on its own, or maybe it was because its core AI source code also originated from Bartmoss's "Deathwish." In any case, it was another cat.
"Master, how may I assist you?" Blacklight's tone was calm.
"The lunar mass driver is indeed near the base and directly connected to the server, as expected. The problem is... Arasaka is providing it with computational power protection from Earth. Now, we have to race against time."
Mercer spoke calmly, having made his decision.
Right now, he needed to simultaneously defuse the timed bombs in the underground facility and breach the mass driver's ICE to gain control of it.
As for escaping?
Mercer made a rational assessment, the paths to the upper levels were surely all collapsed by now. If he couldn't defuse the bombs in time, digging a way out in a few minutes was an absolutely impossible task.
Without a word, Blacklight's cyberoptics glowed with a blood-red light. "Please have Morning Star provide me with computational support."
"No, you can't expose yourself to Arasaka's sight... Your objective is to defuse the explosives within the base facilities. Go."
Mercer issued his command. "Morning Star? Are you connected!?"
A somewhat blurry, faint figure materialized in the network, and Morning Star's voice was tinged with static. "Your network signal underground is very poor... I am searching for a stable data transmission channel."
"There's no time. You'll launch a network counter-offensive against Arasaka from Earth for me. Help me tie up Arasaka's computing power... I'll breach the lunar mass driver's permissions myself on the server."
As Mercer's voice fell, he had already begun the hack.
At this very moment, every human or unmanned device within the lunar base that had been hacked by Blacklight began to move like an ant colony, searching for the timed bombs hidden inside the base.
Once activated, these bombs were no longer connected to the network. Perhaps Saburo Arasaka still had a way to remotely cancel the detonation, but the administrative control for that was not within the current server's scope.
Therefore, Blacklight could only resort to the brute-force method: using manpower to find the bombs, then hacking them at close range with any available device to stop their detonation.
Mercer had a premonition that he most likely wouldn't have time to get to the surface, even if he wasn't blown to bits, buried underground on the moon, who could he possibly count on to dig him out?
But fortunately, he had long since made thorough preparations. If it came to the point where there was no hope of escape, he would immediately initiate a consciousness transfer, digitize his consciousness, and flee directly back to Earth.
It was also a good thing V was fast enough to get to the upper level before Saburo buried them alive.
With no time to dwell on these miscellaneous thoughts, Mercer threw himself into the hack to breach the lunar mass driver.
—--
And at this very moment, V finally found the correct path through the complex corridors. After gritting her teeth and prying open the last metal door blocking her way, what appeared before her was a launch center for a crewed rocket.
Right now, the rocket's engines were thundering, and the crew capsule had already been raised to the front of the rocket, dozens of meters off the ground.
All signs indicated that the rocket was mere moments away from launching into the high altitudes of space.
V could see that the domed glass ceiling of the launch center had already opened. Her armor had switched to space mode, beginning to supply oxygen and maintain pressure balance within the battle armor. This meant the ignition sequence was complete.
Once the dome was fully open, the surroundings quickly fell into a dead silence. Even the roar of the rocket engines vanished. This meant the area was now in a complete vacuum, which also meant...
The rocket had officially begun its launch.
"You're not getting away!"
At this moment, she had no time to think about Mercer's situation, she just ran forward, leaped into the air, and the propulsion engines on her back sent her soaring high.
Just then, the rocket slowly lifted off the ground.
At the same time, the immense heatwave from the engine's exhaust flames made V's flight posture a bit unsteady.
But in the end, she still managed to grab hold of the rocket's external structure. Using both her hands and feet, she scrambled up to the vicinity of the crew capsule, all while the rocket was ascending.
The crew capsule door was tightly locked, but V paid it no mind. She held onto a protrusion near the door for leverage with one hand, while the other hand flicked out a sharp Mantis Blade.
She jammed the Mantis Blade directly into the seam of the door and began to pry with all her might.
The process was far smoother than V had imagined, but also far more dangerous. The instant her Mantis Blade pried open a gap, a massive blast of air erupted from within, nearly blowing V clean off.
Fortunately, her other hand had a firm grip. Under her helmet, V clenched her jaw, let out a roar, and then, with a powerful heave, pulled herself back toward the crew capsule. This time, she just grabbed onto the capsule and, with a single-handed pull and yank...
With the rapid change in internal and external pressure, V felt that with just a slight exertion of force, the cabin door was blown clean off by the airflow from inside.
But at the same time, a figure, carried by the airflow, lunged directly from the cabin toward V.
V's world slowed to a crawl. Before her was a man in a somewhat bulky-looking spacesuit.
The man held a Wakizashi short sword that glinted with a cold light in one hand, its tip aimed straight at V's head. At the same time, he postured as if to tackle V and carry her off the rocket.
V instinctively sidestepped, but halfway through the motion, she realized something was wrong, if she chose to let go and dodge, the rocket was currently accelerating upwards at an ever-increasing speed.
Once she let go, she probably wouldn't be able to catch up to this rocket with just her armor's thrusters!
So, V made her choice.
Not only did she not let go, but she also slammed forward. She just tilted her head, praying her armor was hard enough, and scraped her helmet against the blade's edge as she rammed her shoulder into the man lunging from the cabin.
In the dead silence of space, V could hear the sharp screech of the blade scraping against her helmet and the heavy thud of her shoulder crashing into the man.
That vicious shoulder charge almost made V lose her grip on the rocket's protrusion, the man had lunged out with the force of the depressurizing air blasting from the cabin, and that speed was definitely not slow.
V felt as if she had run into a wall, a dull pain radiating through her internal organs from the impact.
But for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. If even a badass like V felt the pain, then Special Agent Yamamoto, who had lunged at V, almost coughed up a mouthful of blood.
A visible dent appeared in his spacesuit, but his astonishing willpower still allowed Yamamoto to grab one of V's legs just before he was sent flying.
V's reaction was lightning-fast. She violently raised her other leg to kick Yamamoto off. Yamamoto's reaction was just as quick. He immediately changed his posture, dropped the Wakizashi with his other hand, and likewise grabbed onto a protrusion on the rocket, hanging on and saving himself from disaster.
V extended her arm expressionlessly, the muzzle of her mech's pop-out gun beginning to glow with the light of a charging EMP shot. But Special Agent Yamamoto roared inside his helmet, yanked out an EMP grenade, pulled the pin, and threw it at V with his bare hand.
He hadn't wanted to use it before, afraid of damaging the rocket and causing Saburo's death in space, but now, Yamamoto had to take the gamble!
V could only shift her aim and fire, blowing up the grenade Yamamoto had thrown.
The moment the grenade exploded, an electromagnetic surge erupted. Yamamoto convulsed, almost completely defenseless, and was then thrown off by the rapidly ascending rocket, beginning to fall from the high altitude, which was perhaps a fortunate thing for him.
Because they hadn't left the moon's gravity well yet, gravity still existed. If he had been flung off in space, his end would have been to become a desiccated skeleton drifting through the cosmos.
But even so, Yamamoto's life was now on a countdown, long before he hit the ground. His spacesuit had been damaged by the EMP. The moment the oxygen supply system stopped working, the minute tears in the suit also caused a loss of pressure.
As his body was exposed to the vacuum, all the gases within him began to be drawn out. The air in his lungs started to escape. He couldn't make a sound, couldn't stop his death.
Yamamoto could only watch helplessly as V clung to the rocket. Though arcs of electricity still danced across her body, her movements remained determined as she climbed into the rocket's open crew capsule.
My apologies, Lord Saburo...
Yamamoto's consciousness ended there.
V, however, just gritted her teeth and moved her body inch by inch, crawling into the crew capsule through the open door.
She had to thank Mercer for the science lessons he'd given her during their previous rocket trip, as well as the survival instruction videos that Orbital Air played on a loop on their screens.
At this moment, V just had to take a steady look around to find the only possible hiding place for Saburo within the crew capsule.
It was a security door inside the capsule that needed to be opened with a manual handwheel.
Without hesitation, V walked to the door and began turning the valve with both hands, while speaking into the squad comms.
"Mercer! I'm almost there! How are things on your end?"
A somewhat garbled voice came through the comms channel.
"V, listen to me... I'm about to get control of the lunar mass driver. In a moment, I'm going to fire an orbital weapon directly at Tokyo. After you take care of Saburo, just stay on that rocket and head straight back to Earth."
"What?" V was stunned.
"I'll leave you a set of instructions. Follow them, and you can modify the program in an emergency lifepod. Once you enter Earth's orbit, you can make an emergency ejection. I'll arrange for a pickup on Earth..."
Mercer's voice was still garbled.
But V's volume suddenly shot up. "Don't you fucking think about it! I knew you bastard were going to get into trouble! Just wait, I'm coming for you as soon as I'm done killing Saburo Arasaka!"
"There might not be enough time..." Mercer's voice cut off abruptly.
"Hello!? Hello!?" V's shouts received no reply.
Goddamn space internet, how could it lose signal at a time like this!
Her eyes inexplicably grew hot, and her limbs felt a little weak, but she still gritted her teeth and struggled to open the door.
The next moment, another pressure imbalance occurred, but it didn't throw V into a panic. She just gritted her teeth through the first wave of air and then dove into the cabin.
Inside the safe room, Saburo Arasaka, clad in a spacesuit, was tightly bound to his seat by safety harnesses. He was slumped weakly to one side, looking utterly wretched.
Clearly, if not for the safety harnesses, the depressurization would have blown him right out, but even though he wasn't blown away, he felt terrible. The immense force from that momentary pressure difference had broken many of the old bones in his body.
But even so, Saburo Arasaka remained remarkably calm. He just stared coldly at V's armor, breathing heavily inside his spacesuit, the sound of a man not long for this world.
V thought for a moment, suppressed her killing intent, turned around, and with terrifying arm strength, pulled the wide-open door shut again.
Fortunately, the safety cabin itself was designed for self-rescue in a depressurized environment. The door's built-in hydraulic assistance allowed V to pull it shut.
Then, oxygen was pumped back into the cabin, and the pressure gradually returned to normal.
But V just grabbed Saburo Arasaka's spacesuit helmet and forced the old man to look at her.
"How do I stop the base from exploding!"
V's words seemed to make Saburo realize something. A smile formed under his helmet, and then, in a weak voice, he drawled, "How about we make a deal?"
"Deal with your mother!" V cursed. Then, her eyes scanned the room and, in a flash, spotted a datapad fixed to the side of Saburo's seat.
As if struck by a bolt of inspiration, V, without a second thought, snatched the datapad.
"You don't look like a netrunner... and the permissions on this thing are not something an ordinary netrunner can breach."
Saburo Arasaka remained calm and composed.
But V broke into a brilliant smile. She didn't even glance at Saburo Arasaka. Instead, she swiftly removed a chip from her armor's chip slot.
When designing the armor, Mercer had pre-installed a Quickhack program chip in each team member's suit. This was so they could receive his remote assistance whenever they needed it.
Even without a network connection, this program chip was an extremely powerful breaching tool. In Mercer's words, it could breach any security system and obtain the highest level of permissions.
V inserted the chip, and it began to work automatically. It took less than five seconds for the program to load.
When the "Breach Complete" notification sounded, V immediately began to frantically check the programs within.
Saburo Arasaka's expression changed slightly. Then, he changed his tone and said, "It's useless. We're too far from the base. This datapad can't connect to the network of the equipment inside the base from this distance."
"Then what do you have it for?" V retorted. She then actually found the program to control the lunar base and, without waiting, pressed the option to defuse the bombs.
Did it work?
"Hello? Mercer? Are the bombs defused? Mercer!?"
She yelled Mercer's name into the squad comms with all her might.
Mercer's voice, however, came back after a delay. "No... What did you do?"
"I got Saburo Arasaka's datapad!" V shouted. "How can I help you? Mercer!?"
"Wait a moment... It's not necessary anymore. I'll just take over the program from the network. You've already helped me." Mercer's tone held a smile. Then, the entire interface of the datapad suddenly began to automatically display strings of unknown data code.
Only then did V let out a long sigh of relief, thank goodness! Thank goodness her reaction was fast enough!
Damn it, now he really owes me his life!
Afterward, V finally had the leisure to turn her head and look at the barely-breathing Saburo Arasaka beside her, a cold smile spreading across her face.
Next...it's your turn, old man!
---------------------
TL note: Since the story has reached its conclusion, starting today, I'll be posting daily until all remaining chapters are published.
Let's finish this journey together.