Rebecca moved with a predatory slowness. The sheer weight of the heavy machine gun made a fast sprint impossible, leaving Pilar, Dorio, and Maine to draw the turret fire and keep the lanes clear.
"Go to hell, you bastard!"
Rebecca snarled through gritted teeth, ignoring the searing heat of spent casings bouncing off her cheek.
Suddenly, a streak of blue light sliced through the air, inches from her face.
Maine, standing beside her, felt a violent gust shear through the air in front of him.
Crack!
Rebecca's eyes widened.
Her expression froze—like stepping off thin ice into a freezing river.
No one escapes the instinctive sense of death approaching.
For edge-running cyberpunks, that instinct is sharper than most.
"Shit! Rebecca!"
Maine reacted—but a split second too late.
The heavy machine gun in Rebecca's hands disintegrated. Components burst apart in a small explosion, fragments scattering across the pavement.
In the next instant, Maine hoisted her up. Dorio kept suppressing the Zetatech turrets, pivoting sharply behind the pickup truck without a word. Years of teamwork required no communication.
They all understood.
A sniper had them pinned.
Crouching low, they sprinted toward a half-finished building. Pilar twisted around mid-run and dumped a full burst toward Liam's rooftop.
Liam ducked, waiting for the rounds to finish chewing up concrete. He shook cement dust from his hair, rolled, and slid down to a slightly lower adjacent platform.
"Machine gun's done, Hamster."
Hamster let out a low chuckle. "Fucking beautiful."
Liam dropped to one knee. The Nekomata in his hands felt like Death's scythe, locking onto Dorio as she covered the rear.
The second shot came without hesitation.
This one shattered the rifle in Dorio's grip. Steel fragments burst outward, shredding her hand red.
"He's playing with us!" Pilar shouted.
"Twenty minutes…" Liam muttered the countdown under his breath.
It was supposed to be a simple defense contract. Brace the rifle, disrupt their rhythm, buy time for the Barghest patrols to arrive and force the crew to retreat.
Mission accomplished.
Truth be told, Liam valued his life above all else.
But the promise of generous system rewards—and memories from his past life—made him hesitate.
Holding back didn't feel wrong.
He was relatively safe. All he had to do was make sure Hamster's underground network held out.
The scope shifted again.
Maine peeked near a window, trying to get eyes on the sniper's nest.
Liam fired.
The round punched through concrete one centimeter above Maine's head.
Yeah, just keep them pinned, Liam thought. Wait for the Barghest, and everyone gets to walk away.
Trapped in the ruins, Rebecca struggled in Dorio's grip. If she weren't being held back, she would have sprinted across the gap at terminal velocity to rip the sniper's lungs out.
"Dorio! Let go!"
"We need a different breach point! I'm going after that son of a bitch!"
Maine wasn't backing off. He tapped Dorio's shoulder lightly, then vaulted from the platform on the building's side.
Liam's scope lagged a fraction too slow.
Experienced street fighters knew exactly how to counter a lone sniper.
"Goddammit!"
Liam cursed as he slung the Nekomata over his back and drew his sidearm, chambering a round.
He needed to close the distance. He had to force an encounter where he could actually talk to them—make them realize the Barghest were closing in. If the patrol arrived before the crew withdrew, none of them were getting out of Dogtown.
"You're all fucking lunatics!" Liam hissed.
Any rational person, seeing that many Zetatech turrets and a sniper overwatch, would disengage.
But these street-soldier crews lived for the gamble.
Is that the secret to becoming a legend? Liam wondered. Doing things without a backup plan?
He leaped down the metal fire escape, pistol held in a tactical low-ready. He stayed close to Hamster's location; despite his frustrations, he couldn't abandon his post or his sniper advantage unless forced.
Down in the darkness of the labyrinthine alleys, Maine moved with a predatory grace. He raised his Arasaka Kenshin—a high-end piece he'd looted from a previous op.
The alley was a sensory nightmare. Glowing advertisements for All Foods and Big Rock flickered over the huddled forms of "Glitter" addicts.
The air was thick with the sounds of cursing, the hum of neon, and the distant thunder of his team still trading fire with the automated defenses.
The good news: the sniper had stopped firing. The bad news: the sniper probably knew he was coming.
"Barghest grunts are a pain in the ass," Maine grunted, rounding a corner.
He collided directly into Liam.
The two guns hit each other with a metallic clang. Liam felt a surge of cold dread. Maine was even more massive than he appeared from a distance. Despite Liam 's own military-grade cybernetics and artificial muscle, he felt like a child standing before a mountain.
Instinctively, Liam kicked Maine's shin.
Expecting it to do nothing.
At the same time, he grabbed for Maine's gun arm.
The pistol fired.
Behind Liam, a neon sign exploded into darkness.
Pain shot through Maine's shin.
At the same time, surprise flashed across his face. This kid... why is he so strong?
His wrist felt like it was caught in a steel vise. Snarling, Maine twisted and hurled Liam into the wall beside them.
Liam felt like his organs had shifted out of place.
Damn, that guy's strong.
"You're not Barghest?"
"Wait—"
"You're that idiot… Liam?"
Liam drove a knee into Maine's abdomen. Maine countered instantly, tossing him aside again. Liam rolled up to his feet, pistol raised, trying to slip into the adjacent alley.
Bang!
A spray of blood mist burst from Maine's shoulder.
"Bastard… not bad. Who the hell are you? How do you have intel on us?"
Maine's voice echoed from deeper in the alley.
Liam had no intention of revealing that he knew every one of their names. That knowledge was his biggest advantage—his deepest secret.
"Go back where you came from. Understand? When the Barghest arrive, neither you nor I are walking away."
His temples throbbed as he mixed persuasion with bluff.
To Mr. Hands, the Barghest patrol was just part of the show.
To Maine's crew—it was a death sentence.
Thank god for reinforced arm cyberware and a pain editor. That slam had still left his entire back numb.
This fight, at its core, meant nothing.
The cyberpunk crew feared they'd been sold out.
Liam feared they'd stir up trouble with the Colonel.
And Mr. Hands didn't want outside forces meddling in Dogtown.
If Maine would just calm down and listen—
That was a big if.
"Believe it or not, a Barghest patrol will be here any minute. If all of Dogtown mobilizes, you think you can get out?"
If not for the rewards, I'd have put a bullet in your head, Liam thought. This guy's got rocks for brains.
"Leave now. We're all just trying to make a living. If Hansen wants revenge, he'll go after whoever hijacked your cargo—or the corp behind it."
Maine burst out laughing. Behind his crooked sunglasses, his eyes were full of mockery.
"Barghest scum sure know how to talk."
"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were Hansen himself."
"But I came here to flatline you, idiot. Doesn't matter how much you know. You think I don't realize Hansen's protecting you?"
Liam leaned against the wall.
Words weren't working.
The cyberpunk crew operated on simple logic: whoever posed a threat—eliminate them.
No room for reason.
"Liam! Get over here now! Their netrunner's disengaged and is cracking the turrets!" Hamster's voice in his ear wavered, like a signal about to drop.
Was their netrunner really that good?
A strange unease crept up Liam's spine.
Just as he started calculating a new route—planning to break contact with Maine and reposition for sniping—
Hamster screamed.
"It's not the cyberpunk crew! It's a Militech netrunner! FUCK! LIAM—"
Static and screaming—then Hamster went silent.
At the same time, Maine's link chirped.
"Maine, pull back! Arasaka's on us!"
It was Sasha. Her voice was weak, trembling.
"Arasaka? Sasha?!" Maine roared.
While the two men stood paralyzed by the sudden shift in the tide, the sound of heavy engines and the rhythmic clatter of boots filled the air. The Barghest weren't just patrolling—they were descending in force.
Liam realized it instantly.
The "mutual benefit," the "quiet resolution"... it was all a lie. This was a massive kill-zone designed to draw everyone out.
This is the 'surprise,' you son of a bitch, Liam realized, thinking of Hands.
In the split second he froze—
A massive explosion erupted from the motel in the distance, where gunfire still raged.
Above them, multiple Barghest drones streaked toward the chaos.
One of them spotted Liam below.
With a rising mechanical chirp, friend-or-foe identification locked onto him.
"Wait… this is for real?"
Maine sensed it too.
The next second, both of them were driven back into the alley by a dense barrage of gunfire.