Atlanta was still in the treatment room with the little girl and her recovering mother, she'd also decided to rest and recover some of her energy. After an hour she woke up, refreshed a bit regained her strength. She could see the little girl still asleep along with the mother, as they stayed in each other's embrace.
"You're here." Atlanta heard a voice softly speak behind her, and she indefinitely knew who it was.
"Where else would I be? it's not like I have an important job or anything." She coldly uttered, not making eye contact at all with Lisa.
"Sighs! Look.. I know you're upset now and it's maybe kind of our fault."
"Ouch! Why'd you do that." Ryan nudged her shoulders, causing her to rethink her words.
"Fine, it's our fault. but maybe we can make it up to you somehow." She grumbled reluctant to utter those words.
"Am not interested." Atlanta unwillingly rejected her offer, crossing her arms together.
"Why you little-"
"Ahem! What Lisa was trying to say is we'll be going on a scouting mission now, and based on your performance we'll be needing your help." Ryan butted in, afraid Lisa might ruin the whole thing up with her nonchalant attitude.
"And why should I help you? Am not indebted to you guys at all. and last time I checked, I was the one that saved your asses."
"Sighs! We know you're still mad you deserve to be, just don't let your temper cloud your judgements. We'll head out in 5 minutes, if you need us we'll be at the first floor." Ryan softly smiled walking away with Lisa, going to prepare for their mission leaving a shocked Atlanta.
'What the hell.. t-those were sole's exact words before everything happened.' She recalled back to the time, she and sole went on their last mission ever together.
'I should've just listened to him.. maybe he'd still be normal.' Small balls of tears formed in her teary eyes, gently sliding down her cheeks.
[Host sadness level has risen to 67%. Atlanta you have to calm down.] Nexus spoke in her head, but it was already clouded by negative emotions feeding off from her.
'Why does it hurt so much.' The truth was she was weak but she didn't accept it, so she always hid herself away from others trying to act selfless and tough.
[I don't know much about humans, but from the little knowledge I've acquired I've come to a conclusion that your species love and care, even when they try to hide it.]
'Uh-huh! what do you mean?'
[Various scans throughout the city have shown most population living here have love for one another, that's why they still chose to stay and fight even when their scared. I have discovered that humans are at their strongest, when their scared the most.]
'Like a survival instinct.'
[Exactly.. whenever humans think their at the weakest or threatened they fight, and the will to survive more than anything fills them like an adrenaline rush.] Atlanta found truth in what Nexus said as everything was true. Right now their lives are being threatened by the hunters, who are far more stronger and better than them in all ways. But instead of choosing to flee they chose to stay fight and defend their home, even when they know they don't stand a chance.
'You're right Nexus..'
[Of course I am! Am a self evolving system after all.] Nexus proudly proclaimed.
Feeling encouraged by Nexus words, she decided to step up and follow her parents on their mission. after all, this was the only chance she was going to get so she might as well use it.
"It's time, let's go." Lisa softly said to Ryan, who still stood at the entrance of the resistance first floor.
"She might come."
"Fool. You know she isn't coming and besides, she doesn't have a reason to." Lisa condemned Ryan's foolish attitude. Sighing there wasn't any signs of Atlanta showing up, shrugging his shoulders he was already moving out with Lisa when they heard a shout.
"Wait!"
"Atlanta~" Turning, they could see Atlanta running from behind towards them.
"I-i've changed my mind." She managed to speak under her deep pants, as she stopped before them. Ryan had a smile on his face seeing Atlanta, while Lisa was a bit shocked seeing the former turn up.
"Very well then let's- wait.. you don't have a weapon?" Ryan halted in his words, seeing Atlanta unequipped without any weapon.
"I don't think I'll need any."
"Well you can never be too careful. Here have this." Ryan took out a blue energy hand gun strapped to his waist, placing it on her hand.
[Nevatium energy handgun: crafted from rare components of metals and equipped with the 13th most strongest energy ever found. Can fire up to 5 energy blast shots per second and ammunition can only be replaced with processed nevatium quills.]
"I can't accept this."
"I know you're skilled in hand to hand combat, but you'll still need to train with a weapon. trust me." Ryan smirked, shoving the weapon back to her which she hesitantly accepted holding it in her arms.
"And besides, I already have a weapon." He chuckled, tapping his advanced plasma sniper rifle equipped with an IR scope. With that, the group set out on their journey once again into the vast battlefield.
"So which part in elite city do you come from?" Ryan asked initiating a conversation.
"District 34." She honestly said, spilling out the location where they lived in reality before they died.
"We're from the 32nd district." Ryan smiled. "Maybe if this damn war ends we can get together sometime."
"Yeah.. maybe."
"Enemies at 2 o'clock." Lisa spoke in a low tone calling their attention, as they then hid behind a destroyed armoured truck.
"They're about nine of them." Ryan confirmed their numbers, with his advanced sniper rifle scope.
"We can't take them out without being noticed." Ryan frowned a bit. due to how far and spaced they were from each other, they couldn't perform a sneak attack nor could they accurately aim at them.
"Why don't we split ourselves. that way, we can cover much distance and swiftly take them out." Atlanta suggested. she could fearlessly charge in and take the nine hunter head on, but she wanted to gain some experience with her parents.
"True.. but we don't know if this is all the enemies forces. They might be leading us into a trap if we split up." Ryan pointed out. They were just three against nine armed hunters. though they could try to kill them with their sniper rifles, but he wasn't sure the accuracy would be point on due to the distance between them. And if they chose to risk it and miss alerting the enemies then that would be bad for them, as the enemies will surely call for more back up leading to more trouble.
"Shit. I guess we're doing it your way Atlanta." Ryan softly said, agreeing to Atlanta's plan to which she smiled.
"Wait..tell me you're joking. You can't possibly follow the instructions, of an inexperienced teenage girl. She probably doesn't know how to handle herself." Lisa tried dissuading Ryan from following Atlanta's plan, pointing out her flaws.
"She might be inexperienced, but she knows how to handle herself. And besides we don't have any other choice."
"But-" she wanted to speak, but restrained herself finally giving in to Atlanta's plan.
"Very well.. "
"Good. you take the right Atlanta the left, and I'll stay here dealing with the one's in front." Ryan ordered to which they nodded, taking their positions a bit far from each other, but they could still see and hear each other clearly.
"There's a button by the side, press it." Ryan spoke in a low tone, trying his best not to garn any unwanted attention. Locating the small red button Atlanta pressed it, and a holographic scope formed at the top of the handgun.
"A little upgrade I've been working on. Remember to aim at the target take shallow breaths, maintain a calm mind and fire when you have the shot." Ryan spoke, reminding her of the resourceful tips to utilize before she took a shot.
"Remember, have fun and good luck!" Ryan shouted a bit encouraging her.
'Let's do this.' Pointing the hand gun forward, she aimed at a target by the door of a building. Thanks to this new developed holographic scope, she could see the target appear more nearer than it actually was. Taking deep but shallow breaths she cleared her mind off everything bothering her, only focusing on eliminating the threat in front.
'Here goes nothing.' Without further delay her hands slid to the trigger, pulling it and firing of an energy shot. The blue energy then materialized into a bullet, speeding fast like a rocket launching into space.
'Thud!' The shot met it's target, as the hunter's lifeless body fell to the floor.
'I-i did it.' She happily cheered in her mind having killed one of her prey, she could see Ryan giving her a thumbs up while Lisa just nodded with a smile.
'They've already killed two.' She could see Ryan and Lisa had already killed two each of their preys, making her feel a bit embarrassed.
"You don't have to be ashamed. Killing the hunters with stealth is one thing, but from this angle with such precise accuracy is a different talent." This time it was Lisa who surprisingly encouraged her.
"Thanks.." gaining her confidence back, she focused on the other two hunters. Following the same procedure, the red dot lingered on the male hunter's head unbeknownst to him.
'Bam! Thud.' The energy bullet was fast as it pierced through the air, creating a hole in the lifeless hunter's skull.
"One more." She muttered taking a firing position. she didn't know why but her body suddenly became uncomfortable, still she decided to proceed with the shot not wanting to disappoint her parents.
'Bam! Crack!' The shot went off cutting through the air fast, and making a small bang sound. but the problem was it didn't kill the hunter, instead it missed creating a small hole in the wall beside the latter.
"Shit. Shit. Shit." Atlanta grumbled firing off more shots at the hunter but it was too late, as he'd already taken cover realizing the incoming threat.
"Atlanta calm down, we have to go now." She could see Ryan and Lisa coming over to her, which made her heart beat more faster guilt clouding her entire system.
"Atlanta it's alright don't-" Ryan couldn't finish his words when Atlanta had abruptly stood up, swiftly charging towards the hunter in front.
"Shit. Why the hell doesn't this kid listen to me." Ryan grunted as he was about to warn her not to do anything he would, but the impatient purple haired had already moved out.
"Hmhmm.. I don't know but if you ask me, she kinda reminds me of how reckless you were when younger." Lisa giggled softly, to which Ryan rolled his eyes at her.
"Well she's going to die if we just stand here." Nodding they became serious as they ran after Atlanta, their weapons raised for anything.
'Fuck! Why the hell did I become nervous all of a sudden.' She didn't know why, but she felt her hands immediately become sweaty causing her grip on the weapon to be slippery, making her shoot off trajectory.
'I'll make it right.' Reaching a few meters from where the hunter was, she could see he hid behind a small car in front. Steadily walking with caution steps her handgun out, she calmed her breath aiming for the hunter's head through the small opening.
'Thud.' She took the shot, as the hunter's lifeless body fell to the floor.
'Something's not right..' she didn't know why, but her body just had this urgent sense of danger looming around her.
[System error.]
'Bam! Fuck!' Atlanta cursed out loud, as a bullet had pierced through her left shoulder making a small bloody hole.
'Bam! bam! bam.' Multiple shots went off fired at her. because of how fast they were and her current speed, she couldn't avoid this onslaught of energy bullets.
'Shit.' Two energy bullets pierced through her thighs immobilizing her right leg, gritting her teeth she fought through the pain managed to slid behind the scrape car, momentarily blocking the Hunter's shots.
"Haha.. die you fucking resistance!" The male cyborg maniacly screamed, from on top a two story building few meters from Atlanta's location.
"Atlanta." Ryan softly called out to her, as they hid behind a building adjacent from the hunters parallel to her.
"Are you alright?" Ryan didn't know why he asked that question, as he could clearly see three shot marks on her body. He was relieved to see she wasn't dead, but in a lot of pain right now unable to move properly.
[System error!]
'What the hell!' Atlanta screamed in her mind, still seeing the impromptu system message saying it had a malfunction of some sort. She tried communicating with Nexus, but unfortunately he wasn't responding.
"Fuck! cunning bastard. I can't get a clear shot." Lisa angrily said, as the hunter was wise enough to protect himself with two titanium sheets, attached to his energy machine gun blaster just enough to shield his upper body.
'Shit. That car isn't going to hold out any longer.' Ryan could see the car being torn to bits by the energy blasts, and it wouldn't be long before Atlanta suffered the same fate as well.
"Do you trust me?" He suddenly asked Atlanta. Staring at him for a while she didn't know what he was trying to do, but she nodded with a yes. He was her father, and she had this gut feeling whatever he wanted to do was for her good.
"Then toss the handgun to me." Without hesitating, she immediately tossed the handgun over to Ryan which he caught.
"Lisa, open fire to the left side of the titanium shield and don't stop." Nodding, Lisa began her assault on the hunter's shield but her energy blasts had little to no effect on the metal shield. Ryan then stationed his advanced cyber sniper rifle, pressing a button it kept on firing off at the right metal shield of the hunter.
"Atlanta you have to trust me on this one. That car won't hold out any longer, I need you to run towards us." He said, causing her to stare at him weirdly for a while.
"I know it sounds crazy, but I promise you I got you." He stretched his hands forward to her, not having any other options she accepted.
"On my mark. On three."
"One..."
"Two.."
"Three.. go!"
Gathering the remaining strength she had into her legs she ran forward, amidst the rampage of energy bullets flying around and for some reason she didn't feel scared.
"I got you now." The male hunter smiled, peeping a bit from the small slit space in the metal shield. He had an evil smirk on his face, as his finger lingered on the trigger button.
'Bam!' Atlanta almost felt her heart stop but she didn't stop running, leaping a bit into Ryan's arm as he dragged her to safety.
"A-am I dead?"
"Not yet." Ryan smiled holding her in his arms.
"The shooting.. it's stopped?" She could vividly hear the sound of silence, as the noises from earlier had abruptly stopped.
"Yeah.. it's over now." Ryan softly said, making her confused a bit until it finally hit her.
"Wait. that last shot, it was you?" Ryan just softly nodded smirking a bit.
"I told you I got you." She didn't know how, but she was more than happy it was now over.
"If you two lovebirds don't mind, I suggest we leave now while we still can." Lisa interrupted, but it was too late as more armoured trucks appeared approximately 3, filled with armed hunters