All Esper could think about was hitting the cot in her room. The job had left her with a lot on her mind. Swiping one datarod was usually a fairly dull affair. She couldn't figure out why this one was such a pain in the ass. Her ears were still ringing from being in that fight.

"Hey, you guys wanna go to Vybes tonight? I am feeling like a little drinky drinky is in order. Just so I can forget how clustered fucked that whole thing was," Kane made the sound of blowing his own head off while pointing gloved finger guns at his face.

Silence followed with a sense of unease. "Guys, come on, we need this. I know I do. Dusty—homie—we should do some Karaoke." Esper turned to see Kane slapping Dusty's shoulder playfully.

"Why do you insist on that, Kane? I am not really designed to handle the peculiarity of your fascination with singing terribly."

Kane just gave an exaggerated frown as a response.

Dusty could be strangely human at times and it threw Esper off. He was an android who seemed to have a lot more going on under the helmet than he should. To be fair, androids were like magic manikins. They were pretty rare. Maybe this is how they all were. Dusty felt real despite being metal and binary code. To the onlooker, he appeared to be a biker with a sleek armored long coat and tight-fitting full visor helmet. No shine, no gloss, just a matte black average looking crotch rocket junky.

Kane was a mess by comparison. Might as well have been a skinny drug addict with a bad haircut. He was a dangerous son of a bitch, but on first impression, he looked like that guy you always wanted to punch in the throat for asking if 500 credits were enough to get a handjob.

"You wanna fuck your brain into a bottle? Be my guest, but we secure the package first." Esper didn't leave room for discussion. She didn't feel like getting wrecked was the best idea.

They'd just arrived at the back-alley entrance to a rundown store that had gone out of business ages ago. Lucky for them, it sat next to another condemned office building that they were able to retrofit for a crash house. Nothing like having a steel reinforced micro-fortress to sleep in. Cost a fortune to set up, but it was worth it.

They all stepped inside, leaving the flashing holo-ads, sounds of distant gunfire, and general mayhem of Night City behind. The broken-down aisles were still standing. Some had various products left in places. The floor was littered with debris which crunched underfoot as they moved in. Esper's ocular implant enhanced the weak lighting, making the path clear. Dusty was walking close behind keeping a pristinely even gait.

It was eerie watching him move, it was like someone who practiced every gesture instead of growing into it.

A can suddenly skittered across the floor from Kane kicking it like a soccer ball. He seriously had no damn patience. Esper just kept her mind on the hidden door ahead. It looked like the rest of the wall. However, a sensor would pop it open when she got close enough. Low tech RFID tagging with some good old fashion friend or foe references was a good cheap buy.

Oddly, the door didn't budge when she came in range. "Goddamnit," Esper said, turning to Kane. "Get your ass over here. It's not working for me."

"You know," Kane said, as he approached the door casually and slow. "I could use a partner out there. Vybes. Beverage. Companionship." He mockingly leered at her causing Esper to force the image of punching through his head with the hydraulic rams in her right arm back down into the subconscious.

"Open the fucking door, dick cheese." Her tone was razor sharp.

"Cranky tonight. Shit." As Kane got within two feet of the door it slid open. Esper stood off to the side, relieved at the thought of getting under the covers in her room. Then she heard it. The door was all the way open when there was a click followed by a whir of something mechanical.

She just reacted on instinct and pushed up against the right wall with a powerful rush of adrenaline. Dusty moved left and tried to grab Kane's coat. There wasn't a goddamn chance. Esper screamed at Kane to get down, but the blasting staccato of autogun fire rang out so loud her voice disappeared.

The rounds from the gun tore right through him. The rapid strobe of the muzzle flash was accentuated with dark fist-sized bursts of gore that crawled up from his waist to this head. The mangled corpse that was Kane didn't even scream. The body fell back nearly cut in half with a hard, wet slap.

Esper was trying to comprehend what the fuck just happened. The autogun spun down not seeing hostiles in the door frame anymore. She could still hear the servos groaning as it slowly rotated back and forth, panning for more targets.

"Esper, the turret is compromised. Don't move until I tell you." Dusty said, taking a position that made him look like he was just a statue. She knew he was jacking into the Net to get an inside look at the defense systems. The next ten seconds were grisly. She couldn't take her eyes away from the body on the floor, watching the blood drain into puddles endlessly.

The gun in the kill box spun down to a halt and fell silent. "Dusty, get me a fucking sitrep. What the hell just happened!" Her voice showed more emotion than she liked. Even though he had been a douchebag, she had actually liked Kane.

"There are three hostiles inside. I caught sight of them before all internal feeds were cut off. I put a failsafe in the system that I didn't tell you about so you couldn't be compromised. It's the only way that I could deactivate the weapon or see inside. They'll know we're here. It would appear they've breached the control room."

Esper lightly banged her head against the wall looking up at the ceiling. "Fuck! OK, we can't leave. We smoke these shitters and then figure out what to do next. Move inside, take left, I have right."

Esper already had her sidearm out from the holster as she moved through the kill box to the adjacent wall. As soon as her shoulder touched the wall just outside the door frame Dusty was already on the opposite side.

She didn't have any explosives. Just two full mags and a lot of goddamn hope for some vengeance. Dusty had pulled his Vector submachine gun out from under his long coat, waiting for orders, nodding at her showing readiness.

Taking the door latch in hand Esper gave it a push moving into a crouch, weapon up. The corners farthest away that lead to the bedrooms were clear. Dusty took aim in the opposite direction clearing for a crossfire scenario. He signaled that he saw no hostiles.

Nearly silently, "Dusty, low and slow. Check my 11 o'clock behind cover."

The door was open still allowing them a minor shield against enemy gunfire. Just as Dusty was against the door there were multiple ringing cracks of gunfire. Esper's ears rang again with the powerful sound. Dusty retaliated reaching his arm around to the outside edge of the reinforced door spraying bullets at a high rate of fire. It was just to keep the intruders busy.

After the volley, some shouts came out from out of sight. Esper couldn't see the source, but it was clear that someone had been hit. Dusty moved quickly out and into the other room, emptying his magazine in just a few short bursts. Esper moved up to the door taking a fast glance toward the control room.

One of the intruders leaned out with a pistol, following Dusty's movements. Esper didn't even hesitate. She fired a shot catching the flash in her vision and feeling the impact of recoil in her grip.

A spatter of blood appeared on the door jamb from the round hitting her target in the head. He hit the floor without a sound. The apple-sized exit wound was a gaping, toothy maw out the back of his skull.

On the floor, the other assailant lay bloodied from Dusty's initial barrage. A dark pool of blood had accumulated where he sat against the inside of the door frame. His expression was pale and distant. Even still, he raised his weapon to fire it.

Esper ducked back just in time as more shots were fired. They were wild and aimless at best. She could see the impact on the ceiling, floor, and walls. Dusty had taken refuge behind a half wall that sectioned off the center of the open room and the living room to Esper's left. Another fast peak revealed that the wounded man died with eyes staring at nothing straight ahead. One less asshole to worry about.

Signaling, "Dusty, sitrep!"

Dusty gestured silently in reply. "One hostile, control room, no line of sight."

Esper nodded. She just started to move from behind the door when something fast blurred past her vision. She felt the air shift with a powerful bursting gust. A crashing sound like metal being crushed came next. Within a split second, she realized that something was terribly wrong.

Turning to take aim at whatever just passed her, she saw Dusty's body laying out on the floor near the open kitchen railing with someone standing over him hunched and breathing heavily. Dusty was crumpled in a heap not moving.

She needed to move. Now. All the muscles in her arms were pushing against a sense of time like it was sludge. She sensed the way her legs and waist adjusted to proper form to fire in perfect sync with her intent. Her weapon was almost level for a shot. The man was turning to face her as the gun crept up into her vision in slow motion.

As she stared down her target, she felt a primordial terror build in her stomach. This was no regular merc. This was something else. There was a sense like her whole body was burning with panic and screaming at her to run for her life. She ignored it and squeezed the trigger, exhaling at the same time.

Couldn't have been a better shot. The man's head snapped back from the bullet collision. There was small gout of gore that followed in a high-velocity mist. Then his head lowered back down, eyes full of fury.

"Fuck m--"

He charged at her. Mid-stride the man's bones snapped and cracked. Legs elongating with the knees breaking backward. His flesh bulged out of the clothing he wore with raw muscle expanding beyond human limits. He roared while his face contorted, jaw cracking, all human features stretching out into a snout and sharp teeth. Any trace of humanity vanished in an explosion of fur, covering its body at such speed there was only a mere moment where the skin was visible.

Esper's mind shattered. This wasn't real. This couldn't be real. This shit didn't exist. A voice screaming in her thoughts couldn't stop screaming. It's not real! It's not real! It's not real!

Her body didn't even register that she'd been mauled. Her feet were no longer on the ground. She hit something. The wall maybe, then the floor. A burning agony in her chest let her know that she'd been torn open. Her vision was blurred and constantly fading in and out. She saw it coming for her. She was in the kill box again.

Suddenly, it was looming over her. Snarling with white sharp teeth, one claw bloodied from striking her down. She never even saw it happen. It crouched low given its immense size. She couldn't breathe. There was only a taste of copper in her mouth. She was going to die. Fuck...

"Live... if you dare..." Its voice like gravel and rage mixed together washed over her in a tumult. Her mind was still trying to understand reality itself as it faced the impossible. Darkness came again, she saw its mouth widening as it closed in around her throat just before going pitch.

In that shadow and on the edge of consciousness, she pleaded like a child. Please... Let me die before it tears me apart. Please...

END OF RECORD