A man was standing at the door holding two swords. Blood splattered across the blue shirt, eyes that of a killer.
I turned around with Biter in hand and pulled the trigger. But – the man was faster than me.
Sling! He had already leaped forward, swinging his blade at one of the Sharks, avoiding the three bullets that blasted out of Biter. I was the furthest standing from the door. So, there was no way he could get me, but –
Blood dropped to the floor from the blade. My heartbeat raised.
Bam! Bam! The one standing near the dining trolley shot the man with a round of bullets from his pistol. Barry had emptied a round into the killer.
Glah!
One of the Sharks coughed, obviously blood, falling to their knees. My eyes widened, and a chilling feeling ran across my spine.
The bathroom was dark, with only a stick of light from the dining trolley to light up the entire room.
'Who was it? JENNI? CARRY? GENDY?'
"LYLA!!" Carry screamed, instantly leaning down to grab Lyla. I felt like my heart stopped at that moment, fear crawling all over my body.
My shaking eyes darted toward the man, still crawling on the ground. My teeth gritted in fury.
"ARGHHH!!!" I flipped my Biter around, leaped towards the man lying on the ground, and bashed the head of the motherfucker. It got crushed under the back of my gun.
Only then, I could turn around.
"Barry! Did you get the medics!? Her neck is cut!" Carry cried out, holding Lyla's neck with her hand to seize the bleeding. Barry quickly took a medic pack out of the dining trolley, rushed to Lyla, and got ready to treat her.
I was still recovering from the shock. Blondie was terrified; her gun had dropped to the ground. Jenni stood there, staring at the bleeding Lyla. Loss was nothing new for her. Gendy and Crowley simply stood there too, as if they knew already… what was going to happen.
"Fuck! Save her!" I screamed at Barry.
"I'll do my best," Barry replied coldly, wrapping her neck with bandages. "But with this wound – I can't save her here. I have to get her out. I'm bailing and taking her to a medical agent. That's what you want right… Boss shark?"
"Yes, get her out. Save her." I replied instantly.
Barry nodded, lifted the girl, and instantly barged out of the bathroom through the door which was slid open now.
Droplets of blood were still dribbling from the back of my Biter with parts of the stranger's brain still clinging on to my gun.
TRR! TRR! Behind me, Gendy was already shooting the people trying to barge into the bathroom. The lights were still fucked, it was mostly dark.
I slapped my hand hard against my face, trying to hold back my tears.
"GOD!" I yelled out. "What the fuck! I had one thing to do – and at that, I fail –"
Slap!
"Shut up, Kim. She's not just your friend." Jenni's hand left a warm feeling on my cheek. My eyes lowered. Even through the mask, I felt that slap.
After a few seconds, I walked towards the dead body lying on the floor, grabbed it by the collar, and ripped off his coat, only to see a message written in black paint on his white shirt.
"You can't be the Number One, forever." – The Dark Fox.
"Fuckers… it was set up. Goddammit!" I kicked the headless body, put my Biter on the second round with a simple pull, and turned my gaze back to the Sharks.
"Kill them all. We're not leaving without finding this Dark Fox. For Lyla, we'll kill him… and – MEG!"
The moment I screamed, Meg came back in an instant.
[Kim! I'm still searching for a way out of the dark cloud, but I can connect with you now!]
"Good. We're going to kill a lot of people. Back us up, shark."
[Um, I always do.]
Everyone nodded at me, and I gave the order. "Feed on 'em, Sharks!"
Gun in hand, I ran out of the bathroom into the hallways. The floor was covered with corpses of dead rich people, Crows, and members of the Shogunate. With cracks in the glass walls of the Palace, water was leaking out and flooding the floor.
But – no matter, our nano-suits managed to keep the friction even on the slippery floor.
With Meg's ultra tracking on, nothing could escape our eyes. Everything invisible was visible to us. With each turn I took, I drilled a person with the bullets from the Biter.
Everywhere I pointed my gun, a person died.
That's what you get when you kill someone close to me.
Behind me were the three girls, Blondie, Carry and Jenni, nailing everything in sight. And dragging the trolley was Crowley, with Gendy covering for him.
"Fuck them! Fuck them!!!"
I screamed as I drilled holes in everything in sight. It didn't matter to me if they were innocent now. That motherfucker with blades who slashed Lyla. He was dressed as an ordinary person. Nothing in here can be called innocent.
There was no way I can let anything associated with this fucking Dark Fox get away.
The Crows with their metal wings spread wide were raining from the upper floors to their deaths, while only the seven of us stood in the middle of the palace, killing everything in sight.
Then, the thought occurred to me.
The guy who saved me earlier. Not exactly a guy, but a bot.
"Doom bot." I looked at my side and saw the doom bot choke slamming two armored samurais into the ground like they were mere chickens. The metal grip tightened, and their heads rolled on the floor.
"Fuck yeah," the Bot's deep voice resounded as his eyes fell on us Sharks.
"Oh, the fishing season. Pass me the hook, darling." The Doom Bot began to walk towards us right away as he spotted us in the middle.
I already knew going head-on with the Doom was just… stupid.
"Fuck, guys… Doom's –" Right when I turned around, the first thing I saw was Carry holding the mini-missile launcher in her hand.
"...coming."
"Move out of the fucking way, Kim!"
I leapt to the side right at the moment, and a missile flew past my shoulder. The IO unit's metal hand was already transforming into a gun, but it could not shield the missile entirely in seconds, whoever he was.
"God fucking dammit!" The missile hit the bot, carried him all the way across the palace to the other side before blowing him off through the wall right into the sea.
Boom!
When I turned around, Carry was lying on the ground with the dining trolly, weapons scattered all over the floor. She was hurled backwards to the mere force of the launcher.
"Ha.. ha... Fuck." She panted, getting herself back up.
Most of the people in the building were dead. Crowley, Jenni, and Gendy were putting all the other ones to rest.
[Kim!] Suddenly, Meg's voice disturbed me.
"Yes?"
[Look outside. The choppers are coming in. Cyber Security is bringing in more backup. More ghosts. The Sharksuits won't be enough to overpower them, Kim. You gotta plan out an exit strategy now – or none of you are leaving here alive.]
BLAM!
The roof of the palace blew up right at that moment, making a rain of marine water and sea urchins fall on us. And ropes descended through the new skylight with Cyber Ops hanging in each of them.
"WE GOT THE SHARKS SURROUNDED!" One of them screamed.
'The Sharks surrounded?' I thought, wondering how laughable we were at that palace. Our dignity had been harmed, but most of all – The Dark Fox.
However, I could not risk everything just to get this Dark Fox right here. I could kill him any time, and I will. First of all, I needed to worry about the lives of the Sharks. And – Juno.
"Meg, what happened to Juno?"
[No sign of him after the dark cloud incident, Kim. I lost him. Or… someone already got to him.]
"It's ok now," I reassured her. "Get out of the Dark completely. We need you."
[Almost out.]
I turned to the Sharks and saw all of them looking right at me, waiting for my order. It was either retreat or die. We knew that we weren't gonna fall here.
"Guys, we failed the mission. Sorry, but – retreat."
"How are we gonna fucking escape??" Blondie cried out, shooting the Cyber Ops in ropes even before they had time to jump off of them.
"Hijack one of those choppers and we fly off home, safe and sound. We're going to be the innocent survivors, and – Jenni, can you play a Cyber Op?"
Jenni nodded at the request.
"Thank you, Jen. And everyone, scatter. We meet up at the top floor in five minutes."
And I – I had to find at least one little clue about who the Dark fucking Fox was.
///To be continued///