"How are your injuries, Johma?"
"I'm fine, don't worry." Johma waved his good hand in the air to show he was fine but gave him a sideways glance...
Poco watched Johma staggering with a pale face. They had been walking for a few minutes now, about 2 minutes, but those 2 minutes were too many. With reinforcements arriving soon, it was imperative to get out of there...
"Here, take my inhaler." Poco pulled his healing inhaler out of his bulletproof vest and handed it to Johma while continuing to walk towards the elevator at the end of the hallway in front of them.
Johma took the inhaler from Poco's hand, brought it to his mouth, took a long breath, and exhaled the rest of the vapor through his nose.
*inhale*
"Thanks, man, there's still one dose left here." Johma looked at Poco with grateful eyes and handed the inhaler back to him, who took it and put it back in his bulletproof vest.
"No problem, choomba," said Poco, giving him a thumbs up with a big smile. Then the two continued walking towards the elevator.
"Hey, I wanted to say I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier." Johma's voice got smaller at the end, avoiding Poco's gaze.
grab
Poco put an arm around his shoulder while walking. "Don't worry! We've been partners for years, and I accepted this mission knowing the risks. You also know we need to hurry and leave this planet; I feel it in my guts," Poco said, the last part with a serious face he only used if his life was in danger.
"O-yeah, you're right," Johma said, surprised by Poco's rarely seen serious face. And still with a serious face, Poco looked at the elevator doors 2 meters away and said,
"And the way you apologized was super gay."
Shock appeared on Johma's face for 1 second, then he turned red with anger, looking at his boss, who now wore the same arrogant smile he had not long ago.
"Shut up, it's your mom who's gay!" Johma shouted irritably, gritting his teeth while pulling away from Poco's arm and pushing him towards the elevator.
"Hahaha, you should have seen your face! Haha!" Poco walked first towards the exit, leaving Johma behind. He looked at the gray elevator doors, with a screen above showing the floor the elevator was on, indicating level -13, one floor above. He pressed the button to call it.
"Hey Johma! We're in luck, the elevator is one floor above; we won't have to wait." Poco pointed his finger at the screen and turned around.
"Yeah Poco, we're luk-"
Splash
A black chrome hand burst out of Johma's chest, holding his still-beating cybernetic heart. "Cough," blood dripped from Johma's lips. A silhouette stood behind him. With the strength he had left, Johma slightly turned his head to see nothing but a demon's smile.
The hand pulled out from his chest, and he fell with a thud. The silhouette, now recognizable as Albedo with her demonic smile, slowly brought the heart to her mouth and...
Crunch
She took a big bite, closed her eyes, chewed once, then twice, and...
Spit
spat it out with a disgusted face, looking at the mix of metal and flesh.
"Disgusting." Her mood and day were ruined.
Albedo looked at the second intruder, bleeding from his nose and trembling as he looked at the body on the ground and what she had just spat out.
"Hmm? Scared? Hehehe." She squinted her eyes into crescents, her twisted smile returning, but this time with even more malice.
<>
Poco watched his fallen comrade, his trusted choomba, lying on the ground, dying.
It happened too fast, an impossible situation to predict, his sensors detected no presence, how? He really shouldn't have, really, really shouldn't have taken this shitty contract, he should have listened to Johma, he should have taken on more missions even if it delayed their departure, he shou-
"Huh... huh...." Poco was struggling to breathe, feeling like he was underwater and his emotions were strangling his throat.
All those shared memories, the time they got caught in a shootout when they were young, stealing the dead assailants' weapons and starting their mercenary work.
The time they couldn't complete a mission and killed the corpo who hired them to avoid tarnishing their reputation, then, found a stash of drugs and got wasted.
The time they had to run because Johma got caught sleeping with a gang boss's wife in Boston, escaping on a stolen bike from a "cop."
The mix of emotions and all the memories crashing down at once overwhelmed his brain, making him completely forget his situation.
[Cerebral circuit overheating at 98°... risk of circuit destruction - 89%...]
[Alert! Emergency cooling due to host's lack of response...]
Plop
The small sound of a drop of blood woke him from his stupor. Poco watched the blood drop of is nose mix with the pool of blood under Johma's body, fallen to the ground with a hole in his chest.
Poco brought his trembling cybernetic hand to his nose and wiped the trickle of blood. He pulled his hand away and brought it to eye level, looking at the blood and clenching his fist, squeezing it with all his might, producing a metal grinding sound.
"Huh... huh... I... I'm GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!" Poco's scream echoed throughout the floor, his nose bleeding profusely, and his bloodshot eyes reflecting Albedo, one hand on her hip and the other picking her ear.
"Finally, i'm waiting me, booo" Albedo's pout was a striking contrast to the carnage in the hallway and the cute action of the white-haired woman.
"RAAAA BERSERK MODE ACTIVATED," Poco screamed at the top of his lungs, forgetting he didn't need to voice the command, proving he wasn't entirely conscious. A mistake only beginners make, never revealing the cyberware in their possession to the enemy.
"Hehehahaha! Yes! that's it ! Entertain me, BUG!" Albedo shouted back in excitement, with a psychopath's smile that would make sukuna proud.
And with than's, the festivities begin.