"So, ladies, are you ready to get your brains kicked in?"
"We're disconnecting from the optics of..."
All three of them said that at the same time, and I gave them three more seconds and turned on the sandi. No, I didn't run forward, especially since the mines would probably react in time. If there's a corporation involved, then the mines are sure to be able to use the sandi. So...
Instead of rushing forward, I was under the influence of the sandi, activated the optics and examined the road I was to pass through as closely as possible and under all possible modes. I examined all the available space and only when I had finished with that I turned off the sandi.
"Ladies, catch pics, I need a map of how I can best get through."
"Wait a couple of minutes, it's not hard to make a program that will select the best route, but we're not robots after all, so it will have to be tested..."
"Waiting..."
After about ten minutes, the girls gave me a map with the best route that would allow me not only to walk through the minefield with minimal use of demons to disable the mines, but also to avoid the cameras. They also marked on the map the points where the turrets were most likely to be and the routes to avoid them.
"And why didn't we do the same thing before?"
"Because before, we didn't consider that our adversary would be a corporation and we were a little relaxed. Now I'm back in the resource and I realize that speed and efficiency must be maximized if we are to get the maximum reward. Have you prepared the demons for me?"
"Catch..."
I was handed demons, each with a number in its name, which corresponded to the number of the mine that the girls had marked on the map.
"Okay, here I go."
Sandi, fifty percent...
Step forward, two to the side, first demon, three more forward one diagonally forward and to the right, second demon...
I was going extremely slowly. Well, in my subjective perception. But in reality, I probably just disappeared from the visible spectrum for those who do not have the ability to speed up their perception. But that didn't interest me now, I was thinking only about how exactly I should move...
There's the first camera. Freeze in place, hidden behind a tree, waiting for it to turn slightly, changing its field of view. Time's running out, but I'm not going to turn off Sandy. Corporations aren't gangs, and a split second can cost me my life, so I wait disciplined ...
The camera finally turned hard enough and I dismount, or rather walk calmly, while continuing, disabling the mines I encountered along the way.
Step by step...
Camera by camera...
Past the turrets...
Very cautiously I advanced first towards the Farm itself, and after walking a little along its fence I jumped on it.
Fuck...
I jumped back and took a deep breath.
Mystic...
Why the fuck is she the one? Why not some Stylettes they hired for security? Why not some former nomads, whose head, just like Saul, was just as eager to join this corp and now they're doing her dirty work... running the optics through the different modes again.
Fuck. why didn't I notice that the fence was blocking my view of what was going on behind it? Well, I can see why. Too many mines, turrets and cameras. And the turrets are hidden and are only detected by the girls calculating their approximate location, so... I was too focused.
With a sigh, I carefully jump up and cling to the edge of the fence and pull myself up to twist Sandi's work one hundred percent. My body freezes. Only my eyes move, my optics go from mode to mode, but it's all bullshit, I continue to hang and look around... and only when I'm sure I've got it all on camera do I lower Sandi's acceleration and slowly lower myself back to the ground, afterwards.
Do I risk it or not? From what I could see, Mystique didn't notice my behavior, as she was standing with her back to me...
No, I'm not taking any chances...
Shutting Sandi down now would be the death of me...
I throw myself up sharply, and realizing that there's no way I'm going to change what I'm doing, I see that Mystique is looking exactly in my direction and a smirk appears on her face.
Fuck...
She's coming my way. Slowly enough, but she's coming. Except it doesn't fool me, and I throw my leg out to the side, pushing the tip of my toe off the fence and sending myself sideways. I remember the way she threw the knives and the speed at which it all happened. And I wasn't wrong! Her hands moved at a speed barely inferior to mine and threw two knives.
Finally, I fall to the ground and go into a roll, looking around again in all modes and not finding mines around. At least I was lucky in that.
There are two knives in my hands, and this time I fight them off, but I don't show my full capabilities, continuing to move only slightly faster than Mystique. The girl's lips smirked in anticipation, and she pointed to her back, then shook her head.
She thinks I'm stupid?
It's playable, though, and I nod my head slightly thoughtfully, confirming that I'm ready to disable Sandi. She immediately shows me a hand with three fingers bent back, then only two fingers are visible... one... And as soon as she removes the last finger, I freeze as if I'd really turned off the sandi, and a second later another knife comes flying in my direction, which I calmly kick away.
A smirk stretched on the girl's lips into a carnivorous grin and she accelerated sharply, catching up to me in speed and even slightly overtaking me.
Three strikes, and if it wasn't for my training at Arasaki Academy I wouldn't have been able to calculate them and deflect those strikes, good thing they were fairly straightforward.
The fourth blow left a scratch on my cheek, the fifth cut my forearm, the sixth and seventh were more dangerous, but I was able to sidestep them, reducing them to regular, albeit slightly deep, cuts nonetheless.
And now I wished I still had armor, but so far the synthetic muscles were partly taking over, preventing me from being cut too deeply. Targeted shots would definitely penetrate my muscle armor...
Pulling back another jab and flopping slightly to the side of Mystique to slash her face...
Well...
It's a start. Now it's all about not screwing up. but the look on Mystique's face told me that she was really hurt by that cut on her face...
Her speed didn't increase, but her onslaught became denser. Her speed, however, had increased, but the onslaught had become denser.
With each minute of subjective time it became clearer and clearer, she is playing with me, she could have ended the fight a long time ago but she doesn't, time after time she leaves me with imaginary opportunities that result in nothing more than cuts on me.
I took a step back, trying to dodge, and realized that my leg was unsteady and I was falling backwards. The mystic took a few steps away and apparently relaxed enough to finish me off.
It's time!
One hundred percent!
The world stood still, and so did I. And now. now was the moment of truth, would I have the bone strength to make one single movement at this acceleration? Would I have the strength of my skin not to burn from friction?
Let's check it out...
The leg I had recently lost my balance because of its instability had shifted slightly... I could feel the bones and joints crunching, the muscles doing their work, literally destroying the leg. The anatomy lesson came to mind...
There are a total of thirty bones in the leg... femur, patella, tibia, fibula, calcaneus, talus, navicular, medial cuneiform, intermediate cuneiform, lateral cuneiform, cuboid, five metatarsals, five proximal phalanges, four intermediate phalanges and five distal phalanges... and I think I broke at least half of those bones just by moving.
The hand slowly began to change its position...
And into my head at once, along with the sensation of bones breaking, came the recollection of bones entering the arm
What the hell do I need that information for?!
No, at the time of the training, it was kind of information from one of the advanced first aid classes... kind of mentioned in passing. But that's when it all should have popped into my head...
The arm slowly shifted, the leg allowed a slight straightening of body positions...
But the jacket on his arm couldn't hold up and was already literally crumbling with smoldering scraps behind him. It was just crumbling, hanging behind the moving arm, its skin turning black...
I think I'm going to fuck off soon...
Slowly, very slowly, the knife that I continued to clutch in my hand moved closer to Mystique's rib cage, and gradually it began to enter her.
Here it had entered her body as far as the middle and I was about to start moving the knife downwards, cutting open her body and dumping her insides on the ground, except my vision caught on the knife that was coming towards me before I started using the sandi to its full potential.
With some effort, I twist the knife through the wound, finally sinking it into Mystique's body and jerk it to the side, so that it comes out of the girl's side and cuts off her hand with the knife.
Everyone...
Sandi passes out and we fall to the ground.
"Bitch, it hurts so bad!!!"
I couldn't help but scream.
"Aah! Fuck!"
However, my opponent was also not holding back and yelled lying on the ground. With my whole hand, I pulled an injector from a special pocket on my belt and injected it into my neck.
"Ha..."
"Hey, uh. you got any more injectors?"
Mystique's voice was hoarse, which was understandable, because she was yelling a lot. I glanced first at my completely burned arm, where only muscles and some of the joints remained. The rest of it's all in pieces. then I looked at my leg, which was in a slightly better condition, because it was not burned by the speed of movement...
I slowly shift my gaze to Mystique and fall back to the ground with a sigh.
"There is..."
Taking out the injector I threw it in the girl's direction.
"Ha... thank you."
"You're welcome. I hope you're not going to kill me."
"Huh? I can't even stand up right now! You've hollowed out my heart! I can live without it for a couple hours with chromium and bio-implants, but I can't do any sudden movement.
"Hmmm... I thought you were all Borg."
Saying this I raised myself up again and with some effort took a sitting position looking at the girl attentively.
"Uh-huh. I used to be. until I realized there was nothing appealing about being like that at all. And I've been working on getting my humanity back ever since. But it's expensive when all you have left is the brains in your head and your spinal cord. At least it was cheaper to turn myself into a Borg.
"Right, is that why you work for Biotech?"
"Uh-huh. you want some advice?
"Are you kidding? Advice, from Legend? I'd love to!"
"Don't turn into a Borg... use your bio-implants and use your skills.
"Well, I wasn't going to..."
With some effort I did get up, though I could barely keep my balance, but still... I got up.
"Good call. You know, I could pull a gun right now, but after that fight. and after you gave me the injector. you want teenagers, don't you? They're all out there. Some of them are still alive."
"Uh-huh... and where is the panel that disables turrets and camera mines, do you happen to know?
"It's all there. password is three zeros, zero, three zeros."
"Thank you..."
"Thank you, not many people would share an injector with an adversary..."
"Well..."
I shrugged a healthy shoulder.
"...Let's just say I haven't had time to spoil yet..."
"What's your name?"
"Quiet..."
"Uh-huh. a rising star, huh? Heard about you. And one more piece of advice.
"Uh-huh?
"Don't trust others. you're lucky with me, but others will still probably decide to finish you off."
I sighed.
"Well, uh. I did read your file, though. so I knew you wouldn't stab me in the back."
"So it was you, in Knight Road?"
"Uh-huh...
I turned around and slowly hopped toward the building.
"Hey, how'd you get out? I was up there for, like, eight hours."
"There's an old sewer tunnel under the building. stabbed a knife into the road, and, uh."
"Ugh..."
"You have no idea how much shower gel I poured on myself..."
Smirking I still slowly jumped to the building, where I reached the control panel and there I had already shut down all the systems.
"Uh. Quiet, did you do something?"
"Uh-huh. but I'll take it from here. I'm stuck in the control room, so come to the farm, but watch out for Mystique on the ground, half alive, don't run her over, and keep an eye on her so she doesn't do anything...
"You didn't finish her off?"
"No. we had parity. but I had injectors and she didn't, so she decided not to kill me..."
"What the hell happened in there?!"
"One hundred percent on sandi..."
"Fuck..."