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Eden smiled. She would have been a bit disappointed if Dante had said anything to mean he preferred this appearance rather than her more real, imperfect self. He caressed her chin briefly.
“Get it done soon,” he muttered. “I want my Eden back.”
“I’ll be quick,” she nodded.
She put another kiss on his lips, and stepped back, their hands parting last.
Eden ran toward the wall, cautious of Thao’s continuous blows on the side. Now, that part has almost completely collapsed. Even if there was a lot to climb over and down from, she was confident she’d get to the other side. Without looking back, Eden, as Ghost, quickly started climbing, twice as cautious about where she could grip onto. She didn’t want the disagreeable experience of falling off again, and this time, she really had to be quick. The Core might not be able to notice her SIN, but anyone could spot her with their bare eyes now that the wall was almost completely down.
Somewhere behind and below her, the fight resumed. More drones had appeared over the wall, and Thao was close to blowing the entrance finally.
“Everyone make sure to keep them busy!” shouted Circé. “They must not notice her!”
Eden tried to stick as close to the rocks as possible, and under some when she could find small spots that partially hid her. She wasn’t sure what kind of cameras the drones had to target people, but she didn’t want to be caught by them; their lenses would definitely be able to recognize a human moving around. Thankfully, everyone on the ground was already keeping those things busy, hence the flying machines didn’t have much time to figure out what she was doing. Moreover, the hackers were probably making sure to block the view or something with the drones they took control of. Eden was cautious not to talk and made as little noise as possible, but she was listening to everything that was going on.
“Anubis here, they are sending more men to our side again, and they have larger weapons too! I don’t think they appreciated you blowing up their fans.”
“Gluttony here. More of the Dragon’s men have arrived, so we’re doing alright. One of my teams has found a more efficient way to hack their battle bots, I’m sharing it now.”
“Thanks, Gluttony,” said Nebty. “I want everyone keeping those bastards as busy as possible and away from Ghost. Time to make some noise in the Dark Reality too. Someone get me a digital bomb on one of their servers, it will keep them busy until she can get more of us in!”
“It’s Lecky. We’re almost done evacuating, everyone is fine so far. The air pollution made it worse for a while, but it looks like it’s dropping on our end too.”
“Pride here. I confirm: the overall air purity is skyrocketing as we speak. The radars are showing it’s basically evening out in both the Core and the Suburbs. They probably wanted the purest for themselves, but it’s bearable for both sides this way.”
“Haughty bastards...”
“...Any news from Prometheus yet?” asked A.
“He said he’d appear when he could to avoid raising suspicions.”
“If we’re talking about suspicions, I’m pretty sure Warlock made enough noise as it is... Aren’t they going to pick up on his signature device?”
“Greed’s right. Warlock, you should lay low for a while. Ghost doesn’t need you just yet.”
“What?” squealed Loir. “You’re asking me to miss the action while my Kitties are running around? No way!”
“You just wrecked their ventilation system, they’ll try to hunt you down. You should go offline for a while before the Core’s people try to find you.”
“They can go lick a battery’s butt! I’m not hiding! This Warlock won’t hide!”
Eden chuckled. It was the first time she had ever heard him say something like that...
“...Where in the world did you hear an expression like that?” sighed Circé.
“What? It’s an expression? I just thought it had a funny taste when I tried!”
“So that’s where you lost your last brain cells...”
Ignoring their bickering, Eden continued her climb as carefully and fast as she could. She could tell she was fairly high now, and she could see almost all of the Chicago skyline from where she was. On her right, there were still the columns from the former crossroad, holding strong despite all the explosions. A kind of platform above was probably the remnant of the former road’s edge, and Eden did her best to stay hidden under that as she climbed over more of the wall. It was incredibly rough and unstable under her feet, and if it wasn’t for her metal legs, she would have been covered in bruises already. Several times, she scratched her hands and arms, but it wasn’t too bad. She focused on not falling and not stopping. Despite his jokes, Loir might really be in danger if the Core wanted revenge for their fans’ destruction, and everyone was still fighting to buy her time. The pressure was good motivation to keep going despite the pain.
Soon enough, the rocks under her began crumbling. It was getting a bit more slippery, but Eden was more worried about how steep it would be on the other side of the wall, which should have certainly withstood most of the explosions.
Indeed, she reached the top of the wall, and despite having a large portion blown off, it was still far too high for her to simply jump. One, she would definitely be noticed, and two, she didn’t want to risk breaking her neck. Eden looked to the side, considering her options. Unlike the Suburbs’ side, a portion of the former highway that made up the other part of the crossroad was still there. It was at her height and looked to be going directly into the Core.
“...Nekhbet, I can’t jump down. There’s another highway next to me. …Can I take this road?”
“Kitty! How dare you ask another Back Hacker?!”
