AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They were hidden between two of the data centers, and from what she could see and hear, there were gunshots coming from all sides. Dante was busy trying to shoot back, moving his head, shoulder, and arm only when he could get clear shots at them. Eden grimaced, massaging her stiff neck.
“How bad is it?”
“I’ve seen worse. They sent five soldier bots our way. I guess we were found out.”
“You should have told me earlier!”
“It wasn’t that bad.”
Eden rolled her eyes. Perhaps it wasn’t much to him, but she wasn’t fond of knowing she had been completely unconscious with her body stuck in the crossfire while she was Diving. A loud bang came from the other side, and Dante quickly used his height to glance above the large block of metal.
“...Our last grenade,” he sighed, quickly reloading his gun. “How about you? Do we need to go up?”
“To the seventy-fifth floor, to save Pan, or whatever. If we can...”
“We can,” he nodded confidently. “...Rolf, can you cover us?”
“Sure.”
“You’re going up, just the two of you?” exclaimed Circé. “Have you gone mad?!”
“We don’t need more,” said Dante, grabbing Eden’s hand, visibly ready to move.
“My ass, you don’t need more! This is a fucking battle and all of the floors above are filled with more of those fucking soldier bots! This is war, you crazy punk, not a date just for the two of you!”
Dante smirked, sending a quick wink to Eden. Despite the situation, he somehow had the guts to find amusement here... She sighed, and glanced above the data centers too to assess the risks. For once, though, she was more of Circé’s opinion. There were more bots coming down from the elevators that Greed didn’t have control of. The only thing was that the stairs were visibly clear. Eden guessed those things either had protocols to stay away from them, or their legs couldn’t climb them. After all, they were rather basic robots...
“Greed, how is it going?”
“Getting there,” he said. “We’re halfway through the download on our own servers... which I hope we’re not filling with a bunch of useless crap.”
“What about the control of the tower?”
“Oh, that. Give me a second.”
Dante suddenly pulled her for them to change positions, and fired at one bot that had appeared at the end of their aisle. Eden kept her gun up, but he was standing between her and the threat on purpose, so that she didn’t even get to properly see that robot until it miserably fell down, full of Dante’s bullets.
“We have control over half of the elevators, and luckily, we got enough control on the lower floors as well, they completely abandoned it. We were able to secure Thao’s group, so we’re focusing on Tanya and Michael’s... They are still attacking the Suburbs with their Overcrafts, though. ...Shit, I’m glad we emptied those buildings. It’s a wreck out there, Ghost.”
“It’s only a matter of time before they realize they are attacking empty buildings,” said Malieka. “Nebty, I think they really need to go upstairs. The Edge is still stuck because of the protocols, we only have access to the protocols and the lower levels of their security, but it won’t be enough. ...Pan could get us all the access we need.”
“I know, but I’m still worried. If Ghost gets killed, it’s all over, you realize that?”
“...You just need me to log on and open up,” sighed Eden. “I’ll do it the second I get on the main security levels, and Pan can just catch up. If we free him...”
“It’s not a question of freeing Pan, Ghost! He never was a priority, alright? You’re the priority, and we need you to get to where the System is vulnerable.”
“The System is more vulnerable upstairs,” Eden retorted. “...I swear I’ll get there and open it up for the Edge to fight for control, no matter what. I’ll go through each floor if needed.”
“...You may not have to,” suddenly said Pride. “I’m with Crash, and we just found something useful. The center of the System is exactly on the seventy-fifth floor Pan is apparently on. It’s... the heart, literally. If we get Ghost there, we win. The Edge can access all of it and win. Even Ghost could just rewrite it all, it’s the neurologic center of the System!”
Eden and Dante exchanged a glance, and a nod. They began moving before Nebty even gave them any permission, both of them rushing toward the stairs again, guns up to shoot at anything in their way.
“Fine,” groaned Nebty. “But for God’s sake, everyone who can, stay with the rogue pair!”
“...We’re married.”
“Nobody asked, De Luca! Nobody!”
