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“Nothing that I know of. But there are Blanks appearing left and right on the System. It’s seriously messing them up... It’s like miniature bombs put on their secured servers, all going off at the same time. I have no idea what’s going on there except that it is not coming from our side. The Edge is already fucking busy enough as it is...”
“We need that help,” muttered Malieka, sounding worried. “There are more Overcrafts heading for the Suburbs, Ghost, and they are getting closer to our location. They are scanning the buildings again, and they will soon–”
Before she ended her sentence, a loud noise was heard as an echo. Eden heard it on her side too, and although she was too far to check out the windows, she had clearly recognized the sound of a bomb going off.
“...They’ve just begun blowing up buildings,” muttered Malieka. “That one was hit by a rocket in the south. And there are more coming. They are targeting the largest buildings first.”
“Most likely to flatten everything before they rebuild,” scoffed Michael, sounding out of breath. “Since they couldn’t evacuate the Suburbs themselves, they decided to kill two birds with one stone: getting rid of anyone whom their radars might have missed, while starting the building site for their future extension...”
It sounded all too gloomy for those who lived in the Suburbs. Eden couldn’t help but think about the neighborhoods she used to go to eat or to work. The Dragon had fallen, and now all neighborhoods starting from the south were in danger. At least the inhabitants were evacuated and in hiding, but they were losing the few things they had... It was just too sickening. She closed her fists, and quickly reloaded her guns out of anger, ready for the next fight.
“Will you be alright?” she asked Dante, resolute.
“Of course.”
It wasn’t very reassuring, but at least his wound had received medical care, and he wasn’t suffering at all. She nodded, vaguely trying to convince herself. Everyone was worn out, wounded, and running out of ammunition. They needed to bring this fight to an end as soon as possible.
“...Let’s get them in the crossfire,” she suddenly declared.
“What?”
“Greed, can you cut out the lights in this room?”
“I can, but as far as I know, the robots will have night vision! Even if the soldiers don’t, you guys will be caught in a mean crossfire!”
“We only need them to go out for a few seconds, to blind them,” explained Eden. “The elevators are a no, so we have to get back to the stairs, alone. If we can trap both the robots and the soldiers here, we will be good to go...”
“...That’s one crazy plan if I’ve ever heard one,” sighed Greed, “but I got you. I need thirty seconds to get ready, so hide well and give me the go-ahead whenever you’re ready... Oh, boy, this one’s going to be ugly...”
“Sadly, I don’t think we have any other good options,” groaned Circé. “We’re trapped here.”
“If I get control of the elevators, that might be a better escape route. I’ll try to get them running as soon as I can!”
Before Eden could even react, Dante grabbed her first and pulled her between two units to hide, close to the stairwell door they had just come out of, which was now barricaded but ready to give out soon. She closed her eyes, trying to imagine the situation. The soldiers were going to open fire at will. With a bit of luck, they wouldn’t care about the robots, so they would take out some of their own soldier bots in the process.
To her surprise, she felt his lips on hers, and reopened her eyes, answering his short kiss a bit reluctantly. Then, she pushed him, blushing, confused, and a bit angry.
“Do you think it’s really the moment?”
“It feels like a now-or-never moment, actually,” he chuckled.
Eden sighed. She couldn’t say he was fully wrong, but his timing was more than dauntless.
“Fine...” she muttered.
A smile appeared on his lips, and they exchanged another short but more intense kiss before splitting again. Her heartbeat couldn’t have gone any faster anyway...
“You two are really nasty,” grumbled Circé, who happened to be hiding right across from them.
Blushing, Eden ignored her, glancing at the door again. They were all hiding and ready now, and the banging against the door was leaving hints that their barricade wouldn’t hold much longer.
“Greed, on my count,” she muttered.
“Ready when you are.”
Eden took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, her eyes on the door. She could see the joints about to give way. She had to find the perfect timing. This wasn’t very different from all her previous hacks. She had to follow her gut, and trust her allies...
“3... 2... Now!”
