I shake the dizziness off and leap at Kilgore as he rips one of Kane's extra arms off, metal crunching in his fist. I plant the muzzle of my blaster against the back of his head, stopping him in mid-motion. A dark laugh curdles from his throat.
"Ah, yes. The prodigal child. You're fighting on the wrong side, you know."
My hand tightens on the pistol grip. "I know you're fast, but I promise you're not fast enough to dodge this."
His hand slowly relaxes around Kane's throat. "I don't doubt it. There's one thing you're not taking into account, though."
"What's that?"
"Autopilot isn't good enough to outfight Dabria's ship."
The side of the chopper explodes from a direct hit, throwing us off our feet in a searing blast of flame and shredded metal. Blinding light crackles around Kilgore, and while still in midair, he vanishes like an apparition. I slam against the opposite wall as the chopper whirls wildly out of control. Kage lands beside me, head jerking back and forth as he remotely tries to keep the chopper from nosediving. The air sucks through the gaping wound in the hulls, howling as if in agony. The smoke nearly smothers me, but I'm able to filter it through my artificial lungs fast enough to keep from blacking out.
Kage turns his head, helmet a ghastly skull with flashing eyes. "I can't keep her in the air. Abandon ship."
"What about you?"
He glances down at the charred stumps of the legs that were torn apart by the detonation. Torn cables and wires spark and leak fluid in place of muscle and ligaments. "I won't make it. I know that makes you happy, Scyther."
Gritting my teeth, I seize him by the armpits and drag him to the open hatch. "We both know that's not how this ends, Kage."
Wrapping my arms around his metal-encased chest, I leap out into the howling winds and blackened sky. The chopper continues its dying descent as we fall away into smoke thick as ocean waters. Radar flashes across my vision, illuminating objects obscured to the naked eye. We're closer to the ground than I thought and falling fast. My boots automatically fire retro-thruster blasts, slowing our fall from instantly fatal to highly probable.
A metal skeleton appears in the gloom, rusty and ancient. We collide with the framework of the giant Ferris wheel with metallic ping, separated by the blow and flying different directions. I lose sight of Kage, trying desperately to right myself as I whirl through the air, but I hit the ground before I can even register the impact. Something tears in my shoulder as I bounce across the charred concrete, through burning rubble before rolling to a standstill in front of a burning building. Everything hurts; a throbbing bubble of agony impels me to curl into a shuddering ball and clamp my teeth to keep from screaming.
Flames blaze, eating the remains of the building as if enraged, searing hot even though I'm ten yards away. I scrub a hand across my face, smearing soot on my skin. A string of blood dribbles from my lips as I painfully push myself to my feet. The audio enhancers in my ear pick up the sound of approaching footsteps. I adopt a fighting stance the best I can, off-balance and barely functional.
A black-armored figure glides through the smoke, silent and ominous.
"Dabria," I gasp. "You're alive. I thought the explosion might have—"
"Killed me?" Dabria tilts her head, helmet masking her expression. "You should have known better. I taught you how to survive, after all."
"You did. I learned the ultimate lesson after you abandoned us for your own survival."
"If I didn't choose to survive, then I would have died or been enslaved. I wouldn't have been able to plan for this day. The day when I could break you free of the chains that bind you."
I spit a mouthful of blood on the ground, where it sizzles like the anger I feel. "You want me to believe you did all of this to rescue me? You're right: I do know you better than to believe that."
She steps closer, moving with caution. "You would have killed me earlier when you fought my carbon copy. Do you plan on repeating that action?"
My hand drifts to the grip of my inferno blaster, which I thankfully didn't lose in the fall. "I don't have a choice. We're enemies now. You taught me that I'm to show no mercy to the enemy."
"You're bioroid master can't hurt you anymore, Enigma. Let me help you."
She freezes when I pull the blaster and aim it with trembling hands. "You don’t understand. He's not human. He won't just die like he's supposed to."
Dabria motions with her hand. "Not even bioroids are immortal."
A massive figure trudges through the thick smoke — shaggy-haired, bestial. Brutus looks so fierce that I barely recognize him. He drags Kage along the ground with one massive paw. Kage is broken; armor battered, legs useless. His head lolls to one side as if he's barely conscious.
I'm not fooled.
Zen stands in Brutus' shadow, armored in her protective exoskeleton. She taps on the cy-gear gauntlet covering her forearm. "Drones are everywhere, folks. I have them chasing their tails for now, but it's only a matter of time before Cyber Corp cracks my virus and gets them back on track. We have a couple of minutes tops before we have to vanish."
I stare at Zen. "You were in on this all along?"
She smirks. "You thought I was leaving you hanging this whole time? I got skills, babe. I was transmitting back and forth with Dabria using Brutus' system. Cyber Corp must have thought he was just a regular companion model. Never thought to take a close look at all the goodies I installed in his system."
Brutus hurls Kage hard to the broken earth. "Brutus is more than meets the eye."
I stare at Kage. He scrabbles on the ground like a wounded insect, dragging himself on his three remaining arms, ruined legs dragging uselessly. Ripping his helmet off, he directs a venomous gaze at Dabria. Blood streams down his pale face, but a fixed grin creases his cheeks.
"At last. I've been waiting to meet you for a long time, Death Angel."
She steps forward to stand over him. "You've been looking for me for how long? Two years? Three? All that time and effort and yet you've never even laid eyes on me in person until now. Until the end."
He sneers. "The end of what? The Scyther and I are linked, tied together with bonds stronger than love or hate. In life and death, I am her master. If you kill me, she dies. So try if you dare. You'll find out that there is no escape from Cyber Corp."
She drops to one knee, studying him. "I never said anything about killing you."
A voice buzzes in my ear. "White Rabbit."
I gasp, looking around. Nothing is visible except smoke, flames, rubble, and falling ash. "Nox? Are you here too?"
"Remember that v-drive I gave you?"
My fingers drop to the pouch on my waist. "I have it."
"Plug it in now."
I don't bother to argue, pulling the drive out and plugging it into the port behind my ear. "What's going on, Nox?"
"Time to break the shackles. I have to warn you; there will be pain."
"What pain?"
My vision splits when a white-hot dagger slams into the back of my skull. I gasp, falling to my knees and clutching my head as fire blazes across my brain.
Nox's voice is barely audible over the roaring rush of agony. "Hold on, Enigma. This shouldn't take long."
What shouldn't? I want to ask, but I'm too busy trying to hold back from screaming. I hear it anyway, a wail of sheer torture. It takes me a few seconds to realize I'm not the one howling.
It's Kane. He's flat on the ground, writhing in anguish, electric eyes blazing, mouth agape in an unremitting cry of torment. Blood leaks from his eyelids, trickles down his nose. His fingers claw into the ground, leaving furrows across the asphalt as if it was soft earth.
Through blurry vision, I see Specter tottering forward, one hand on his head as if he's also in pain. A stream of blood pours from his nostrils, dripping down his lips. And then I understand. Somehow, he's using his abilities on Kage. Core-jacking Kage's cybernetic neural system, so similar to a synoid. Opening a hole in Kage's defenses so the v-drive can sever the link between Kage and myself. We're caught in a triumvirate of mental connections, a battle of wills between captor, captive, and rescuer. Kage fights with everything he has to resist the takeover. The resulting backlash threatens to tear all of our minds apart.