The entire warehouse trembled.
The Cascade AV was just a civilian vehicle. Even if it belonged to Susan, it was still her personal ride.
Under normal circumstances, she'd be rolling in Militech's armored Manticore AV for official ops.
But this mission had come out of nowhere.
Not the kind of situation where you rolled out corporate armor.
So the vehicle's defensive capability?
Straight civilian-tier.
Leo had aimed for the AV's central control computer.
The railgun shot punched clean through the underside, tore through the chassis, and struck the central processor directly. The electromagnetic payload fried the circuitry on impact—
instantly sending the AV out of control.
At high speed, it crashed—
slamming straight into the warehouse roof!
At the same time, both missiles hit the Mackinaw's rear armor. The shockwave surged through the open cargo bay—
and launched Jackie, all 300+ kilos of him, straight into the air!
Jackie got blasted—
and then that 300-kilo slab of meat slammed right into Leo, who was braced behind him aiming his weapon...
Luckily, V reacted fast and yanked Leo out of the way, saving him from getting pancaked.
Bang—
Both of them hit the ground hard, sliding several meters before smashing into a set of stairs inside the factory.
Inside the warehouse—
total chaos.
The Animals, who had been ready and waiting, were completely thrown off by the massive hole in the ceiling.
The Cascade AV had punched halfway through the roof and was still slowly sinking downward under gravity.
Chunks of concrete and broken rebar rained down, crushing several musclebound Animals—guys who spent every day benching, squatting, and deadlifting.
Some were still alive, coughing blood, desperately trying to bench-press the slabs of reinforced concrete off their chests—
hoping it wouldn't be their last rep.
By the time they snapped out of it, Leo and Jackie were already back on their feet.
V raised her pistol, pointing it straight at the surviving Animals—
"Heard this place runs on invite-only membership. But Burger King doesn't need an invite to deal with idiot VIPs. We go wherever we want.
Got a problem with that?"
Sometimes, even humans found themselves strange creatures.
The warehouse was full of screams, blood, and flying meat—but there were still a dozen or so survivors left, each one a top-tier menace. The kind you needed multiple NCPD officers just to pin down.
And yet—
Natalia of the Animals was terrified.
She was scared of the octopus arms behind Leo.
Scared of the powered armor on Jackie.
Hell, she was even scared of the tiny pistol in V's hand.
This woman, built like a bull, rolled her eyes slightly, raising her gun behind cover—
Bang!
A burst of gunfire knocked her weapon clean out of her hand.
"Don't shoot!" Natalia yelled immediately. "I'm just here on the job! This ain't even our turf!"
V kept her pistol trained on the Animals, but her eyes stayed on the smoking wreck of the AV.
No sign of Susan.
She lowered her voice. "What's the call?"
"Then get the hell out," Leo said, getting to his feet with Little Octopus's help, scanning the warehouse until he found a route downward.
Natalia swallowed hard and waved her crew back—
No way they were sticking around.
Wait for NCPD to show up and then try to leave?
Yeah, cops might not shoot them—
but jail was still jail.
Leo took point into the underground passage.
Jackie and V kept watch on the AV as they followed—
Just as the trio moved, and the Animals started retreating—
every electrical system in the warehouse flickered to life.
Every display in sight lit up with red text:
"Go back."
The glowing red text became the only light source in the warehouse.
The Animals froze.
Industrial arms suddenly went berserk.
Jackie caught one mid-swing, bracing against the crushing force—tons of torque—and smashed it apart with raw strength!
But the Animals?
They were completely stunned.
One of the arms slammed down and crushed a ganger's skull—
using the blood and flesh to paint a message:
"Still time."
The Animals broke into panicked screams.
Natalia felt her scalp crawl.
But it wasn't over.
A laser cutter suddenly powered on—
V sliced the emitter apart just before it fired.
Another hit for the already panicking Animals—
Without high-end tech, they couldn't even tell the laser engraver was about to activate.
The heat, enough to carve metal, instantly blinded a man. A falling camera smashed his skull, high voltage paralyzed his body.
The laser burned into his corpse—
leaving behind another word:
"Last."
Boom!
A forklift charged wildly forward, only to be knocked aside by an octopus arm.
It smashed into another fleeing Animal, pinning him to the wall. The counterweight dropped—
crushing him into pulp.
The forklift spun uncontrollably, its forks flinging remains across the wall—
forming the final word:
"Warning."
V clicked her tongue. "Yeah... that's creepy as hell."
Jackie shivered slightly. "Honestly, I'd rather fight Forrester... where the hell is she?"
"Don't be an idiot. Watch your step—don't touch the wires," Leo said as the three of them entered the underground tunnel.
Looking into the dim passage below, he shouted:
"Cut the spooky bullshit and show yourself!"
[Bzzzt—]
[Peralez: I'm very disappointed, Burger King. You chose Rhyne.]
[Leo: Your wife's in my hands, and you won't even show your face. Funny thing—those mercs you hired? They were ready to blow her up too.]
[Peralez: And why wouldn't I show myself?]
Leo raised an eyebrow.
He's actually here?
Outside the building, Susan had bailed from the AV at the last possible moment before the crash.
Honestly—
that was insane.
Jumping from a vehicle going nearly 200 klicks was basically suicide.
Doing it midair?
Even worse.
Her enhanced perception let her pick a landing point, hitting the side of a nearby building—
but both legs were effectively wrecked.
Her clothes were shredded, synthetic skin torn apart, revealing the armor underneath.
As for why she didn't pursue—
She wasn't some hot-headed rookie.
Yeah, she was the Federation's deadliest executioner.
But she wasn't stupid.
Rhyne had already reached his destination.
Looking at the mission as a whole—
Rhyne could've died at any point.
Militech hadn't made their move earlier.
Now he was in Arasaka's hands.
Just like she'd thought from the beginning—
this job had near-zero success rate.
Survival rate?
Even closer to zero.
Those three—
they were moths flying into flame.
The only thing they might gain—
was the truth.
In Susan's mind, Rhyne had already died somewhere along the way.
And even if he hadn't—
he needed to die now.
So—
was Rhyne already dead?
Had Arasaka made their move?