Date posted: 28th April 2022

Hey everyone, sorry this took so long, this month's been kicking my ass. It's not the deepest or my best chapter, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

And huge thanks to a certain person who review-bombed! As I've said, I keep my promises.

Also, we have a Discord channel (remove spaces): discord . gg / xqVbn247jX

Chapter 14: Impostor Syndrome

Chie Shori, better known as Major Chie Nikita to her fellow players, was not having a good day.

For one, she was very much nearing the end of her break. Though the hotel was generous when it came to paid leave, it wasn't infinite. Christmas was coming up, and she knew she'd have little free time until the last week of the year. Her kids would be returning from their schools soon, and she'd have to prepare for that. It wasn't a hard life, but it was a busy one. Her husband had been very patient with her long time hobby, bless his heart.

Secondly, and more importantly, was the army of cops outside.

She had some thirty men in total, the rest had been given to Gregory's and Skirmisher-chan teams, leaving her with the lowest level troops. This was usually fine, because they could run comms, but that creature slew Corporal Dave and left her without an effective officer; his corpse was cooling in some storeroom, his gear stripped by his comrades. And Commissar Tadao was missing too. Absent-mindedly, she scratched at the bandages of her forearm. That was a close call.

Someone was yelling at them over a megaphone. This was new to her, because most enemies in the game were outright hostile and shouting consisted mostly of death threats.

"Capitalist jackboot of the Overlords," proclaimed the police woman. "You are surrounded. Come out with your hands up, weapons to the ground, and we will give you a fair and honest trial as fitting our great republic. Unlike you, our courts are free of bribery and corruption bla bla bla …"

Ugh. She get what the game was going for, but she already had to suffer her coworkers' inane politics.

Gregory and Skirmisher-chan would have to wait until she got out of this. It had been the longest and farthest she had been from a respawn point in a while. She would have contacted CHAD for orders, but even sending that text could very much have blown his cover; it probably had. No doubt he was moving his HQ to somewhere more secure. If he was going to yell at her for saving his life, well, he can bite her ass.

Nikita heard the steps before the private barged into her office. "Sir! We've secured the perimeter as best we could. Private Killa has set up the machine gun and Private Hinata has taken the roof. What are your orders?"

Could she fight through the small army at the gates? Even if they were cops with peashooters and the odd shotgun, unlikely. One of them might make it, but not all. Maybe she could hold out, as she was currently doing, but neither Gregory nor Skirmisher-chan would get her order. No order, no vats. No vats, they would all die, and they'd have to restart from scratch all the way from the mountain base. It was at these times Nikita wished the rest of the Zakon i Dolg were back from their expedition in the Untamed East.

For the first time, in a long while, she had no answer. She was mentally exhausted and needed a day off. Sometimes Nikita wondered why she chose a hardcore milsim as a way to relax.

"Sir?"

"I'm thinking, private! " she barked, a little too harshly than she intended. She softened her tone, "Just give me a moment."

The nearby radio blared, "Sir, an assault team's truck is on the way. I think they're bringing in the big guns."

Nikita rubbed her temple. She was leaning towards leaving, but at what cost? And they would have to leave one of their BTR-80 APC here; a huge loss in firepower. It wasn't like her answers were just going to come from the sky.

Suddenly, a bird landed on the office window, tapping it with its beak.

"Uh, sir. That pigeon has something on its leg."

Her eyes went wide. No way. The «Animal Taming» skill didn't cover that… did it?

She opened the window and read the paper quickly. Nikita smiled.

"Sir?"

Nikita was already jotting something down in a notepad. "We hunker down, private. And give em' hell. Help's on the way."

"Oh good, I was wondering when they'd show up."

Both Zakon turned to the door, arms readied. In the door frame, was a very battered looking Tadao, missing his armour and guns. He looked supremely pissed off.

"Nobody. Nobody touches my beret and gets away with it."

The khrushchyovka was by far the most common type of building in Corinth. They were easily created comparatively to traditional housing, via the Ark's on-board settlement fabricator. It was one of those many miraculous pieces of archotech that all Explorator ships possessed, able to quickly make habitable homes in far off hostile worlds.

The fabricator itself was a self-running, warehouse sized factory; cheap, requiring only the most basic of building materials, chunked into a hopper, and assembled by a legion of robots. The end product was easily placed on any flatbed, and could be fully installed with a minimal amount of workers, and it came with plumbing, electricity and solar panels. An entire city block could be made within a few days instead of months. It did, however, have a tendency to look copy pasted, because it literally was, but it was a small price to pay for comfortable housing.

It also made for easy navigation for the infiltrators.

"The plan is simple, the execution isn't," Dyne had told them before they left. CHAD had gone radio silent, and the chains of command fell to him. Colonel HonshuBoy seemed to take no issue with it, as the big man was sprawled on one of those indestructible plastic chairs, logged out. On the beach, the Warhawks were playing volleyball, and the captains and sergeants were trying their damndest to get them in line.

Dyne was standing tall, his grievous injury completely absent and unnoticeable, save for the slightest whirring of bionics audible only to Sinon. His voice was very clear thanks to the Vox Enhancer installed in his throat. On the table were two maps: one of the city (outdated) and one of the underground sewers (severely outdated). It seemed every major city in the world just quadrupled the size of their sewers for imminent nuclear warfare. Very costly, and worse of all, made for a lot of sewer dungeons.

He tapped the city map on the table; Kirito idly wondered how much money was spent on these stationery. "Major Nikita and her troops are besieged at Warehouse 4B on the western side of the city. Considering the war on their front steps, the militia will not be available for some time. This is where you come into play.

"Captain Ruth, you will take your company and assault the blockade from the south. The buildings have been evacuated by police, so you'll be able to use your superior numbers to ambush them. Klein and his FuurinKazan will emerge from the extraction point to the east, a manhole that will lead them back underground and to safety. Sinon, Kirito, you will set up a nest and provide overwatch. The rest of the Warhawks will be used for other tasks. Any questions?"

Ruth raised a hand. "Is there a reason why we, you know, don't just leave them? They'll make for a good distraction."

"One, we do not leave a brother or sister behind. Didn't they teach you that at bootcamp?'

"But sir, I'm a college freshman."

"Secondly, only Major Nikita has the timetable and know-how on assaulting the police precinct. She wasn't able to share more information in fear of being discovered. The rest of us will move base somewhere underground." He handed his FAMAS and a few mags to Sinon. "Can I trust you to do this?"

Sinon smirked. "You know it, chief."

Two figures stalked the rooftops of Corinth. They made haste, using the chaos of the siege to bypass security. Civilians were too panicked to save themselves and soldiers were too busy putting out fires. Five klicks away, a small army of militia and police besieged a walled compound. It was only due to the war at their doorstep that they were yet to be wiped out.

They made it to the edge of the building and halted. The next building was a sheer two storey drop and a four and a half meter gap, an alleyway separating the two.

"I don't think we'll make that jump," said Kirito. He was clad in his black gear again; his disguise ruined with all the fighting in the previous mission. His wolf mask was strapped casually to the side. "And we left the rope and grappling hook with Ruth and his company." Maybe if he used his new drug bracer …

Sinon peered down. "Eh, we can clear it."

Kirito blinked. "Excuse me, miss amazon cat girl, but unlike you I don't have super agility."

The sniper merely bared her fangs; she'd been doing that a lot lately. "Don't worry, I've figured it out. Just let me stretch a bit."

Sinon started by touching her toes. She had ditched Vladimir's lab coat for something more her usual style; though her usual flak and helm were in storage back in Glocken (which she could summon in any safe house, but currently lack), Smith had come to the rescue by quickly crafting a set of gear at his makeshift armoury.

A set of flak and webbing covered Sinon's upper torso, like most vests. Not the highest grade plates, but it'd stop most small arms that weren't anything above intermediate cartridge. Her helmet was similarly a few levels below her, with masterfully made slits to allow her ears to go through, covered with synthetic cloth. Apparently she was missing her human ears, which gave her a form of uncanny valley, but to Kirito, it just made her more exotic.

If there was one thing that Smith couldn't do, it was making clothes, but Sinon's «Vat Suit» had the same «Durability» as fatigues did; it even had padding on the knees and elbows. It was a mute green, which fitted her blue hair and eyes just fine, he thought.

As she continued warming up, her leotard clung tightly to her thick legs, the pouches and the holster's straps strained to their limit. It covered her entire body save for her hands and feet. She was flexible for her size, the backpack containing her massive rifle doing little to impede her. And that tail, swinging back and forth, so fluffy …

He snapped out of it. "Do you even know if stretching even helps? The game's not that advanced."

She looked up to him and winked. "I know, just wanted to show off."

"Pfft, whatever." He looked away blushing. God, what was he? A school girl?

She went to the other side of the rooftop, preparing for her sprint. "Okay, ready!"

"If you break your neck on that pavement, I'm gonna just point and laugh." Kirito raised his finger gun into the air. "On your mark. Get set. Go!"

He pulled the trigger and had the breath knocked out of him.

Kirito was falling through the air, he couldn't even scream. The sky retreated as the earth rose to meet him. He closed his eyes, waiting for the moment to respawn again.

He landed with a thud. When he opened his eyes, Sinon's fanged smile greeted him.

"We could have died!" he shouted, not caring for stealth. "Do you know how much weight we're both carrying?!"

"Did it hurt?" she asked.

"What?"

"You know," she gestured her head upwards. "When you fell from Heaven."

Kirito covered his face as it suddenly transformed into a tomato. Sinon laughed and kissed him on the forehead.

Sergeant Atalanta was in the process of setting up his nest. She had cleared the living room of any tools, hauled a table from the second floor and was using it as a rifle rest. They set up a security detail with two troopers guarding the hallway and two more patrolling outside.

They were set up in half finished five-storey khrushchyovka, its workers transferred to man the great walls. Across the street were a convoy of militia besieging the infiltrators; police had rerouted the traffic and evacuated the families of nearby apartment blocks to underground shelters. How the hell did they get there was anyone's guess. It was sloppy security and someone's ass must be on the chopping board for that.

She didn't like this assignment. She didn't like how she was given a completely new recruit out of the blue, who was currently off doing … something. There was something off about him that she couldn't pin.

As she was putting the finishing touches, she deployed her rifle onto the dinner table, an NTW-20 looted from an armoury from ancient Persia. As she was double checking the scope when Atalanta heard a thud in the hallway.

"Corporal, are you there?" she called out.

Silence.

The sniper unholstered her service pistol and slowly made her way to the apartment's entrance. She reached for the door knob only to hear footsteps. Atalanta cursed as she aimed her gun at the door.

A clawed hand crashed through the thin plaster walls, grabbing at her neck and dragging her through the wall. If the blow to the head didn't knocked her out, the open palm to the temple certainly did.

Kirito rounded the corner, bloodied sword raised. He looked at the unconscious body on the floor.

"What part of stealth in stealth mission, don't you understand?" he asked.

"Can't have witnesses if no one is around to witness you," said Sinon, tapping her head.

"I missed it when you're just a furball and snuck around enemies."

She stuck out her tongue and winked. "Nya."

He sighed. "I'm gonna do one last checkup around the building, plant some claymores. See you in a bit."

Sinon put away the rifle the enemy was using; the ammo was in the wrong caliber for her Lynx anyway. It was then Sinon noticed she hadn't gotten around to using a sniper rifle in weeks. Sure, she shot that Thunder Fighter back in the lab, but that was at point blank, there was no sniping to it. What was she supposed to do again?

She tried to recall the basics of what to do in an urban environment like this: SLLS.

Stop: She tried to get the down low of the situation. The building she was in was for the most part empty. Normally, this was the part where she would wait for the noise to die down, but they were in a city, that was not possible.

Look: The living room was almost done by the looks of it. They had installed panels to the wall, but no wallpaper. The floor was wooden, but covered in a tarp. She checked the kitchen sink, no water meant the plumbing wasn't finished. She flicked the stove light, ditto. She peeked outside, the warehouse was across a couple of two laned streets and was crawling in cops. There seemed to be no gunfire from the Zokon at all, were they all dead? Did they escape?

Listen: Increased PER wasn't just eyesight, but also hearing. She closed her eyes and focussed the world around her, drowning the visual world for the auditory. In the distance, sirens were wailing, police were escorting people out of the way. She could hear helicopter blades - a Stormtrooper unit if she had to put money on it, doing the rounds scouting the warehouse.

Smell: Sinon took a long whiff and smelled all sorts of undesirables; sawdust, oil, gunpowder, blood. It was rare for game devs to put that much effort into smell, a still burgeoning aspect of video games that yet needed to be explored. Cooking sims and survival sims had the most effort put into them. GGO was a rarity for putting in a lot of effort for such a combat heavy game.

Another whiff, and she smelled a familiar musk. It reminded her of warmth, of safety. Wait, was that Kirito's smell? Then again, she had spent a long amount of time with him in neko form.

Sinon clapped her face. Now was not the time to be lovey dovey. He may have power and sway over her in the real world, but in this virtual world, she was the six foot tall amazon cat girl.

Time to set up her rifle. First of all, cover. The living room was mostly done, it even had curtain frames bolted over the windows. She found some large construction paper and placed them over all the windows.

Second, a comfortable shooting spot: Sinon dragged the living room table to the window, carefully ensuring that the barrel of her rifle didn't stick out. She found a sturdy chair to sit on, adjusted the bipod and the cheek weld. The routine was coming back to her, like riding a bike.

She left her backpack and FAMAS leaning on the kitchen counter and adjusted the scope. Sinon heard footsteps downstairs. Strange, wasn't Kirito upstairs just a moment ago?

The swordsman walked into the room. "All clear. You are ready?"

"Yep, just like old times."

They took position, Kirito setting up his binoculars as Sinon radio'd Captain Ruth on a secure channel. "This is Owl 1 to Slugger, do you come in? Over."

"WHAT?! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? Ah, Sinon-san. That's just you. Hey, shouldn't you be Neko 1?"

Sinon suppressed a sigh. "Slugger, we're in position. What's your ETA? Over."

"Well, uh. It seems that we're a little bit loss. These sewers are big, you know?"

Ruth continued, "If the map is right, then we'll be near the warehouse and ready to extract them. You'll know the signal. Ruth, over and out."

The line went dead. "Remind me, what is the plan again?" asked Kirito.

She gave him a look. "We went over this twenty minutes ago." She recited the plan quickly.

Kirito nodded thoughtfully. "Right, because they do not possess the cloning vats?"

"The closest cloning vats is at a local police station; Sergeant Gregory's men are in the dark, waiting to assault. The sooner we free the Zakon, the sooner we free them, the sooner we can get those vats."

"But surely it would be better to let them die and have them reborn at the vats and take the vats first."

"It's not just about the XP - well it is about how less deaths keep the costs low."

"I see."

The radio hissed again. "Owl 1, we're in position. We will assault momentarily, over."

"Copy that." She rested her cheek on the Lynx. "You ready?"

He peered into the binocs. "Ready. Pick your target."

Sinon waited. The calm before the storm was, at times, far more stressful than the battle itself. She picked her target, a pudgy police commissioner, waving his arms and barking orders, arguing with a militiaman without any visible ranks, likely captain or higher. He will do.

The police had brought up trucks and packed them with men, the best they could afford apparently, some cars and a single Otokar Cobra APC, a M2 Browning instead of the expected 20mm cannon at the turret. The warehouse was suspiciously quiet and Sinon could spy fake dummy targets the Zokon had set up.

"Does this ever bother you?"

"What does?"

"The wait." The commissioner was sweating in the sun, his third arm dabbing at his forehead with a handkerchief. "It's nerve wracking."

"Not really. It is merely part of the job."

"Yeah, I guess." She glanced at the time in her HUD, where was Ruth? "But, I still love it."

"Love it?"

"I love and hate the wait," she said. "I love setting up a nest and getting comfy. I love how I'm above everyone, no one knows where I am. That at any point in time, I can end them from a mile away. I suppose that's why snipers get a bad rep in a lot of games."

"I see."

"I know, I know. I'm not a real sniper, I've never shot anything heavier than a shotgun in my life. But, this game …" She stroked the side of her Lynx, her Remington MSR an almost distant memory (though it was safely back with Smith). If anything, the sniper rifle had been Kirito's half as long as it was hers. "It feels good, you know?"

Gunfire rang out in the distance and suddenly, the disciplined phalanx of gendarmes became like a wave as heads turned back. "Captain Ruth is in position. Pick your shots."

Irked at her navel gazing being interrupted, Sinon peered into her scope. The police commissioner was gone in the crowd, as was the militia captain. She cursed at her unprofessionalism, and swung her gun towards the gunner in the Cobra.

"Have you picked your target?"

"Yes."

"Which one?"

"The gunner."

"Good. Get ready."

"Fire …"

She put her finger on the trigger, her experience coming back to her.

"... fire …"

The reticule was on the gunner's chest, only the cheapest flimsier vest protecting him. Wait, the vest didn't even have any plates in him. Fool anyone who decided to give the poor him that. She readied to press.

Nothing.

"Kirito?"

She looked up to him and barely avoided the incoming knife, the blade sticking into the her tool. She kicked forward, sending the stool at his legs and him to the floor.

But Kirito was quick - he stopped himself from falling and launched a side kick that caught her off guard and sent her sprawling on the ground.

The knife missed her chest by an inch as she rolled away and collected herself, fists raised. "What's the matter with you?!"

Kirito said nothing as he came at her, cutting with quick slashes. Sinon's years on the force resurfaced, fights with thugs and drunks had somehow come to pay off. First rule of a knife fight - no one wins them.

Kirito came at her wit a flurry, a series of masterful blade strokes that would have torn her arms to ribbons had it not been with her superior speed. What's with the knife, where was the sword?

Sinon jumped back, reached at her boot and flung her own combat knife at him. It whistled through the air and missed by a hand's span as he weaved. She took the chance to rush him with a mean left hook, the force of the punch sending him flying to the counter and rolling him over, breaking the sink head.

In the distance, the distinctive gunfire of the Browning roared. "Hey, Owl 1. Don't wanna be a drag, but we could really use that sniper support!" the radio crackled.

Kirito popped from cover, Scorpion in both hands. That gun was loaded with «Anti-Mutie Rounds». If she took that full force, would it kill her even through her flak?

Her first instinct was to jump into the hole in the wall that she made but her logical side rejected it. As fast as she was, she wasn't going to make it; no at almost point blank.

Instead she shouted, mentally. "STOP!"

Kirito took a step back, as if struck. She took the chance to charge.

Sinon tackled Kirito, clearing the counter, both of them collapsing in a heap of limbs. The knife flew from his hand as the sniper started pummeling him in the face, her very soul cringing at doing so to her boyfriend. At the third punch, he was knocked out, and the knife dropped from his hand.

She took a deep breath and got up. Kirito's face melted, revealing to her horror, a bone white face, no jaw, with black eyes staring back at her. The thing didn't even have eyelids.

Even the clothes on him had begun to melt, revealing an exposed rib. The only thing that remained were the armour, the weapons and the bracelet. Definitely not Kirito. "Holy shit."

But that meant -

"Sinon! C'mon, there's that gunner there giving us trouble!" Ruth pleaded.

She quickly stripped the bracelet off the thing and pocketed it. There was no time to look for him. He couldn't have gone far. Sinon quickly retrieved her stool and returned to her position. "Owl 1 here, sorry about that, had a little trouble."

"Just do something!"

She took aim, steadied herself, calmed down from the encounter, finger on the trigger. Cold as ice.

The Lynx cracked, shaking the table, barrel retracting into the gun; the sheer force blew the paper curtains out of the way. The gunner's torso disappeared in an explosion of meat and red mist. People beside him looked in shock and horror, people ducked their heads. Her hand reached to pull back the bolt by instinct and she was surprised to see it being done automatically. Damn the muscle memory.

This was supposed to be the time to relocate, but she had no time for that, and no spotter to assist her. She was alone.

Which, to her surprise, was fine by her.

Klein led his men through the alleys, curiously empty. There was something strange about them, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

The objective was a couple blocks away, a double, two-lane street separating the back wall of the warehouse. There used to be militia here but they were called away by the sudden attack. It was only a matter of time until they sent something worse, like Stormtroopers. Or God forbid, a Thunder Fighter.

Kunimitz's Eagle Eye bionic made whirring and clicking noises, not unlike a camera. "Klein, I'll get to the rooftop, provide cover."

The yojimbo nodded. They made it to the mouth of the alley as Kunimitz jumped up the fire escape. A few of the unaugmented of the guild looked on in envy.

"Alright, boys. Listen up: we need to get in there, get the Zakon out of there. Our priority is Major Nikita, as far as I'm concerned, she's the only one that needs to get outta there alive."

A row of nods answered him. "Dale, you lay down cover fire with that machine gun of yours. Try not to hit the Zakon, okay?"

Dale shrugged, his exoskeleton less whirring, and more screeching. "No promises."

Klein detached his left hand, and from a holster, strapped on his new attachment. "We're gonna have some fun."

"You know, Klein, you realise you look ridiculous right?" said Harry One, one of the unaugmented of the group with a grenade launcher. "You even switched out your perfectly serviceable shotgun for crying out loud. You spent weeks getting the money to buy the damn thing."

"Nah, Harry. There's something more important than stats," said the samurai, everyone sighing at the repeated opinion. "It's more important to -"

"Look good than be good," everyone said, groaning.

As they were talking a truck rolled down the road, a squad of heavily armed Stormtroopers dismounting. They were decked in good flak, thick helmets, riot shields, and a couple of them wore a bandolier of flashbangs. They had not spotted the yojimbos.

Klein laughed as his chainsaw hand came to life. It wasn't Kirito's fancy chainsword, but it'll do just fine. "Now, c'mon boys. Up for a little exercise?"

The sky cracked once again.

Sinon's last shot killed an engine block of a truck racing down the street. It sputtered and choked as it died. After a moment, the troops on the back dismounted and began to take cover on the sidewalk, carefully keeping their heads down.

The Lynx clicked empty and Sinon replaced the empty mag with a fresh one. She'd been here long enough for any competent counter-sniper to spot her. She grabbed her kit and made her way upstairs. The top floor was unfinished, and here, she was out in the open for any chopper or dragon.

As she was setting up, she heard a bump somewhere and raised the FAMAS. "Who's there?"

There, at the closet door, a banging. Followed by a muffled scream. Sinon reached for the door knob and opened it.

A familiar figure dropped, Sinon pointed her gun at it.

"Kirito?"

"Mhphf!" he called out, wide eyed. The swordsman was tied up with thick cord, wrists behind his back, ankles tied, gagged with a rag in his mouth. His long hair was splayed out on the floor and his bright purple eyes looked back at her with a sense of fear and dread. Kirito was stripped off his armour, He looked so … small… and helpless … just like in her fantasies.

She crouched down and tore the rag off him. "Ugh, finally. I heard you shooting, meaning you probably dealt with whoever hit me in the back."

"I just realised something."

"What?"

"I think I've discovered a new fetish."

He gave her a look. "I'm going to bonk you in your head with your twelve kilo rifle."

A couple minutes later, they were in the process of setting up a shooting spot. Kirito was loading the rounds as quickly as he could. Below, the police were holding as best as they could but they were little match for even low level grunts with assault rifles.

"There's one thing bugging me, why didn't … that thing, kill you?" she asked.

"I've no idea. I felt sluggish the whole time. Maybe it was sucking my essence?"

"That's terrible!"

"I know, right?"

"Only I'm allowed to suck you."

The heavy magazine fell to the floor alongside the bullets. "This new avatar of yours has been nothing but a distraction."

She stuck out her tongue. "C'mon, we got targets to take out."

It was then the radio came to life again. "Owl 1, this is Slugger. We've received confirmation that the FuurinKazan has extracted Major Nikita and her men. We will be retreating to our own escape, cover us, pretty please."

Kirito replied with a copy and turned to Sinon. "Aww, I wasn't able to be your spotter."

Sinon patted him on his head and she was reminded how it wasn't so different how he scratched her head when she was in neko form. "We've still got time. C'mon, I hear helicopter blades. Hey, wanna shoot one down?"

His eyes lit up. "What? Really? You'd let me?"

God, he was adorable. "You've been using my Remington for a long time, don't see why not."

Kirito rubbed gloved hands together. "You know, I'm something of a sniper myself."

It didn't take long for the chopper to arrive. They all heard it long before they saw it. A Huey coming from the north, bypassing the carnage the Warhawks were unleashing on the three hundred strong police force. The chopper was heading straight towards the warehouse, Stormtroopers hanging off the side, carbines at the ready.

It was somewhat difficult, lifting the Lynx upwards even with all the clutter put under the bipod. Even his chainsword weighed only three kilos, and even then, he had to swing it two-handed.

After some awkward adjusting, they found a good angle. The chopper was hovering some forty meters above the roof. Ropes dropped and four heavily armoured soldiers were readying to rappel into the warehouse.

Kirito would be obliged to help them.

"Aim at the engine block," she said, peering into the binoculars. She began listing the wind speed, the distance, and the minute of angle. It spoke of how well they worked together, and his own newly found experience in sniping, that he understood all that jargon.

The chopper was moving up and down too much for him to get a right target. The platform wasn't exactly stable, and he was aware how shaky his breathing was. One of the big selling points of GGO; it was as accurate as it could be without turning into a medical training sim.

Oh wait, he did have that. "Hey, Sinon. What's the drug that slows things down?"

She looked up from her binocs. "I think it's this one. What's with game devs naming everything Latin, it's annoying. Have you even activated that gadget of yours?"

"No, but hey, what better place than the field of battle?"

"Literally anywhere else."

Kirito brushed her off. "Hey, can you guess what this thing is called?"

Her eyes drifted back to the binocs. "Does it matter? They're rappelling right now!"

Kirito smiled that infuriating smile he did whenever he was about to do something cool, reckless, dangerous, and all three combined. "This bionic is called the «Drug-Assited-Booster», able to inject the user the necessary combat drugs at a moment's will, without taking account into their skill in «Medicine.» But that's a mouthful, so I'm just going to da-"

Sinon stared at him with the malice of a thousand suns. "Kazuto Kirigaya, if you finish that sentence, I'll stop cooking pancakes for you forever."

"Righto, back to shooting, yep." He replaced his eye to the scope, finger on the trigger.

With the ease of pushing a mental button, Kirito injected «Dolor Maximus» right into his veins, the DAB working its magic as the vial emptied. The world slowed down at half speed, everything became muffled. As he understood it, the slowing down of time was all perception. Time may move at a different rate, but this wasn't so different to consuming marijuana. He wasn't actually moving faster, but it did feel like it.

He took a breath, and squeezed the trigger.

The Lynx cracked, sending the .50 caliber round soaring. It flew for what felt to Kirito an eternity. A fist sized hole punched through the casing of the engine, sparks visible even from afar. The pilot, perhaps in a moment of panic, swerved away into the empty field behind the warehouse. The helpless Stormtroopers clung to dear life; one even falling onto the pavement. It didn't explode as either had hope, but the scene of a chopper eating dirt was spectacular to behold.

And just as quickly as time slowed down, it resumed. It took Kirito aback. "Whoa."

Sinon whistled. "Impressive.'

"Thanks!"

"It still only counts as one."

"Hey, a minimum of five people died there. It'd be more if it crashed into the police barricade."

Her cat ears twitched before she could reply. "There's someone co-"

An explosive rocked the building. "Ah, that must be the claymore," said Kirito.

Sinon returned to the radio. "Slugger, this is Owl 1. We are retreating."

Someone screamed in the background. "Fine by us! See you back in the underground! Over and out."

As they packed their kit, and as another claymore went off, Kirito said, "Wait, we need to go down fast."

"We're on the fifth floor, Kirito. We can't go down faster."

"When I was scouting, I saw an abandoned truck nearby with a lot of cardboard boxes in the back. If we jump down, we can get away without drawing more attention."

Sinon cocked her head. "You just want me to jump down with you in my arms again, don't you?"

Kirito twiddled his fingers, blushing, like some sort of schoolgirl. As if he didn't just pull off an amazing shot not two minutes ago. "Pretty please?"

The sniper wondered, not for the first time, where she put those condoms again.

Kirito and Sinon were last to arrive. The sheer amount of stumbling boots of the Warhawks' made tracking easy to follow. The size of the force ensured that every single nasty in the sewers gave them a wide berth; they hissed and spat at the players as they trekked through their homes, not that either of them could blame them.

According to an interview a few years back, apparently only a single dev was in charge of all the sewer levels in game. Thankfully, the Sewer Rats, as the devs jokingly called themselves, had expanded, and it showed in the DLC.

"Wow," said Sinon. "This place is huge."

At the end of the 21st century, great floods had annihilated island nations and destroyed a good chunk of many coastal areas, necessitating the need for sea walls, artificial islands, and greater investment in flood prevention systems. Greece, a nation whose coastline was 15,000 km long, was one of many that invested in such systems. They had done this, despite the war against their neighbours at a considerable cost to themselves.

Before the duo was a massive sewer chamber, more akin to a football stadium than for something more mundane. Shacks and shanty villages hung between great concrete pillars eighteen meters tall, hundreds of denizers going about their lives, fires lit in barrels. Zakon troopers, Warhawks, and other players milled about. There was even some semblance of industry with smithies and eateries. At the base of the pillars docks and fishing boats which belied how deep the chamber actually was.

It was like a fantasy realm of elves: instead of tree houses, pillar shacks; instead of a forest, a sewer; and instead of elves, it was …

"They're called the Class Traitors," said CHAD. "Descendants of corrupt government officials that made themselves their own underground vault, abandoning their citizens to the onslaught of nuclear horror. When the Ark Biologis landed, they were swiftly disposed of."

"A bit on the nose, don't you think?" asked a very bloodied Nikita; not her blood though.

"That's what they call themselves."

"Correction, we are the Class Betrayed. If only those uppity peasants didn't rise up and brought down their rightful betters," said a pale fat man in a gaudy toga-suit by the name of Zeus Papadopoulos XI, leader of the faction. Unlike the rest of most of earth's inhabitants, he was without mutation and was the picture of perfect health compared to the rest of humanity. "Now, as you said, Mister CHAD, when will be returned to the rightful embrace of the Overlords?"

"Later. We've matters to attend."

Papadopulous' many jowls vibrated in anger. "Now, listen here, you vat scum mercenary. I am the great lord of House Papadopoulos and I -"

A dozen hands went to a dozen sidearms and the fat man left in a hurry. "Ugh, rich people," Dyne complained.

They had gathered in Under-Corinth's main control room. Numerous ancient computers and terminals had been repurposed by CHAD's staff; it didn't even look dissimilar from the office back at the mountain base. As always, Mister Death looked no worse for wear. Colonel Honshu, who had traveled here via makeshift litter as he was logged out, returned just in time to be in the meeting room.

"Ah, that was a nice nap. So, what happened?"

Lieutenant Makarov gave a quick rundown. "Ah, that is good! I should give Booth a raise!"

"It's Ruth, sir," said the captain.

"Whatever. So, what's the next step, Mister Death?"

CHAD explained that despite the discovery of Zakon soldiers, the Republic brass still had their hands tied with the frontline. But CHAD had little hope in the players being able to breach the great walls of the city.

"We will continue as always. Major Nikita, my Virtues have been sent to assist Sergeant Gregory in taking the vats. Dyne, your Black Dog will assist Corporal Skirmisher-chan with her task. Both of them must be bored out of their skull waiting for their orders. Colonel Honshu, I have other plans for your Warhawks, as long as you allow us to utilise them. The chambers need to be cleared for vats, and we require a more stable power sou -"

Honshu cut him off. "As long as you remember our deal, I don't personally care."

CHAD nodded. "Good. As the rest of you, rest, recuperate, rearm. We still have important matters to do. Sinon, Kirito, please stay back."

As the rest of the officers left the control room, the duo had given them a rundown of what happened.

"I see," said CHAD. "You too had this encounter with Mimic Assassins. You two are far two valuable to be wasted on sniper support, I've other duties for you."

Sinon cracked her knuckles. "After what they did to Kirito, I'm game."

"But, what if they come after us again?" asked Kirito.

"As long as we practice proper security protocols, establish passwords, and rely on the buddy system, we will be safe.

"You don't know that!" Kirito said, unconvinced. "It could have infiltrated this very place! It could be in this very room! It could be you! It could be me! It could even be Sinon!"

He pointed a finger at the sniper, which Sinon promptly bit.

"Bad kitty."

"Nyergh."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it. Besides, you have that pyscaster bracelet. I assume that's how Sinon survived the encounter."

Sinon narrowed her eyes. "We've never told you about that. How did you know?"

"I know a lot of things," he said. "Go take a break. Speaking of which, nice shot of that Huey, Sinon. Very impressive."

Before Kirito could protest, Sinon wrapped a thick arm around his shoulder. "That wasn't me, that was Kirito. Despite his affinity for melee, he can shoot straight, you know."

"Aww, thanks babe."

"Which isn't true most of the time."

"Hey!"

Sorry for the relatively long wait time and short chapter, everyone. Not very plot heavy, admittedly, but we've got some action and some flirting, which is always a plus in my book.

By the by, you should check out my buddy PanzerHippo's new fic: The Player's Guide to Virtual Worlds. Leave him a review! (After you leave one for me, of course)

See you next time on Dragon Ball Z! (It's Merchant Prince next time)