The unsettling tension in the quiet night air was disrupted by the subtle vibration of approaching tires on the pavement. The lights of the lead vehicle appeared in the distance- hostile, harsh against the dark surroundings… Crypto's drone provided a more detailed picture to his companions' mini-computers before the convoy closed the distance. In front was an armored truck, likely full of guards and weapons. Behind that was a sleek tactical vehicle with a low center of gravity, built for speed and maneuverability. Following third and fourth were the heavy, plated vans that held the prisoners- behind those, at the end of the convoy, was a military vehicle with a machine gun mounted to the back of it.
Does the syncording process make it possible to give false memories to human beings, too? It must- we remember what happens in the staging area after our syncordings are taken. We remember what happens on the ship, on the way to the arena. What if they edit all of our memories- our beliefs, our sense of self…?
The thoughts swirled around, not fully formed, in Crypto's head until the ever intensifying reverberation of tires on the highway finally forced him to drop them. That wasn't a problem for the present moment. He paid careful attention to the position of his drone, keeping it angled behind the convoy on a diagonal, where they wouldn't be able to see it.
Wattson noted the direction and strength of the wind, her distance from the highway at which she was looking, the design and raw mechanical power of this particular model of rifle. Like when she examined the paths that an electrical current would follow to ground, all of the tiny details fell neatly into place for her. She saw the path of the bullet, felt the energy that would propel it like a sixth sense…
The truck at the front of the convoy reached the bridge and passed underneath. She took a slow, steady breath and held it-
...a thunderous crack resounded as if the ground were splitting beneath them. The engineer's shot found its mark, and the smaller car just behind that leading truck swerved and wobbled precariously on a shredded tire. The vehicles behind were forced to slow- the driver of the truck in front began pulling to one side, then was forced to go the other way as the out-of-control car nearly collided with it. Wattson paid as little attention to the screech and squeal of vehicles as she could… She smoothly readied her weapon once again and took aim.
Her next shot was aimed at the hood of the truck at the front of the convoy- driver's side, closer to the front end of the vehicle than to its cab, where she knew the power source was located. Another deafening crack resounded through the gentle night air. The truck went dark and silent as it came to a stop- her bullet had severed the primary electrical connections.
Now the four vehicles behind it couldn't easily get out from under the overpass. Wattson had given her team a tactical advantage.
Crypto's drone closed in overhead. Syndicate guards jumped out of the vehicles, pistols and rifles in hand- they looked around for the drone as it buzzed overhead, a sound that was quickly fazed out by the high-pitched whine of charging capacitors. Before they could react to shoot it down, the hacker had set off an electromagnetic pulse. The other four vehicles, too, went dark and silent. Doors opened; guards jumped out and took up defensive positions. They could be heard shouting to each other:
"Comms are down-"
"Some kind of EMP hit us!"
Revenant dropped from the underside of the bridge and landed in front of the forward-most guard. They clicked their flashlight on just in time to get a good look at his metal claws before he caught them by the throat. Cade charged forward, rifle at the ready- Crypto quickly put away the controller for his drone and moved in behind the enforcer. Automatic gunfire echoed- sound projected by the smooth concrete and steel of the structure around them seemed to come from all directions at once in a chaotic frenzy. A guard collapsed on the ground at Cade's feet, screaming, hands scrabbling over the front of their torso in a futile effort to control the bleeding.
Crypto fired on the guards, forcing them to take cover behind the vehicles, as Cade advanced. He climbed on top of the truck at the front of the convoy. A guard at the rear of the car behind took aim at Crypto- Cade pointed his rifle at the side of their head and fired. The bullet glanced off the side of their helmet, but the impact was enough to drop them to the ground, disoriented. Their weapon went off as they collapsed, causing the guards beside them to shuffle back and look around frantically. Revenant, fully prepared to capitalize on the ensuing chaos, lunged at one of them from behind.
A bladed weapon impaled a guard, protruding from between their ribs. Blood spattered across the front of Crypto's jacket. He barely reacted- a subtle narrowing of his eyes, if anything… This was no longer the shocking sight that it had once been to the hacker. Somewhere along the way to this point, he'd become used to gore and death, desensitized to it.
Someone was behind him. He turned- whoever it was, they turned with him, and a strong arm wrapped around his neck. Within fractions of a second, his throat was caught in the crook of an elbow- the hacker felt the world slipping into distance around him as blood flow to his brain was obstructed. He dropped his rifle- his hands flew to the assailant's arm in an effort to free himself.
His efforts seemed futile… It didn't matter, because a second later, Crypto's attacker threw him roughly to the ground. They stepped over him, toward Cade, one hand reaching for something at their belt- it was a pistol, the hacker realized, which they shortly had aimed at the back of Cade's head. He opened his mouth to shout a warning- one that he feared might come too late.
Before any sound could leave his mouth, the enforcer had already turned and slammed the enemy with his elbow. The force was enough to send them flying backward several feet- the reaction time and the strength that Cade's cybernetics allowed him weren't to be underestimated. His opponent, however, was equally quick to recover. They were up on one knee, pistol aimed- a steady, skilled hand squeezed the trigger. The click before the gunpowder ignited was Cade's cue to move… Not quite fast enough, as the bullet grazed his arm. He hissed and clenched his jaw at the searing pain- it didn't deter him from turning toward his attacker to return fire.
The Syndicate assassin - he assumed; their skill at staying out of line of sight was much greater than an agent's - was nowhere to be seen. He scrambled up on top of the van in the middle of the crowd. Guards and agents on the far side of it, who were using the metal structure of the vehicle for cover, took aim at him. He was faster, and had the advantage of being on higher ground- a hail of automatic gunfire from his rifle rained down on them.
Crack.
A sniper shot went past Cade's head. His ears were ringing- disoriented, he struggled to keep his balance, and nearly fell off the roof of the van. A body hit the asphalt with a heavy thud beside him. He caught a glimpse of it as he slid down from the top of the van, out of line of sight of the agents near the back of the convoy- instead of a uniform like the others, they were dressed in business attire with weapons and body armor only visible to those who were trained to look for such indications of a threat. The enforcer raised an eyebrow. That fucking sim had been right, it would appear- the skinny little girl was one hell of a sniper, taking out a trained assassin with a single shot in the middle of a chaotic fight.
Maybe the Apex Games weren't just a bunch of bullshit staged for show after all.
Crypto ran through the crowd of disoriented and wounded guards as quickly as his legs would carry him. Thick, sticky blood splattered from the impact of his boots. He had to step over dead bodies, and one that was barely alive reached for his ankles as he passed by. Despite what Revenant had said before they got on the road - that there was no way he'd pass for a Syndicate agent - nobody stopped him from his mad dash to the first van. He wore their uniform, an expression of fierce determination, covered in the blood of guards whose lives he'd extinguished- exactly how he didn't want his sister to see him, as the monster he was fighting against. There was no time to concern himself with that right now… He pulled the door to the van open with force and hauled himself inside.
"Mila," he called out. "Mila!"
The van was empty, with the exception of a terrified-looking guard in the driver's seat. He looked like a teenager- couldn't have been older than Wattson… His hands shook as they fumbled with a rifle that looked large in comparison to his slender frame.
The hacker let out a heavy breath. "Get out of here," he commanded with a quick nod.
Eyes wide with fear, the younger man silently stood up, dropped his weapon, and ran for it, feet scrabbling over the pavement the instant he jumped out of the van. Crypto quickly glanced over his shoulder, then into the distance ahead of him. Cade was at the front of the convoy, near the leading truck- Revenant was all the way at the back with the machine gunner. He hoped that they would remain there, and let this particular guard get away… Being responsible for the death of such a young person who'd clearly been pulled into a situation beyond their control was a line that he couldn't bear to cross.
As he sprinted to the second van, he heard something whirring overhead- faint, especially compared to the deafening boom of gunshots, but distinct. He looked up for the source of the high-pitched whine. A round, black object hovering in the air caught him by surprise… It looked like the camera drones that were used to broadcast the Apex Games.
Those drones had been his own design, and he was quite confident that this was one of them. Strange to see it here… The thought was out of his head in an instant, irrelevant.
"Hey, Crypto- Crypto! You copy?"
Augustin's voice came over the commlink. The hacker didn't bother to answer… He gripped the handle of the second van's door with both hands and yanked it open.
"They called in reinforcements- Defense Force is gonna come in and lock down this whole area. We need to be out of here in the next ten minutes- non-negotiable! Over."
Two gunshots resounded in rapid succession. The next thing he knew, the hacker found himself lying on his back on the cold ground- ears ringing, head pounding. He could feel his heart racing; the wind had been knocked out of him and he was struggling to catch his breath… At least that meant he was still alive. He tried to sit up, and bit his lip to keep from crying out at the intense pain that resulted. The guard who'd shot him climbed out of the van. He became aware of the blood pooling around his shoulder- the first bullet had torn through him there, just below the outer edge of his collar bone. The second, aimed at his ribs, was caught by the body armor he wore under the agent uniform- though the force of its impact had still been enough to knock him off his feet.
The enemy who'd taken him down stood over Crypto. He looked up, into the business end of their rifle- beyond that, their cold, angry eyes, ready to make the kill. The smell of gunpowder, the chilly pavement underneath his body, the warm blood flowing from the wound in his shoulder and rapidly cooling in the night air- those signals overwhelmed him, but then subsided. They gave way to a single thought that stood out above all else: the second van was also empty, aside from its driver. Mila wasn't here… In fact, there were no prisoners here. This was a setup. What had persuaded him to stage an attack here, again…?
Revenant.
Bang.
Surely he must be dead this time. Why was it still so damn cold- his body still shaking uncontrollably…? One of the Syndicate's clones of him was supposed to take his place now, right?
The body of the guard collapsed on the asphalt beside him. He blinked several times, in shock… Revenant was on top of the van, looking down at him - no, at the guard who'd been about to kill him - rifle in hand. Augustin shouted something over the commlink, which Crypto didn't notice until several seconds after his voice had faded out.
A dark figure leaped from somewhere - the hacker couldn't quite make out where - and landed on top of the van beside Revenant, hard enough to put sizable dents in the metal surface. The assassin turned and fired as the enemy reached for him. A bullet ricocheted off of something metal- the figure was entirely undeterred. They grabbed Revenant, one hand on his shoulder and the other on his leg, and tossed him from the roof of the van like it was nothing.
That was enough to send adrenaline surging through Crypto's body once again. He struggled to his feet and backed away, despite the hot, tearing pain that came with the movement. What the hell was that thing- another simulacrum?
Whatever it was, it had drawn Cade's attention. A bullet hit its head- it kept advancing at a steady pace, entirely undeterred. Crypto quickly checked the data from the uplink to his drone. It would take another two minutes to charge the capacitors enough to set off another EMP.
Crack. A sniper shot connected with the outside of its knee, and it stumbled backward half a step, briefly struggling to keep its balance. Revenant saw a weakness, an opening- he attacked the thing from behind and grabbed at its neck with his claws. Wires and cables tore away; sure enough, it was some kind of automaton… Undeterred, it pivoted its body, grabbing onto Revenant's arm at the same time to flip him over its back and slam him into the pavement, hard. Cade unloaded what was left of his magazine into its back- it didn't even seem to notice. Revenant twisted its arm against the momentum of its body, straining the joint. However this machine was assembled, it was incredibly durable… He quickly realized that his own body wasn't going to produce enough force to overpower it. He did have its shoulder locked at an unnatural angle, exposing vulnerable wires and cables, if only for a second. He reached out and severed them.
Sparks fell from the damaged joint. Something mechanical made a grinding sound. The automaton spun around - faster than Crypto could register that it had turned- and slammed Revenant into the side of the van behind him. The force of the impact shattered the windows, snapped one of the doorposts with a booming crack that sounded just like a gunshot… It picked up a piece of metal from the ruined vehicle off the ground, and as Revenant shifted forward to attack again, it drove the jagged end through his chest and into the frame of the van behind him.
"Stay," the automaton commanded as it violently twisted the protruding end of the metal weapon, ensuring that Revenant couldn't easily remove it. "Traitor."
Underneath the modulation, its voice carried a surprisingly human tone.
It turned its attention toward Crypto. He had his rifle aimed at its head- though from what he'd seen of this thing, even landing every single shot wouldn't save him. The automaton, however, made no move to kill him- nor even to close the distance.
"Tae-joon Park," it said, "this has gone far enough. Surrender. We will return you to the Apex Games as if nothing ever happened."
The little black camera drone was circling overhead again. A distant engine was running; a vehicle was approaching- Torc and Augustin, as they both chattered over the commlink about the need to get out of the area. Crypto stared dead ahead at the monster before him, shaking, struggling to hold his rifle steady. Despite his wounds and exhaustion, he still displayed an expression of fierce defiance- which gave way to raw shock at the thing's words.
"How do you know my name…?"