Sorry about the lack of updates. Like I briefly explained on my profile, my life took a sudden and stressful turn. Add to that a busy personal life and good ol' fashioned writer's block and things turned into quite a trip. Regardless, thanks to everyone for their support and thoughts and I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 12

I may not be an expert when it comes to breaking into highly secure facilities, but I have it on good authority that when an alarm gets tripped, there's supposed to be sirens going off, doors being locked down, and hordes of guards storming the halls, ready to fill us with more holes than the plot of an overdramatic soap opera.

There was nothing. No screaming klaxon, no flashing lights, and not a single hostile presence to meet us. Only the muted gunfire from outside accompanied our walk, until even that faded away the deeper we went into the base.

Sinon and I both moved with purpose down the wide tunnel, keeping to opposite sides as a precautionary measure. If we kept close, a single surprise burst of machine gun fire could take us both out. But I was starting to feel like we shouldn't have bothered — with all the Nothing that was happening around us.

When we reached a T-intersection, we peered down our respective sides, weapons at the ready. The passage ahead of me was very much like the rest of the place so far. Floors stained with old oil, military crates stacked up against the rock walls the canyon of this facility was built into, and the occasional security camera with its glass eye pointed at us. No sign of hostiles.

"Clear," Sinon reported.

"Same," I answered in kind. I looked over my shoulder. "You think we hit a bug and the enemies didn't spawn?"

Sinon raised an eyebrow at me. "Have you ever seen a bug in VR?"

I opened my mouth.

"And I don't mean literal bugs."

I closed my mouth.

We headed down the right hand path, and I took the time to take in our surroundings. The overhead lights were still in working order. No thick layers of dust coated any of the surfaces we came across. There wasn't any sign of neglect. Hell, come to think of it, even the droids outside looked to be in good shape, at least from what I could see whilst in the middle of a raging sandstorm. Something had to be here keeping the lights on and everything maintained.

If the base's personnel weren't going to come to us, then it left me with only one logical conclusion. They were waiting for us to come to them.

We stopped at a door on our left. There was no visible knob to turn it, just a small motion detector above its frame. Sinon and I both stacked up on either side, careful to avoid tripping the sensor and opening the door to expose us to whatever was on the other side.

"I'll go first," I said.

Sinon nodded. "Careful."

I waved a hand in front of the door and it slid open with a smooth hum. A quick peek inside showed me what seemed to be a kind of office or work area. It stretched on for another good twenty feet to my left. Desks lined all of the walls with more clumped together in the middle of the room. Folders, binders, and sheaves of paper sat atop most of them with others holding old computers, their monitors switched off.

There was another door across the room from me that presumably led further into the facility. I kept an eye on it as I moved inside.

Something moved out of the corner of my eye. I looked to my left and at the very end of the room, springing up from behind an overturned desk, was a human figure.

Picture an idealized version of a military's special forces operative, tricked out in cutting edge gear and weapons, wearing the latest and greatest tactical armor and clothing. Now add about a thousand years of wear and tear to it. The ballistic armor he wore had been destroyed and repaired over and over again, the black patchwork standing out against the sun bleached coloring. A long length of tough, weather-beaten cloth swathed his body like a thick sash, ending in a hood covering a masked helmet with glowing, sickly green lenses on it. His assault rifle had been jury-rigged and modified so many times that I couldn't even tell what it used to be anymore. Not even when he pointed it right at me.

"Blight sighted!" The figure cried, his voice crackling with static.

My feet moved without me telling them to. I ducked back through the door I came through just as a storm of gunfire pelted the spot where I'd been.

I pressed myself back against the wall next to the open door, frowning. "Well, that explains it. It's the Oathbounds."

Sinon squinted her eyes. "All the way out here?"

"Guess they just moved in."

Back before the Great War turned the Earth into the dusty, irradiated ball of sand it is now, the Oathbounds were a collection of artificial humans born and bred in cloning vats to serve Humanity as peacekeepers, guardians, and, when things got violent, soldiers. They were fanatically loyal to Humans. So much so that they dedicated themselves to protecting the planet and the remains of its settlements in the hope that their masters would rise again from the ashes of the Great War.

You'd think the Oathbounds would welcome us with open arms in that case, but there was only one problem. They didn't see us Glockenites as Human. As far as they were concerned, only people born and raised on Earth were True Humans, the only ones worthy of rebuilding from the ruins of the old civilization. Everyone else can get stuffed.

Which, y'know, included us GGO players. Especially after we parked our big space cruiser on top of one of their cities. They were probably sore about that.

The Oathbound's voice sounded closer, tight with tension. "Need reinforcements! Level Four Biohazard detected!"

"Excuse me, I took a shower this morning!" I said. I peeked back into the room. The Oathbound kept his gun trained in our direction as he moved in a sideways shuffle towards the only other door in the office. He loosed another volley of fire, and I ducked back into cover amidst a torrent of sparks and concrete.

Sinon dropped to one knee with her Glock raised and aimed through the door. The soldier shifted his gun to her, but it cost him precious milliseconds. For Sinon, it was more than enough.

Her gun spat half a dozen rounds right into the Oathbound's abdomen. One of the bullets even made a hole the width of my pinky underneath one of the glowing green eyes of his helmet. He jerked slightly, his shots going wide, and I seized the opportunity to lean out of cover again. Charon bucked as I pulled the trigger and my aim was true. The .357 round smashed into his throat and his shout of pain turned into a static gurgle as he dropped to the ground, his body twitching a few times before dissolving into pixels.

"Don't let your guard down. There's never just one of them," Sinon said as she stood up.

"Yeah. Aren't there usually dozens of these guys?"

"Sometimes more than that. It depends on how big this place is." Sinon said. "There could be as many as fifty or sixty in here."

"Oh. Well that's fine. If there were seventy, that'd be too many." I entered the room again and made straight for the door with Sinon right behind me. We stacked up next to it in the same way as before and opened it up.

A wave of cold air washed over me like I'd just waltzed into a big freezer. I stepped onto a narrow catwalk suspended over what turned out to be a server farm some ten feet below. Rows and rows of them were set up in evenly spaced intervals, their hums almost drowned out by the dull thrumming of the massive fans high up on the ceiling. The entire room looked to be empty, but then again, so did the office behind me at first.

I took slow, careful steps further in, wary for any movement, my breath pluming in a thin cloud with every exhale. Sinon stayed right on my back the entire way, watching the space below as well as behind us.

About halfway across the catwalk, I heard a hollow thud from below, like someone jumping onto an empty metal box. I looked down to face the source and saw a darkened figure flying right at me from where it had jumped off the top of one of the servers. It slammed into me. Hard. My back hit the catwalk's handrail and I felt myself going over.

Sinon screamed, "Masai!"

There was nothing I could do. I went over the rail with the thing still on me and dropped straight down. My back clipped the corner of one of the server towers, a dull pain spearing through me, and I slammed into the ground, my head bouncing off the floor. Stars exploded behind my eyes and my vision swam with disorientation. Somewhere off in the distance I could hear gunfire.

I blinked several times, refocusing my sight, and found myself lying on my back. The figure crouching over me was noticeably feminine and dressed all in form fitting leather. She had the same helmet design and even the same tattered sash and hood as the Oathbound we killed in the other room.

What wasn't the same, though, were the pair of wickedly curved blades extending from her forearm pointing right at my guts.

Luckily, I'd held onto Charon the entire way down. I jammed the barrel into her stomach and yanked on the trigger. The gun roared its defiance and the woman let out a pained cry, bounding off of me and landing further away. Fingers clutched to her bloody wound, she rose to her full height, the green eyes of her helmet staring at me with malice that felt way too real.

"Blight. Mockeries. You desecrate the world belonging to True Humans with every step." She hissed. She stalked towards me, dragging her blades along the wall, cutting two shallow furrows in it as she went.

I slowly rose to my feet, not daring to take my eyes off her even as the gunfire above intensified. "Okay look, I know you guys aren't real big fans of us Glockenites, but trust me we're not invading the planet. Can't we just have a civil discussion abou—"

The female Oathbound Assassin lunged forward, her blades scything towards my face, and I ducked my head out of the way.

"I said civil! Civil!" My photon sword came into my hand while I backpedaled away from her. The blade ignited in a brilliant blue light just in time to deflect a second strike. Then as fast as a whip, I pointed the business end of Charon down low and shot her in the thigh.

What my revolver lacked in ammo capacity and reload speed it more than made up for in pure stopping power. The shot collapsed her leg and she fell to one knee. I paused just long enough to get the perfect angle, and brought my sword down in a fatal swipe. The Assassin crumpled at my feet and dissolved into pixels.

"Masai!" Sinon yelled above me. I looked up to see her slapping a fresh magazine into her Glock. "You okay?"

I rubbed my back. "Hit a server on the way down. Probably got a nasty virtual bruise but I'm fine."

"Good, keep your guard— look out!"

I whirled around in time to see another female Oathbound rushing me from the aisle between two rows of server towers. She raised a semi-automatic pistol with a silencer screwed on the end, and the little gun coughed out half a dozen rounds in a heartbeat. I moved fast, hopping to one side to take cover behind the server tower at the end of the row. The rounds struck my cover with resounding pings. Even more gunfire erupted from somewhere above me, including Sinon's Glock, but I could still pick out the woman's footsteps as she came closer. I kept my sword at the ready, half-raised to take her down with a single stroke.

The faint scuff of a boot was all the warning I got before a stabbing pain erupted from my side.

A pair of arm blades belonging to a second woman were lodged several inches deep just below my ribcage. I grabbed at her wrist, trying to wrench it free, when I heard the Oathbound I meant to decapitate earlier come up behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw the barrel of her gun staring back at me.

I didn't even have time to think of a plan. I just acted.

I threw myself backwards, slamming into the woman behind me while dragging down the one who still had her blades stuck in my guts. The muted clap of a silenced pistol rang out once, then twice. One of the bullets pinged off metal, the other veered off somewhere else. The important thing was it didn't find me.

All three of us landed in a sprawl on the ground, wrestling for leverage. I threw an elbow into the faceplate of the Oathbound on top of me, and the helmet crunched from the impact. She grunted, pulling back, and I dug the heel of my boot into her stomach, kicking her away and getting her blades out of me in the process.

I rolled and got my feet under me, holding my photon sword in a guard position as I stared down the two women rising to face me.

"Okay, this is the part where you attack me one at a time—"

Both of them rushed me.

They lashed out in tandem, gleaming blades coming for my face and body. I whirled my sword, defending myself against their attacks with quick defensive motions, left and right, back to back, over and over, blocking one attack after the other as they swiped and stabbed, punched and kicked, all in a deadly, synchronized rhythm.

One aimed her pistol at me and I jerked my head to the side as it went off. The bullet sliced the air next to my ear. I tried to retaliate with Charon only for one of them to slice their blades into my arm as I fired. The shot went wide. The other swung a kick at my knee and I raised my leg to take it on the shin. It hurt way more than I thought, but I fought through the pain long enough to swipe my sword down and cut a deep gash across the woman's thigh.

She buckled and dropped to a knee, but before I could press the attack, the other Oathbound jumped clear over her and kicked me in the chest hard enough to send me flying backwards. I hit the ground sliding, but kept wits about me, aiming down Charon's sights and pulling the trigger twice. Both shots hit the wounded woman dead on. She dropped to the ground and disappeared in an explosion of pixels.

Her partner sprinted forward, gun aimed for my head, when Sinon sprinted out from between two rows of servers and shoved the Oathbound hard against the wall as she fired. I seized the opportunity, adjusted my aim, and emptied the last few rounds I had into her chest. She toppled over without a sound.

Sinon ejected the magazine from her pistol, slapped a fresh one in, and pulled the slide back all in one smooth, practiced motion. She held her hand out to me, and I took it.

"My hero," I said, getting up to my feet.

"They give you a lot of trouble?" she asked.

"Trickier than I expected, but that's a high level area for you," I said, looking around in case there was another one hiding in a darkened corner or something. "Where do we go from here?"

"I checked out what was on the other end of that catwalk," she said, jerking her chin up at it. "It's the Security Center. There's a door down here that will lead us up to it."

"Hallelujah. Let's go," I said.

Sinon led the way. True to her word, there was a door nestled in the corner of the server farm, and behind it was a flight of stairs leading up into what had to be the Security Center we were looking for.

We entered with guns raised, wary for any stragglers. The room wasn't all that big, maybe about as large as a garage meant to hold a couple cars. Terminals lined three of the four walls and above them were rows of monitors showing dozens of different camera feeds. Sinon strode towards one of the consoles, scanning the display while I checked the corners and crevices for any surprises.

"I think I can end the lockdown from here," she said. "But it looks like we'll have to restart the trains that take us to the weapons depot."

"Let me guess. We can't do that from here," I said.

Sinon shook her head, her fingers flying across the keyboard. "We have to go down to the train dispatch terminal to get it up and running again."

I went over to join her, looking at the console's monitor. "Where's that?"

Sinon looked at me, lifting an eyebrow. "At the lowest level. With the trains."

"Oh. Right. What was I thinking?"

A small teasing smile grew on her lips. "Sometimes I wonder."

"Har har. Let me tell Philia they're good to go," I took a few steps back and put a finger on my earpiece. "Philia, you still okay out there?"

Chaos exploded on the other end of the line — gunfire and explosions. I heard Philia cough before she said, "It's okay. We're hanging in there."

"Don't have to hang for long. Get in here, we lifted the lockdown. Sinon and I are going to head further down to get the trains running."

"Okay, got it!"

"Keep your guard up. There's Oathbounds in here, and they're no slouches in a fight." I cut the line and turned to Sinon. "Are we good?"

"Almost." She punched several more keys, and with a final tap of her finger, the monitor in front of her turned green. "Okay, we're good," she said and drew her Glock again.

Together, we left and made our way back into the main halls of the base. We found a tunnel that led further down and followed it with our senses on high alert. The lockdown may have ended, but we weren't out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination.

Stomping footsteps echoed in the tunnel wall. A lot of them. I grabbed Sinon by the arm and pulled her behind a metal bin meant for storage. We squeezed in behind it, putting ourselves between it and the rock wall, and waited.

Several more Oathbound soldiers ran past us, their radios squawking with voices, their weapons raised and ready for action. I guess since the lockdown ended, whatever soldiers were left in the area were abandoning their plan of lying in wait and moving to a more aggressive strategy to repel Rosalia's team.

"Philia, you've got incoming," I whispered through my earpiece. "About a dozen hostiles with automatic weapons heading your way. Lay low and ambush them."

"Got it. I'll tell Rosalia," Philia replied.

I cut the line and slipped out of our hiding place, moving further down the tunnel until it led us to a pair of large steel doors. An indicator light on top was lit green rather than red. Lifting the lockdown must have unlocked the doors on this level as well. Sinon worked the console next to the door while I stood in front of it with my MP7 raised, ready to gun down anyone on the other side. Sinon pulled a switch, and the console gave a deep buzz. The doors didn't make so much as a squeak as they parted.

The room on the other side looked like a massive storage area stretching out to about a hundred and almost double that in width. Stacks of shipping containers sat right about ten feet away from me, arranged to look like giant walls save for a gap big enough for us to walk through to go deeper into the room. I heard more radio chatter somewhere inside the room. Safe to say there were more than a few Oathbound inside with us.

"There should be a way down to the trains from here," Sinon said as she joined me.

"Just got to find our way through, huh?" I asked, nodding towards the gap.

"I suppose so." Sinon made a summoning motion with her hand, and in a flash of light the Ultimate Fiber Gun appeared in her grip. Her lips twitched up in a faint smile as she held her other hand out to me. "But it's quicker to take a short cut."

"Look at you being all efficient." I took her hand, grinning.

Sinon smirked and fired the Ultimate Fiber Gun. The green tether of energy latched onto the top of a stack of shipping containers like a high strength magnet. With a whine, the Fiber Gun reeled Sinon in, and me along with her. She'd gotten plenty of practice doing this sort of thing. At the last possible moment, her foot dug into the container's edge and she shifted her weight forward, stepping onto its top as smooth as silk.

I, on the other hand, did not have the luxury to do that. The UFG wasn't built for two, after all. Instead of gracefully hopping onto the container like Sinon, my chest slammed into its edge and I threw my free arm out, grabbing hold to keep from slipping off and plummeting to the ground a good thirty feet. Sinon, still holding my hand, hoisted me up like I didn't weigh much more than a school bag.

Smooth as sandpaper.

"Thanks," I said.

She nodded and scanned the area. I did the same and immediately realized what I was looking at. This entire room was supposed to be a maze, with the stacks of shipping containers serving as its walls. From our vantage point, it was easy to see the entire layout of winding passages and dead ends.

Sinon pointed at the far end of the storage bay. A giant, bright red sign hanging high up on the wall read: Cargo Elevator.

"There. That should take us down to the trains," she said.

I nodded, looking over the maze once more. "Well, you did say you wanted to take a shortcut."

Together the two of us jumped towards another container nearby. We did it again and again, literally skipping over the labyrinth entirely. Every so often I'd catch a glimpse of an Oathbound patrolling the narrow paths beneath us, completely oblivious to what was happening over their heads.

We passed by the center of the maze as we jumped from container to container. It was a wide open space filled with office cubicles, storage crates, work benches.A small contingent of Oathbounds were all gathered around a single one of their number. His armor was a little nicer than the others, newer and better maintained. Rather than a sash and hood like his fellow men, the rough cloth he wore was swathed around his body like a toga. His voice was filled with the same kind of odd static as the others, and the space was big enough that his every word seemed to echo. "Squad, we lost contact with Alpha-One. The presence of Blight is confirmed."

There was a general murmur of discontent around the rallied soldiers. Their leader nodded with them. He stretched his arms out wide. "Desecrators of the Blood. Mockeries of the Blood. They sully our creators' home with every step. It is our divine duty and privilege to eradicate them in the name of our treasured lords. Take up defensive positions, protect this facility in the name of Mankind."

"You think they'll ever listen if we tell them we're Mankind?" I murmured.

"Do you want to go down there and try?" Sinon replied.

"You know, I would, but unfortunately I got a train to catch."

We reached the end of the room and jumped off the stacks of storage containers, landing more or less gracefully in front of the cargo elevator. Sinon hurried to the control panel. She checked it, fingers tapping on a touch display, before a sound of annoyance escaped her.

"No good. It's locked," she said.

I went to her side and checked the small screen. It simply read: Commander's Key Required.

"Well, so much for taking a shortcut," I said.

Sinon pressed her lips together in thought. "My best guess is the Commander is somewhere in the maze."

"Probably smack dab in the middle with all those Oathbounds. Those dastardly devs thought of everything." I said. "Which means…"

Sinon nodded. "We have to go back."

"And I doubt he's just going to hand it over."

She looked over at me, a teasing smirk on her lips. "It's fine. Just tell them we're Mankind."

"Right. And if that doesn't work?"

She shrugged a shoulder. "You're supposed to be the charming, adventurous one. I'll leave it up to you."

I walked away from the control panel, smiling. "Hmhm, you called me charming."

I could practically hear Sinon roll her eyes as she spoke. "Is that all it takes with you?"

"I'm uncomplicated."

After another shot of Sinon's Ultimate Fiber Gun, we found ourselves jumping from container to container again until we reached the center of the labyrinth. The Oathbounds were spread out now, some patrolling up and down the area, others taking up defensive positions behind whatever waist high cover was available. Twelve in total. The Oathbound who'd been giving them orders stood at the very back, hands clasped behind his back, watching over his men. Odds were good he was the commander we were looking for.

I double-checked my ammo and grenades. Then once I was sure of both, we walked around the center zone, like vultures circling their next mark, until the commander was right below us.

"I'll cover you from up here," Sinon said, kneeling and summoning Hecate into her hands.

I nodded, holding my photon sword in an icepick grip. Without a word, I stepped off the stack of containers and dropped down a straight thirty feet. Right on top of the commander's head.

My photon sword blazed to life halfway down. He never saw it coming.

Two feet of superheated laser punctured the spot where his neck met his shoulder, and the blade sank deep as easily as a knife piercing rotten fruit. It went all the way down to the hilt, the tip of the sword poking out from the left side of his lower belly. The commander dropped to his knees, his voice gurgling while his entire body twitched and spasmed, hands half-raised out of sheer surprise.

The sound drew the attention of every single Oathbound in the area. They all turned to face me at the same time, the sickly green lenses of their helmets bearing down on me like dozens of tigers spotting their next kill.

I smiled at them with dazzling cheer. "Boo. Blight's here."

One of the Oathbounds near the back raised his rifle and Hecate's trademark boom answered in reply. The man's head simply evaporated into pixelated mist as he toppled over.

That one shot broke the standoff. Oathbounds raised their rifles and their bullet lines all converged on me.

I snatched a smoke grenade from my belt and lobbed it at the ground between me and them. The second it struck the floor, a thick gray cloud came billowing out, drowning every bullet line in its grasp. Guns fired wildly. I ducked down, trying to make myself as small of a target as possible while yanking my sword free of the commander's corpse. He fell over and exploded into bits of light, leaving behind only a small golden orb. It disappeared the moment I touched it, and a small window appeared in the corner of vision that read: Commander's Key Acquired.

"Got the loot!" I shouted over the cacophony of gunshots. I moved to my right, keeping my head down, until I managed to find decent cover by crouching behind a metal storage crate. Hecate boomed a couple more times, and both instances cut a bout of gunfire short. I looked up above me, looking for Sinon, when a quick motion flashed in the corner of my eye.

I spun on my heels and swept my photon sword out in a wide arc. The blade cut clean through the barrel of an Oathbound's rifle. To his credit, the Oathbound didn't run or act surprised. He dropped the useless gun and started backpedaling, going for his sidearm.

But that took time. Time I used to deliver a sudden, vicious kick to his knee.

It connected with a heavy crunch. The Oathbound toppled backwards and his head slammed against the shipping container behind him, leaving him slumped and stunned on the ground. I drew Charon and calmly put two rounds into his head.

Hecate fired again, and I followed its source until I found its owner perched up some distance away, her eye trained down the monstrous rifle's scope. I stuck two fingers in my mouth and let off a whistle loud enough to be heard over the storm of gunfire. Sinon perked up at the sound and quickly spotted me down below. Without a word, Hecate was replaced by the Fiber Gun, and she broke into a full sprint towards me.

She jumped straight off the shipping containers, dropped a good thirty feet, then landed in a roll without so much as a hair out of place. By now, the smoke from my grenade started to clear, and several bullet lines from the Oathbounds still standing found her as she ran towards me.

I rose from cover, MP7 at the ready, and let off a series of suppressive bursts to cover her. Most of the Oathbounds shirked back behind their cover. One of their number — too slow or too aggressive to do the same — dropped dead as a handful of rounds shredded the upper portion of his chest.

As soon as Sinon got within arm's reach, she aimed the Fiber Gun up near the top of another stack of storage containers and fired it off. I grabbed her arm and together we flew right out of the firefight and back up into relative safety.

"Got the key, time to skedaddle," I said, ducking my head as the Oathbounds shot up at us. Sinon nodded and we moved back to the elevator. Once we made it back to the control console, I summoned the key from my inventory and slotted it into place. With a satisfying click, the steel elevator doors opened up and we went inside, the doors automatically closing behind us. The entire carriage shuddered as it began its slow descent down.

Then a loud, whooping alarm rang through the elevator shaft.

"Looks like we rattled them," I said, my grip on my revolver tightening.

Sinon nodded. She summoned Hecate into her hands again and dropped to one knee, the barrel of the gun raised at the doors, ready to shoot the first thing that came into view.

A long minute later the elevator groaned to a halt. The doors shuddered, then slid open with shrieking rattles to a large, cavernous chamber, the walls and ceiling the same reddish stone of the canyon outside. The first thing to catch my eye were the trains — all neatly arranged side by side at the far left of the room, their cargo doors wide open. A scattering of more cargo containers, large and small, meant to be loaded on board. On the far wall was the mouth of a tunnel, presumably where the trains would disembark on their way to the weapons facility. On the far right stood a squat building with opaque windows. The controls to get everything moving again were probably in there.

And right in front of the elevator door, only ten feet away, was a small gathering of Oathbounds turning to face us.

Sinon's rifle flicked a couple inches to the right and the muzzle flashed with a thundering boom. An instant later, I watched an unwitting Oathbound flying backwards with a new basketball sized hole in his chest.

His friends raised their guns, but I was already moving in on them, photon sword ablaze and my MP7 at the ready. A quick burst of automatic fire to the legs staggered them, then my sword flickered with quick, precise motions, cutting armor and digital flesh in equal measure until they all collapsed dead at my feet.

The alarm hadn't stopped blaring, and I could hear the stomping of boots drawing closer. We were going to have company, and we were going to have it fast.

"Go, go!" I said, sprinting for the door with Sinon catching up to me.

"I'll start the trains," she said back.

I nodded. "I'll cover the door."

Sinon broke for the building with tinted windows. The door opened automatically and she disappeared inside. I took up position a few feet away behind a stack of metal pallets and kept my MP7 up and ready. From this vantage point I could see most of the cargo bay while keeping myself mostly in cover.

I had just enough time to take a calming breath before the first few Oathbounds came storming out from behind a big military truck. I lined up the shot, aiming for the nearest one, then pulled the trigger.

The lead Oathbound didn't even hear the rapport of gunfire before a cluster of bullets entered his skull. He dropped like a stone, his corpse tumbling a couple feet more before falling still. The rest of his buddies scattered. Some of them returned fire and I pulled back, moving to the other end of my cover to lean out to gun down another Oathbound too slow to find a place to duck his head.

I repositioned just in time to see one of the building's windows explode outwards in a hail of broken glass, and it took me a second later to realize it was because Sinon had just been thrown through it. She tumbled across the ground, her Glock sliding away from her.

The door to the building suddenly opened, and a seven foot tall walking juggernaut of a man came stomping out. Heavy alloyed metal and thick kevlar covered practically every inch of his body, from his hefty boots up to the broad, flat sheets of armor that protected his shoulders. His helmet was barely jutting out from the reinforced collar of his torso armor, reminding me somewhat of a turtle poking its head out from its shell. His four eyelights focused on Sinon as she struggled to stand, and then he raised a freaking belt fed machine gun at her.

I sprinted out of cover, ignoring the bullet lines of the other Oathbounds converging on me as they opened fire. Something hit me hard in the thigh, but it didn't stop me from jumping up and dropkicking the Heavy right in the back just as he was about to perforate my partner.

He stumbled forward, and the burst of machine gun fire meant for Sinon instead chewed through the concrete floor several feet behind her. With an angry, distorted shout, the Heavy whirled around and raised his foot over my sternum.

My eyes widened. One stomp would probably be enough to cave in my chest cavity. I rolled to one side, and the massive boot stomped down on the ground less than an inch away. Hell, I felt the ground shake a little when it happened.

"Sinon!" I shouted while pulling my MP7 free. With an awkward toss, I slid it across the ground and she grabbed the gun as it passed by.

The Heavy was righting himself again, whirling around to face her while bringing his machine gun to bear. The submachine gun wouldn't have a prayer of piercing the thick armor he wore and Sinon knew that. She launched herself into a loping sprint to put distance between us. The Heavy's helmet squealed with irritation as he let loose with machine gun fire in her direction.

He'd completely forgotten all about me.

I rose and put all my strength into shoving my photon sword right through his back and out his chest.

The Heavy roared in an angry, synthesized howl of pain. He spun around, faster than what should be possible for someone that big, and swung his heavily armored elbow for the side of my head.

I was ready for it. I crouched down, waited half a second for his elbow to fly over my head, and swiped my sword upwards in a quick, clean strike, cutting the barrel of his machine gun into pieces.

He howled in anger again. He kicked his boot right into my stomach and it felt like getting tackled by a professional linebacker. All the air was shoved out from my lungs and pain spread out with a devastating wave of nausea. I landed on my back, coughing violently.

A burst of gunfire hit the Heavy in the back. Behind him, Sinon moved steadily towards us with my MP7 braced against her shoulder. She poured the entire magazine into his back, and when it was empty, she raised her recovered Glock and pelted him even further with a flurry of rounds.

It didn't even slow him down. The Heavy wrapped one massive hand around my throat and hoisted me in the air as easily as a bag of groceries. His grip tightened, hardened, then he spun around and threw me right at Sinon.

She sidestepped out of the way and I hit the ground in a tumble. My head banged against the floor. Fireworks exploded behind my eyes. The world grew dim and vague. I shook my head, trying to ward off the disorientation, until a pair of strong hands grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me lucid.

"Sorry about that," Sinon said, kneeling above me.

I shook my head, fumbling for Charon's holster. "Better if only one of us gets knocked on the head." The revolver came free and I fired back. The Heavy's head jerked to one side, a red pixelated wound decorating the spot above one eyelight, and yet it hardly fazed him. I shot him three more times, and only got another synthesized growl. "Damn it, I need to grind more levels."

More Oathbounds peeked out from a nearby storage rack. They fired right at us with no hesitation. Sinon grit her teeth and threw herself over me as some of the shots meant for me hit her back. I pulled a medical syringe and jammed it into her stomach an instant later. "Where's Hecate?" I shouted. If anything was going to take the walking tank of a man down and give us control of the situation, it was Sinon's prized rifle.

"Inside the control room," she said.

I grimaced. I could imagine what happened. She'd gone in to get the trains running again only to get ambushed by our big, bulky friend. Heck, she probably had the same idea I did, at first — use Hecate to bring him down quick — but while Sinon was a certified nightmare when it came to long range, getting up close and personal was another story. She must have been overpowered before getting thrown through the window, leaving her sniper rifle inside.

I yanked the both of us to our feet, stowing Charon in its holster. "I'll deal with the big boy, you take down the grunts."

Sinon nodded and broke off, firing her Glock at the other Oathbounds, drawing their attention away from me as I turned to face the Heavy. He trundled towards me, a low buzzing growl emanating from his helmet.

The big guy even cracked his knuckles as he came at me.

"Oh boy, the devs had way too much fun programming you," I raised my photon sword, the tip pointed at his throat, and moved forward.

I've fought a lot of things bigger than me before. Both in SAO and GGO. Most of them were strong enough to punch my head off given the opportunity. The opening move of my plan then was pretty simple. Don't get punched.

I rushed forward and the Heavy answered in kind, charging me with booming steps, fists clenched and already swinging, ready to pound me into a thin paste on the ground. The distance closed. I came close to striking range, and he threw a fast, vicious haymaker for my face.

I dropped to my knees and slid right under his swinging fist.

I skated past him, got to my feet, and gunned it for the control room, towards the same window Sinon had been thrown out of only a couple minutes ago. The Heavy howled in frustration behind me. The ground shook with the tremors of his stomping feet as he chased after me. He may have moved fast for a guy his size, but my Agility stat was enough to keep him from catching up to me and folding me into a paper crane.

As soon as I reached the broken window, I dove through head first without slowing down and hit the ground on the other side in a roll. I sprang up and turned in a quick circle, searching the dark control room for any sign of Hecate.

Another angry snarl came from outside. I didn't have much time.

A glint of light caught my attention. I followed it to its source and felt my heart leap with triumph. The gleam came from the light outside reflecting off of Hecate's scope. The big rifle lay underneath a table, unharmed. I sprang forward and grabbed it just as the door to the room opened and the Heavy came stomping in. His eyelights fell on me, and with an ugly digital scream he charged me like a runaway locomotive.

With a mix of heady desperation and adrenaline I raised Hecate, which is a damn hard thing to do considering Sinon needed a high STR stat to even lug the thing around. I wasn't strong enough to brace the stock against my shoulder, so I settled for tucking it underneath my arm with the barrel pointed straight at the Heavy's general direction. I only had one shot. If I missed, I'd have to struggle to pull the bolt and chamber a fresh round, and that would take a fatal amount of time.

So I waited until it was impossible for me to miss.

The Heavy closed the distance, fist raised to pummel me into the ground. He got within five feet of me, and I opened fire.

I learned something when I pulled the trigger. Horses didn't kick as hard as Hecate did. I braced myself to absorb the kickback, even spread my feet to balance my weight evenly, and it still didn't do a damn thing to stop the recoil from knocking me on my ass. My back hit the table behind me, pain flaring up and down my spine, and the sniper rifle flew clear out of my hands.

But it was worth it.

Hecate's anti-material round broke right through the Heavy's chest plate with a heavy crushing noise. Pieces of metal and ceramic plate went flying, and the sheer concussive force of the bullet knocked him flat on his back. He convulsed uncontrollably, his arms flailing, but he was down for the count.

I heaved a weary sigh and turned my back on the dying Oathbound, searching the floor and trying to find where Hecate had gone. I spotted it a few feet away, right at the base of the center command console.

I started to head over to grab it when another loud bang echoed in the room. I whirled around, pulling Charon from its holster, and pointed it at the first thing I saw.

Talbot stood at the open door of the control room, and in his hand he held an absolutely gargantuan revolver that made mine look like a pop gun. A thin trail of smoke wafted from its barrel, and I followed where it pointed until I found the Heavy slumped over on the ground with a chunk of his head missing.

"You're welcome," Talbot drawled, holstering his gun. "Guy was gettin' up for round two. You get those trains moving?"

I blew out a breath and grabbed Hecate from the floor. It took me a bit of effort to lift it again. "Just about to."

The process to restart the automated trains was pretty straightforward. A few button presses were all it took. A low industrial buzz echoed through the wide open space, along with the creaking and screeching of old iron gears. Outside, the trains rotated ninety-degrees with the platforms beneath them until they were all in a singular line, the mag-locks at the end of each car connecting them together with solid clunks. Speakers mounted on the rocky walls crackled to life, and a recording of a woman's voice played smoothly from them.

"Three minutes until departure. Three minutes until departure."

Talbot leaned against the door frame. "Wow. Great job pressing all those buttons. Argo really has an eye for talent,"

"Which is more than I can say for Rosalia," I headed for the door he was standing in. He didn't move. He stood there watching me with a wry mile as I came within arm's reach of him. Then at the last possible moment he stepped aside, holding his hands up in mock surrender, a grin plastered on his face.

"Okay, killer. All business now," he said.

I stepped back out into the bay. Rosalia's men were exiting the cargo elevator and running by me, weapons ready as they moved towards the train. The woman herself was leading them from the front, carrying a lever action shotgun in her hands. There was a subtle tension in the way she walked. The bandolier around her hips was missing shells too. She'd been fighting.

Guess she really wasn't all talk.

I looked around for Sinon when a single, solitary Oathbound stepped out from behind a storage shelf and aimed his rifle right at my chest. My hand went for Charon in its holster.

His throat split open in a spray of digital blood.

More deep and bloody cuts suddenly appeared on his arms and wrists, his knees and thighs. He dropped to the ground, shouting in pain, struggling to get back up as deep and vicious puncture wounds appeared from nowhere on his back. Then just as quickly as it had begun, the attack ended. The soldier collapsed and died with hardly a sound.

I stood there blinking, wondering what the hell just happened, when the air seemed to ripple over the Oathbound's disintegrating corpse.

One second nothing was there. The next, Faye just bled into reality, standing over the body and holding a pair of wickedly shaped knives. She regarded me through her glasses, then nodded. "Excellent work. It seems Rosalia's trust in you wasn't misplaced."

"I can be pretty cool sometimes," I gave her a once over, looking for some kind of optical camouflage device on her person, but there was nothing.

I realized why a second later. It was her clothing. The materials to bend light and render her invisible must have been embedded in the fabric of her business suit. One simple command and she'd disappear — become nigh undetectable without anyone knowing until they had a blade pressed to their neck. That kind of modification was exceedingly rare. And prohibitively expensive. Nothing but the best for Rosalia's entourage, it seemed.

"Guess that get-up is for more than just looking sharp," I said.

Faye lifted an eyebrow then looked down at herself. "Ah, I get the joke. Because my knives are sharp?"

I blinked at her. "Uh, no, no. I wasn't making a joke."

Faye's brow furrowed and she looked up at me, a touch of surprise on her face. Her gaze flickered to one side and…was she blushing?

"Oh, I see. You were talking about my appearance," she said.

Talbot brushed past me, patting Faye on the shoulder as he passed her too. "You need to get out of the house more."

Faye shot him a glare. "You don't need to tease me."

"Yeah, but I want to," Talbot replied. "Just like I teased you the whole way here for triggering the lockdown."

Faye clenched her jaw, a flash of irritation in her eyes. "I've…never ridden a horse before." She directed her attention to me. "Please, ignore what he said."

I shrugged, cracking a grin. "Sorry, ignore what? I wasn't paying attention."

"That I'm the reason the lockdown was triggered,"

"Oh, no, no…that was a joke."

Faye stared at me for a long three count. "Ah."

She turned and walked away.

"She'll figure it out one day," I mumbled. I went to join the gathering crowd and did a quick head count. Rosalia was at the head of her team, giving directions I couldn't hear. I expected her men to take a few losses from the fight to get here, but to my surprise, there wasn't a man missing among them.

Sinon, Rei, and Philia quickly found me. I handed Sinon her sniper back and she thanked me with a nod of her head, checking the magazine and flicking the safety with smooth precision.

"You guys hold up okay?" I asked Philia and Rei.

"Mhm, Rosalia's mercs kept us in the back while they held the line," Rei said, clutching her rifle tightly, her posture alert for any threats — something I tried to ingrain in her ever since I'd begun training her swordplay.

"You guys didn't have any trouble, did you?" Philia asked.

"Got knocked around a bit but that's nothing new for me," I said with a modest bow of my head.

"One minute until departure, the speaker toned again. "One minute until departure."

"C'mon, we gotta hustle," I said, ushering them towards the train. A low, vibrating hum emanated from underneath it, picking up in speed and intensity. Whatever tech was used to make the train move was warming up.

Sinon, Philia, and Rei gathered with Rosalia and the rest of her coterie as they started climbing into one of the train's passenger cars. Talbot and I remained at the rear of the group, weapons at the ready in case someone wanted to interrupt our boarding.

So naturally the doors to the cargo elevator opened again and a fresh contingent of Oathbound came stomping out. They saw us loading up, and with a roar of religious fervor, they charged us with reckless abandon, guns ablaze.

Talbot and I ducked their fire at nearly the same time and fired back. "Go, get on board!" I shouted to the others. I managed to squeeze off a few rounds, catching one Oathbound soldier in the chin and another in the chest. Neither of them died. They just stumbled and refocused sights straight at me, their shots forcing me to keep on the move.

"Train now departing. Train now departing."

The train shuddered. A high-pitched whistling came from the lead car, growing in volume. I put my back against a tightly packed pallet of ammo and looked back at the others. Everybody was on board. Even Talbot jumped onto one of the narrow walkways attached to the side of a train car.

I was the last one left.

I ran after the train, ducking my head and trying to make myself as small a target as possible while the Oathbound shot at my back. The train picked up speed and I sprinted harder after it. A couple of sharp and merciless pangs of pain hit my back, and the thought of getting shot in the legs and dropping to the ground invaded my thoughts.

The door on the rear gangway of the last train car was suddenly thrown open and Sinon stepped out onto the little observation deck. She leaned over the safety railing, holding her hand out as far as she could, her teeth clenched. "Masai!"

I pumped my legs as fast as they could go, feet pounding on cement. I reached out to her, our fingers mere inches apart. Philia and Rei burst through the door and joined her on either side. They raised their guns and laid down suppressive fire.

It was now or never. With one last burst of energy I put as much strength into my legs as I could and launched myself forward to grab Sinon's hand.

The train sped up, pulling her out of reach.

I missed and hit the cold, unforgiving floor.

Sinon shouted. "Masai!"

Bullets chewed into the concrete around me. I scrambled to my feet, trying to reach them again, but the train kept getting faster and farther away. I kept running, but I knew I didn't have a prayer of reaching them again. I was stuck.

Sinon never took her eyes off me. She chewed on her lip, and I could see the furious thinking going on in her head. Then a flash of realization sparked across her features and with hurried motions she summoned the Ultimate Fiber Gun in her hands. I knew the plan the second she met my gaze again.

She reared her arm back and threw the Fiber Gun as hard as she could. It arched through the air, spinning end over end, and I tracked it the whole while, timing my steps. I jumped as high as I could and snatched it out of the air.

I hit the ground smoothly, aimed the Fiber Gun at the train, and pulled the trigger. The lance of green energy shot out and caught itself on the guardrail in front of Sinon. The gun whirred and yanked my arm hard, sending me flying over the train tracks and towards the train. Sinon grabbed two fistfuls of my coat as soon as I hit the guardrail. Philia and Rei did the same, and between the three of them, they hauled me up and over into safety. The second my feet touched the swaying floor, I leaned my back against the nearest wall and let out a relieved sigh.

"Whew. For a second there, I thought you were a goner," Philia said.

A small laugh bubbled underneath my words. "Who, me? Nah, I'm too impressive to be in trouble."

Philia let out a breathless laugh of her own. "Impressive? That's not usually the word I'd use to describe you."

I slid down the wall until I ended up sitting on the floor, legs stretched out in front of me. "Yeah well…" I glanced up at Sinon, shooting her a small smile. "I learned it from the best."

Sinon was still looking down the tracks at the disappearing facility behind us. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "It was bound to happen since you keep following me around everywhere."

"Gotta protect the damsel in distress, right?"

She shot me a withering glare. "Says the guy whose butt I just saved."

"And for that my butt is eternally grateful."

Sinon scoffed. "It better be. It would have been annoying if we'd gone through that whole base just for you to get left behind at the last second."

"Aww, so you do care about me."

Philia looked between us. She cupped her chin, her expression thoughtful. "Huh."

"What?" I asked.

She pursed her lips. Philia studied my face and some gut instinct told me she was examining me for something. "It's just…well, I know you guys have been partners for a while now, but I guess it's just now sinking in how well you two fit together."

Sinon and I glanced at each other. Her expression softened ever so slightly. I doubted anyone but me noticed it.

"Well, you know what they say. Opposites attract and all that," I said.

Philia shrugged her shoulders, her tone light. "I guess it's true." She looked over at Rei and said, "Hey Rei, mind helping me with something inside?"

Rei blinked at her. "Uh, with what?"

"Girl talk," Philia said plainly.

"Oh," Rei looked over to me and I gave her a 'go on' gesture. "Okay! I like girl talk."

The two of them headed back inside, leaving Sinon and I all alone.

"I wonder what that was all about," she said.

"Don't ask me. I've never had girl talk," I replied.

Sinon sat down beside me and stretched her legs out. She leaned her weight against me ever so slightly, and a comfortable lull fell between us, the rumble of the train's engine and the occasional clacking of metal filling the silence.

"Thanks for the save," I whispered.

Sinon closed her eyes with a smile. "Anytime."

I bumped her boot with mine.

She did the same.