Here we go again. Corona eased the door open and poked her head into the hallway, ready to lunge back out of sight at the slightest sound. She turned to the left, where the maintenance exit to the roof was, and found four mechs guarding it. The rhythmic clanking of huge metal feet around the corner told her that at least two other mechs were patrolling the halls.
One of the four at the end of the hall turned toward her. A split-second later, the other three faced the same direction. All of them snapped their guns up and stomped toward her.
Shit! She ducked back into the stairwell and yanked the door shut an instant before the gunfire started. "Taura?"
"Working on it." Taura's hands darted through her holofield, typing code, tapping icons, manipulating windows and objects within them, their speed increasing until they were a blur. "If I can get through at least one of their firewalls …"
Corona backed away from the door, drew her gun, and hoped she might actually manage to hit something at this range.
Jack planted himself beside her and aimed his gun at the door.
The door burst open and slammed into the wall, propelled by a kick from one of the mechs. It squeezed through and turned, bringing its guns up and pointing them at Corona and Jack.
Both of them punched three shots through its head, turning it into a mangled mess. Corona winced at the deafening blasts in the confined space of the stairwell. The robot toppled over, dropping its guns and twitching for a few seconds until its systems crashed.
A second robot stepped over the body and faced them.
She and Jack blasted away, but not before the mech got off a single shot. The impact was like a sledge hammer to the chest, knocking her backward into Taura. All the rounds she fired hit the wall behind the robot, but luckily Jack's bullets ripped through its head and dropped the robot beside the first.
Panicking, Corona slid her free hand under her vest and ran it over her chest. After finding no open wound, she sighed, slumped against the wall, and gave Jack a thumbs-up.
Some of the tension drained from his body and he turned back to the doorway as another mech appeared.
"Got it," Taura muttered.
A gun fired behind the mech, and it turned to face the new threat. A hail of bullets tore into its head and chest and it collapsed.
More gunfire erupted outside, followed by the crash of another robot falling.
Then silence.
Corona shoved a fresh magazine into her gun and gripped it with both hands. She crept up to the door, took a breath, and peeked into the hallway.
One robot stood a few feet away, staring at the far wall. It didn't spin around to take a shot at her.
"Just one more thing to take care of," Taura said.
Corona glanced at her in time to see her moving controls in her holofield. She hit one last button and Corona looked back into the hallway.
The robot raised its gun to its own head and pulled the trigger until one of its bullets blew its processor apart. It fell to its knees and toppled onto its side.
"Nice." Corona grinned and gave her a quick hug.
Taura smiled, glanced at her holofield, and pointed through the doorway. "The exit onto the roof is at the end of the hall."
Jack stepped over the fallen robots and strode to the end of the hall, keeping his gun pointed ahead.
Corona darted up to the door and turned the knob. Locked, naturally. She backed up and snapped the bolt with a kick, flinging the door open and flooding the hall with sunlight. She grinned and rushed out onto the roof.
"Alright." Jack joined her and turned to cover the door. "What's your plan? Or is it still a work in progress?"
"Hold on a sec." She ran over to the edge of the roof and looked around. All the other roofs were either too high or too far away. She turned and ran to the opposite edge -- the rear of the building. A narrow alley ran behind it and the adjacent roof looked close enough and was a couple stories lower. "That'll do."
Jack stared at her with his mouth hanging open. "Oh, you've got to be fuckin' kidding!"
"Nope."
"You're seriously gonna do a Jackie Chan off the roof?"
"And onto the one next door. Yeah."
Taura took one last look at her holofield before setting her supercomputer to standby mode. "More security mechs are coming up the stairs. If we're going to do this, we need to do it now."
"Think you can make that jump?" Corona pointed a thumb over her shoulder.
Taura ran to the edge and looked at the gap between the buildings. "Yeah."
"Okay, care to give Jack a lift while I cover you?"
Taura hesitated, clearly not wanting to leave her here. She nodded and crouched in front of Jack. "Climb on."
Jack turned to stare at Corona. She shrugged.
"She can't carry both of us at once. Go on, I'll be right behind you."
Jack stared at her for another second, grumbled, and shoved his gun into his holster. He locked his arms and legs around Taura and she stood. She dashed over to the far edge to give herself a running start.
Corona moved closer to the door to keep them out of her line of fire. "I love you! Now, go!"
"I love you!" Jack shouted.
Taura burst into a full-on sprint, charged past her and toward the alley. Corona took a quick glance to the left and caught Taura leaping across the alley and dropping out of sight. Corona waited, listening, heart pounding, hoping desperately that she wasn't about to hear a thud on the pavement twenty floors below.
What she heard a few seconds later was a much closer thump, grunts, and bodies rolling to a stop.
She let out a relieved sigh, holstered her gun, turned and ran. She bolted across the roof, braced her right foot on the edge, and launched herself across the gap. She had just enough time to think, Oh, fuck, that's a lot wider than it looked.
Her feet hit the roof and she threw herself forward, tucked her shoulder, and rolled. She skidded to a stop and lay there for a few seconds, staring up into the sky and gasping. She turned over, looked around, and found Taura helping Jack to his feet. They turned to stare at her and she burst out laughing.
"Holy shit, that actually worked!"
Jack's mouth flopped open again. He turned, frowned up at the ADS building's roof, and shook his head slowly. "Well, fuck me."
"Later." Taura grinned and clapped him on the shoulder before walking to the edge and looking down. She pointed. "There's a fire escape."
"I hope it's attached to the wall a lot more solidly than the last one we used." Corona clasped their hands and led them over to the fire escape. "Come on. Let's get back to the office."
"You better hope Shadow's not there," Jack grumbled. "If she is, I'm gonna punch her in the neck ten or twelve times."
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