Biospace information assaulted her senses. Glitch staggered to her feet. Her cheeks were wet, and her body ached as though she’d been straining to lift the building itself. A moment later, her stomach won the argument it had lost in the chopper and she vomited its contents all over the floor.

Drek, she was tired.

Glitch looked around. The floor was dark, thanks to her blackout, except for the computer monitors. They all glowed with the word “standby” written across the screen.

No sign of Nine yet.

She spat a few times and wiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve. Syntechie still had her gun. Glitch made her biology suck it up and run. As she neared the stairway, her steps slowed. Glitch hesitated. Nine should have already made it dow-.

A figure detached from the shadows, moving in a low predator’s sprint. Nine slammed into her full force. Her thinner, lighter body flew backwards into the Egyptian-print of the cubicle walls. The breath went out of her in a strangled cry as she hit the carpet. Nine advanced on her slowly, his blade sheathed at his side. The bloodied oni mask on his t-shirt leered at her.

“I need to get through that door, Glitch,” Nine said in a low, cold voice. “And you’re gonna open it for me.”

“Fuck you,” Glitch spat from the floor.

Angry felt better than afraid.

Glitch got to her feet. Adrenaline roared through her veins, numbing the pain in her muscles. Nine blocked the entrance to the cubicle, but there was a computer on the desk behind her. Glitch’s hand felt  for the keyboard. Nine saw the movement and lunged. He caught the front of her hoodie with his biological right hand and slammed his cyberware left into the computer tower. Glitch’s fingertips scraped across the keyboard and hit the enter key before he lifted her bodily away. The word “standby” flickered, vanished. The kanji on the back of Nine’s hand flared. Every monitor on the office floor went dead. By the light of his glowing cyber arm, Glitch saw Nine frown. He looked at his hand, and then around at the other, dead computers. The hum of a dozen microwaves filled the air.

“Sorry,” Glitch said. She leaned away from him as much as his grip on her hoodie would allow. “I’m getting Syntechie out. I’ll come back for you before security finds you.”

Comprehension flashed across Nine’s face. He dropped her and swung around, drawing his sword as he turned. Buzzing, chrome spheres flung themselves through the air at him. They dropped out of the air vents and hummed over cubicles. Forked metal flashed and sparked, an angry reply to Nine’s humming blade.

Nine didn’t say a word. His weight centered. His limbs pulled in and the smooth control returned as he took up the ready stance. The first drone of the wave was cut down in a clean arc of steel and blue light. Sparks lit the office space and the smell of ozone filled the air. A second drone struck as the first fell. Nine caught the force of stunner on his arm. The kanji flared brightly, then died down. Nine dropped his wakizashi into his off-hand. His sword hand, he slammed full-force into the nearest, oncoming drone. The cyberware shrugged the held discharge straight into the drone’s camera. Its surge protectors blew and the drone went spinning off into a cubicle wall, trailing smoke and sparks.

Glitch tore her eyes away as the wakizashi made contact with the third bot. Nine still blocked the entrance to the cubicle, so she used the desk as a step to go over the pseudo-wall. Drones dodged and whizzed around her, locked into their only target. Glitch tucked her head as tightly as she could between her hunched shoulders. She leaned down, bent almost double so she couldn’t been seen over the cubicle walls, and ran.

She found Syntechie still crumpled in a heap by the elevator. An unconscious guard lay nearby, stun gun dropped from his outstretched arm. Glitch flipped him over with a grunt. Her baretta was tucked in his waistband. Glitch retrieved it. She looked up. The floor fell silent again.

Shit.

Glitch shook Syntechie by the shoulder.

“Come on, get up. We gotta go,” she hissed.

Syntechie stirred a little, but didn’t reply. A familiar sound crackled behind Glitch. She straightened and brought her  gun up level with Nine’s head. .

He stalked towards her down the cubicle corridor. The light of his blade washed his face in shifting shadows. His off-hand kept his gun steady on  her.

“Put it down, Hacker,” Nine ordered quietly. There were scorch marks on his jacket, but he looked unharmed.

Glitch backed away, but kept the gun trained on him.

Nine shook his head. “‘I’ll come back for you before security finds you’?’ Really? You’re either a liar, or a terrible Runner. Between the two, I’m betting you don’t play poker.”

Glitch eyed him. “I don’t do the corps’ work for them.”

“And I respect that,” Nine replied. The dead calm in his voice ate away at her bravado. “Really. Under different circumstances, I bet we’d get along.”

Glitch’s back came up against the wall. She’d run out of room to retreat. Her jaw clenched and her shoulders locked tight under her hoodie. The barrel of her baretta wobbled. Fear - that’s what that sensation rising up out of her stomach and closing up her throat up was. Fear.

She hated that feeling.

“Normally I’d start by cutting off a finger so you’d understand what you’re losing, but we’re short on time,” Nine went on in a quiet voice. “I will take your arm, Glitch. You’re right handed - it will not be fun to start learning left, I promise.”

Glitch’s arm twitched involuntarily.

“It’s not worth it,” Nine said. He stepped over Syntechie’s fallen form to close the gap between them. “That wage slave shitting himself upstairs is nothing to you.” His voice turned gentle. “Come on, Glitch. Don’t make me be the bad guy.”

Glitch lifted her chin. Her breath was loud in her ears. She met Nine’s gaze definitely from within the shadow of her hood.

“I’m getting my team out of here,” she told him. “Don’t come any closer or I swear I’ll shoot you.”

Nine’s mouth spread into a grin that turned her blood to ice water. He stepped forward.

A loud cracking sound made Glitch jump. Nine’s back arched. He pitched over to one side. Behind him, Syntechie knelt by the fallen guard, the stun gun in her hands.

Syntechie let out a slow breath.

“Boys,” she murmured to herself. She arched an eyebrow at Glitch.

Glitch stared. “Thanks,” she said.

Syntechie collapsed.