I tried to track him. Take him down before he could reach me. Somehow, he evaded my sensors. There one moment, gone the next. I had no visual, nothing in my scope. My scans coming up empty.
My motion tracker flickered. Then died.
Fuck this. Bahre and the others could have their fun later. They were outnumbered. I could clearly see them, and the cyborgs they faced, through my scope.
I took careful aim. Fired.
I took three more shots. Final count of two direct hits. Kill shots. Two more shots good enough to slow the Silver Scions down so Kovo and the others could finish them off. All told, it had taken me a minute. Maybe two.
Time to move.
I spoke calmly into the comms, though my pulse had already kicked into combat rhythm. “Moving to position one.” I didn’t add ‘if the scariest creature alive doesn’t kill me first.’Didn’t feel the need to state the obvious.
The comms were silent, which meant the Prillon team was moving. I knew where the Atlans were, still fighting, still trapped inside.
I grabbed my rifle, sliding silently to the lower roofline, positioning myself as far from the coming threat as possible. I scanned the rooftops, my helmet display painting flashes of a ghostly silhouette, a monster I could not see. The creature moving toward me had gone dark. Invisible, even to the I.C.’s most advanced scanners.
The Scions must have updated their tech. Again. Didn’t seem to matter how hard the team at the I.C. worked, the Scions managed to stay one step ahead. Every damn time.
Staying low, I ran along the rooftop toward a corner I’d chosen while looking at the maps. The top level, the highest point where I would have the best chance to make the jump onto the neighboring building’s roof. I was almost there.
Right in front of me, the shadows shifted. No footsteps. Only a faint static buzz.
One moment I was alone. The next, I was scrambling to stop my momentum as the monster who’d come to kill me appeared out of thin air.
My beast saved me. Her reaction time. Enhanced strength and speed. He fired a rotating blade. I danced around it like time stood still, waiting for me to move.
The cyborg roared and dropped into a crouch.
This creature was designed for destruction. A merciless and brutal hunter. Single minded. Focused. Without remorse. There was nothing left behind those eyes, the thinking, feeling Warlord he’d once been, was gone.
I took aim and fired my rifle.
It moved faster than anything I had ever seen. Fast enough to dodge my attack.
It didn’t run.
It studied me.
Behind me, I heard the sound of boots on metal as Ethan scaled the fire escape on the side of the building.
“Ethan, stay back!” My beast yelled the command as loudly as possible.
The cyborg vanished again. A shimmer, like heat bending light into a mirage. Directionless. No thermal at all. One moment empty air. The next, death.
The perfect assassin.
Then it attacked.
It didn't jump, didn’t charge—it simply appeared, towering over me as its hand clamped around my rifle, crushing the barrel like an eggshell. His free hand slammed into my chest.
My armor absorbed most of the blow as I jerked back, sliced my claws across its forearm.
Metal sparked. Shredded. I cut deep but the cyborg didn’t bleed.
It hissed—not a sound, but afrequency. High pitched. Alarms flashed inside my helmet. This wasn’t just noise, it was an attack, some kind of sonic weapon. Inside my skull, my beast roared in defiance as pain bounced around inside my skull.
I sliced its chest and leaped away like a dancer.
