Fire erupted from the hallway. Shrapnel exploded outwards, penetrating every surface around it. Screams of Corpo guards rang out and ended. The hallway was still and quiet. Nothing stirred out in the building in front of us except the smoke and trickle of blood.

  Bwhaa. Bwhaa. Bwhaa.

  The arm rang out. I guess the whole sneak in silent thing was out the window now.

  Uwu raised out into the hall behind us, “Alright, pn B.”

  Pop, pop, pop. Speck gave the remaining guards a single tap to the head with his gun, ending their suffering. I didn’t like treating them this way, but there wasn’t much we could do besides letting them bleed out. It’s not like they would have treated us any different.

  “Let’s rush this cart to the security room and make our own door. Go, go, go!” Uwu pushed us forward, Donald right behind, pushing his cart as fast as it could go.

  The lights turned dim as red emergency lights kicked in, “Please, all Praxis employees, stay calm, stay indoors, and find a safe pce to sit out this emergency. Failure to do so will result in immediate termination. The emergency is under control. All Praxis employees, stay calm, stay indoors and…” The message was on a permanent loop pying back to the whole power pnt.

  Echo chuckled, “Aww, they care about their employee’s safety. How sweet.”

  Uwu bsted the nearest speaker, showering us in sparks. “Keep pushing!”

  Donald shouted out, his voice quivering, “It’s just around the corner and at the end of the hall, by the security elevator.”

  I thought he was going to pee his pants. He was in it bad with the rest of us. His first rodeo.

  I rounded the corner and slid to a stop, my feet sliding out from beneath me as I fell to my butt. Down the hall was a makeshift barricade with a dozen guards behind it, waiting for us.

  I held my hands out, “Get back!”

  They opened fire, peppering us with bullets. They whizzed all around us. I fired a few rounds back as I scrambled back to cover around the corner. I took some deep breaths and checked to see if I was hit. One bullet was lodged in the center of my vest, where my heart would be. I plucked it out and dropped it to the floor.

  I chuckled nervously, “That was a close one.” The vest saved my life, and I didn’t even feel a thing. I loved this vest. I needed to do some more research about this Vixie chick of old.

  Speck returned fire around the corner, followed by more machinegun fire sprayed at us.

  Uwu checked his gun, “We don’t have time for this. We’re already fucked with the arm.” He gnced around, his mind turning.

  Both our eyes nded on the cart.

  I py punched Uwu in the arm, “Jinx, you owe me a beer!”

  Uwu pushed his head to the corner, risking a peak around, “We’ll push the cart down the hall and blow it as it hits the barricade. Blowing a hole in the security wall. We push in and clear it out. We do that, and I got an idea that just might work.”

  I rose an eyebrow, “And that is?”

  “A long shot.”

  Speck spoke up, “There’s some rooms on either side of the hall. Give us some cover fire,” Speck gestured to me with his head, “we can get it down to the end.”

  “Thanks for volunteering me, I guess?” I scoffed at him. He never would have done this before. I think I was growing on him.

  “You’re the hero here, no? How about we use that luck of yours to stick it to these Corpo fucks.” Speck reloaded his gun, “Ready when you are.”

  I smiled. Finally, some respect around here. I leaned over and grabbed Uwu by his neck. I pulled it close to my face, “I love you, foxy babe.” I kissed him hard, sliding my tongue up into this mouth, in case I didn’t make it out of this, I wanted one st kiss. I was at least owed that.

  I pulled away and smiled, “Donald, get the detonator ready. This is gonna be a fucked-up run.” I grabbed the cart and pced myself behind it, ready to run. I nodded at Speck, “Let’s do this.”

  I rushed out into the hall, cart ahead of me, a heavily armed group of security guards in front of me. This was it. Do or die. Was I really the hero I was supposed to be here? Speck opened fired, sprinting along side me. Bullets rushed past me into the line of guards. The reflexively ducked down before they began to return fire.

  I ducked, hoping my dome didn’t take a round to the top, and I dropped dead right here. The cart rattled as bullets struck it. Cleaning liquids spttered across the hall. Speck dodged rounds, jumping up onto the wall, his cws digging deep into pster and cement, firing nonstop while running on three appendages, not afraid of what might hit him. He quickly jumped at me, catching me off-guard. His body smmed into mine, and we tumbled into a door, smming it open and dropping inside.

  I stared up into the eyes of Speck as he y on top of me. His shoulder was bleeding as he huffed in my face. His breath was hot and steamy. I had to slowly push him off. Maybe this was a little too much respect.

  The ground shook, and I covered my ears as the sound of the bst hit, almost deafening me. Fire roared past the doorway, spilling in as I ducked down.

  Everything was still for a moment. I gnced out into the hallway. Small fires spurred to life around where the makeshift barricade was. Nothing moved. A huge hole rocked the wall nearby, along with a crater in the floor and surrounding walls.

  How big was that fucking bomb? Holy hell. It could have killed us all.

  The Meowtws were a crazy bunch.

  Uwu ran in and grabbed me from the floor, “You alright?” He looked over me to make sure I wasn’t filled with lead.

  “Yeah, no problem.” I smiled awkwardly as he patted me down.

  Echo came running past with Donald right behind, “Come on, love birds, let’s go!” His gun was raised as he approached the security room. We all followed suit, carefully approaching the quiet room. Smoke filled the halls, obscuring our vision. Nothing stirred within.

  Smoke wisped about. A guard staggered into the hall; his gun aimed up.

  Boom.

  Echo dropped him instantly. We stepped into the security room. Everything was still. The men commanding the room y lifeless on the floor.

  Uwu stepped up to the console and hit some buttons. The lights flicked on and the arm stopped. The message looping ceased, and all was quiet. I kicked a few bodies to make sure they weren’t getting back up.

  The speakers sounded off again, but this time it was a familiar voice. Captain Uwu was on the loud speaker. “People of Praxis Power, the security threat has been eliminated. The Corpos are gone and the Meowtw Stars have taken control of the pnt. Everyone working here, every one of you stepped on by the overbearing boots of Corpo rule, this is your time to rise up, your time to take your future into your hands. Do you want to work for shit wages your whole life? Do you want to be sves your whole life? Or do you want to take back the power and own your life? You know what to do.” The message ended.

  Echo was typing away at a computer, “I stalled the air defenses for the moment. The Meowtws should be able to fly right in and take this pce. I’m sending out the call.”

  “No good.” Uwu stood up, “Looks like some reinforcements are coming in on the rail. We need to cut them off. Vixie and Speck, you guys head down to the ptform, I’ll stay here with Donald and Echo to hold off the security room.”

  “You got it.” I loaded my pistol and stepped out into the hall, avoiding the crater and body parts. The pce was a mess.

  Ding.

  The elevator rung out. We stopped in our tracks. The doors opened to the worst thing imaginable. A massive body in power armor stepped out into the hall, with a few Deacons behind him.

  “Heresy.” The metallic pang rang out, echoing in our ears as the sword slid down his armored arm.

  Fuck.

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