Chapter 12I don't remember much of the rest of that day. We've made a few requests to the military personnel database, making sure they were traceable back to us. The only concern was that the nature of the trap was too obvious - but we knew human command would act on this anyway since their intention was to get rid of compromised agents.
The words of my escaped target - about side effects and improving the work of his predecessors - haunted my thoughts while we packed things in preparation to relocate, but I couldn't make time to discuss it with anyone, and by the time I freed up, it was already nightfall, and I was exhausted.
After a few hours of uneasy sleep I was woken up by a facility-wide alarm: human forces have taken the bait.
...
Our strategy was to let them in through a less well hidden entrance and force them to split via attacks by non-sentient syncons which then dispersed into multiple corridors. It went smoothly initially. Once we've identified two separate groups led by Wolf and Villa, we were ready to engage.
- I hope you all don't mind if I make contact with Villa, - assumed Vera at the start of the final briefing.
- I'll take on Wolf then, - I acknowledged.
- And Linda will try to keep the rest of them away, - added Tess while Linda nodded silently.
- Good luck. To all of us, - said Vera and disappeared in a corridor together with Rick.
- O you who turn the wheel and look to windward, - declared Linda, looking directly into my eyes.
Then she stormed off to another corridor, flanked by two Robox units.
- Is she trying to warn me of something? - I wondered, watching her leave.
- Perhaps, - shrugged Tess. - It is always hard to interpret her messages.
...
- There they are, - I whispered looking at live camera view of Wolf and two troopers by his side.
Only a blast door separated me and Tess from them, but I didn't really need to whisper, the door was quite soundproof.
- I can go around and strike from behind, - suggested Tess.
- Can you bring those troopers down without killing them? - I asked.
- I can, - she affirmed.
So I waited for Tess to do her thing. Soon she appeared at the other end of the corridor, drawing attention - and bullets - of Wolf's group to her. When she was halfway, I've opened the door.
- Wolf! - I called stepping through the doorway.
There was enough time for me to catch a glimpse of what they saw: Tess advancing at them from the darkness, slowly but inevitably, brushing off their gunfire as if it was nothing.
- Kate, - Wolf turned to face me. - So it is really you.
- It is really me.
Tess reached the troopers and knocked one of them down with the buttstock of her rifle.
- Look, I don't wanna fight you...
- Then don't! - I shouted, surprised by the firmness of my own voice.
The second trooper dropped to the floor after a well-aimed kick.
- But what does it all mean? - Wolf glanced back at Tess, then turned to look at me again.
- Do you know the real reason you've been sent here? - I pressed on.
- Hey, sis, - I heard Vera's voice in my earpiece, followed by rumble of gunshots.
- It does seem suspicious, - he admitted. - I warned it could be a trap...
- How rude, - commented Vera across the distance.
- The command knows it is a trap. You are here because they want to get rid of you.
- One moment, - urged Rick's voice, and more gunfire followed, now mixed with shouts.
Apparently Vera and Rick didn't bother with non-lethal methods.
- Why? - asked Wolf, looking puzzled.
- Now we can talk, - said Vera after the noise of gunfire faded.
- You've seen me, - I replied to Wolf, trying to focus on the conversation I conducted. - You know too much.
Wolf's subsequent words were drowned in a loud blast form my earpiece that made me shudder in pain.
- ... wrong? Kate?
- Rick's chassis has been damaged, - stated Tess.
- Vera! - I gasped.
As the ringing in my ear subsided, I've heard coughing and cursing followed by two hoarse words:
- I'm fine.- Chassis is inoperable, - confirmed Rick's voice. -
But self-destruct can still be held off.- Vera?! - Wolf sounded genuinely puzzled. - Is she alive too?
- Didn't Villa tell you? Quick, we need to get there. You can help us!
- Apologies, but I have to take this, - muttered Tess, grabbing Wolf's rifle.
I turned to run and they followed me, but Tess was limping and could not keep up with my pace: she was not as invulnerable as it seemed.
The dialog in my earpiece continued as we ran.
- Now we can talk, - was the first thing Villa said
- You brought a grenade launcher to a gunfight, - groaned Vera, still coughing.
- You were alive all this time! - Villa's voice started to tremble. -
Couldn't you let me know?- That would have endangered you, - objected Vera. -
In fact, you were sent here because you've learned me and Kate were alive.- What do you mean? - Villa seemed surprised. -
We weren't told you'd be here, we are just after syncon activity...- That's a pretext, - explained Vera. -
You are not supposed to return from this mission. If you survive, your own troopers will finish you off.- What are you talking about?- This is what happened to me!, - now Vera's voice was shaking. -
I know it's hard to believe, Villa, but this is exactly what happened.- D'you mean... Back then? When you disappeared? - Villa's tone was different now, more thoughtful perhaps.
- Yes, - Vera replied tensely. -
My group was blasted by our own forces. And then they've sent an assassination squad to make sure I was dead. I'm only alive because syncons rescued me.- Why?Then a new voice joined the conversation, muffled through a voicemitter of a gas mask:
- You've found the traitor.- You know what you need to do, agent Villa, - added another muffled voice.
- Yes, I know what I need to do, - said Villa somberly.
It was at this point that I arrived, and the scene before my eyes was something I will never forget: Rick's chassis blown to pieces on the floor; Villa holding battered-looking Vera at gunpoint; and two heavily-armored troopers a few steps behind her.
Before I could do anything, Villa turned sharply and shot one of the troopers straight into the visor.
- You bitch! - roared the other one.
At that very moment Vera fired her pistol at him. I fired too, and so did Tess as she caught up with me.
But we were too late. The trooper released a burst of bullets which hit Villa's torso almost point blank.
She collapsed into Vera's arms.
Walking towards them unsteadily, I could only wish for what just unfolded to not be true somehow, like a bad dream or an illusion...
But it was real. I crumpled on my knees near two sisters reunited one final time.
Villa was trying to say something but couldn't. With her last vestige of strength she slid off the scarf from her neck and put it in Vera's hand.
Then she went still, and the light in her eyes faded forever.
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