Michael 'Magos' Sobronov
The six droids closest to me burst into multiple pieces as I immediately gunned them down, a digital attack following right after the shells but doing absolutely nothing as my daemons seemed to simply bounce off.
It was like whatever was hacking them was constantly reinforcing itself, and I quickly concluded I'd need a full minute just to shut down one droid down.
Discarding the net for now, I made sure to conserve my ammo as I began moving back to a less open space, pushing Eurodyne along with a growled "Move!" While I was constantly peppered with small arms fire.
And lo and behold the man did so without protest.
A few steps behind us, Sharpe was already taking point, rushing into the backrooms and gunning down a squad of haywire droids before they could try and surround us, barking clipped orders to the other musicians to keep away and shoving or outright pistol whipping those who were too slow to listen.
"We need to find cover, this place is too open." I said, still glaring at the others to keep them from approaching "Anything we need to grab first?"
"Just my gun." Kerry said quickly and began walking to his private preparation room "We can leave everything else."
"Good." I nodded and followed "Get moving."
And as he shoved the door open I very nearly blew a man's head off as Donny the manager practically speed crawled out of the room "My God, Kerry!" He cried as he grabbed the disgusted musician's leg "What is going on? Are we safe?"
But he didn't get the chance to find his answer as he found my Crusher pointed at his face "Step away."
He gulped as his eyes widened in realization and he looked back up to his employer "You- you wouldn't?"
But Kerry had already walked into the room and grabbed his revolver, stepping out with a wild look in his eyes and another trail of glitter running down his nose.
"Done?" I asked and didn't wait for an answer as I nodded and turned to the exit "Come, we've wasted enough time."
Donny and the other musicians tried following after us but a glare from me had them keeping a safe distance away. For a moment I considered forcing them to stay but quickly shook the idea off, they can have their chance at safety so long as they don't become an obstacle.
The chaos outside only seemed to grow as we began moving, and a ping quickly informed me that except for a few bodyguards managing to fight back, most of the audience was completely helpless against the automatons and were being mercilessly gunned down.
I took the realization most of them were teens or young adults not actually involved in the running of the corps and shoved it into the deepest recesses of my mind.
'No time for such distractions. Try to save everyone and you save no one.' I growled to myself and took point again, clearing our way for a regroup with Kimigawa at a pre designated retreat point 'Logos, net status?'
[Overwhelming pressure from multiple points across the city detected.]
'Source?'
[Multiple server farms emanating identical signal. Attack directive appears fully aimed at the Prunksaal. All Zurich security droids affected. Motive unclear. Goal: annihilation.]
"So we know they aren't just going berserk." I muttered as we burst into the service tunnel and were met by a squad of about a dozen droids "What joy."
Time seemed to slow down again as I began gunning the scrapheaps down, but before I could get all of them on my own the familiar report of a sniper rifle rang out across the passage, ripping the rest apart from behind.
Sharpe looked the carcasses over briefly and voiced "Clear."
"Clear." Came back from one of the side passages about fifty feet in front of us and Kimigawa stepped out with a haggard look on her face.
A scan informed me she had already spent the suppression drone I'd given her, likely to keep any pursuers away.
[Drone protections appear secure against hostile signal. Hostile signal deemed pre-prepared and exclusively targeted at Swiss security force OS specifications.]
'Thank fuck.' I felt a flash of relief at that, and we quickly made our way to a more defensible position away from the main venues, a small dining hall with only two approaches a level above us.
I felt a flash of irritation as the two dozen or so musicians and a few of their managers shuffled in after us, but I was done wasting brain power on them, and instead proceeded to inform the rest of the team, and the VIP, about what I knew through a secure channel.
"Jesus Christ." Eurodyne hissed uselessly, voice barely above the constant gunfire echoing through the walls.
"We can't leave through the main entrance." Sharpe declared "If whoever, or whatever, is doing this has control over the city's security force as you say we will be overwhelmed in seconds."
"We could always just bunker up." Kimigawa says "Wait this whole thing out."
"That is supposing the droids are incapable of overwhelming the entire complex before reinforcements arrive. Or that our attackers don't have another surprise prepared." Sharpe shakes his head "And that strikes me as nothing more than wishful thinking."
"And we don't have the kind of ammo needed for a holdout." I reminded grimly "We need a better solution."
Before we could go on my ping detected another clump of droids marching up to our position. I flicked a mental command and my Artifex slipped out from behind me, opening the large weapon case on my back and letting a quartet of squat boxy devices drop from within.
A split second later Logos sent me confirmation of his connection, and the four boxes sprouted thin yet powerful limbs before skittering over at the approaching enemy, soon followed by short bursts of light machinegun fire.
"That should buy us a few minutes at best." I informed while still observing the 'battle' if it could even be called that.
The Swiss droids were solidly designed, but my Militor drones were comparatively tiny while carrying a much heavier armament, and unlike their current opponents their aim was guided directly by Logos instead of a simple algorithm.
Their munition storage may be limited, by they were more than capable of doing considerable damage before running out and throwing themselves into a final suicide charge.
"We need to break out." Sharpe declared after a few moments of thought "The woods to the southwest should give us the cover to avoid most of the fighting."
"And then what?" Kimigawa asked.
"Then we make for the AV. Whether we survive this or not doesn't matter if we don't get out. The Swiss and the EEC will look for anyone they can get away with blaming for this mess and I don't need to remind you about how important we are in their eyes."
"Of course." Kerry laughs to himself "Why wouldn't they blame us for their mess?"
"It won't matter if we are half a world away." Sharpe repeats firmly "And if we want to get there we need to start moving yesterday."
"And what if the AV fucked off already?" Kerry asks.
"Then we die." Sharpe's responding smile was cold as ice "And you pray your lawyer is the orator of the century."
The rockstar huffed, eyes dilating under the effect of whatever mess he'd huffed into his veins "Well when you put it like that, we really should try and getting out. Right now."
The old man hums dismissively and prepares to move.
But then Kerry decides to speak up again "What about them?" He asks, pointing at the huddled non combatants, and the pleading eyes of his manager.
The three of us share a quick look, and I hold back a sigh "They follow, if they fall behind they get left behind."
[Optimal route calculated.] Logos pings me a moment later, displaying a route leading to one of the interior gardens with a sizeable glass covering we could punch through without getting too overwhelmed in our escape.
Excellent.
I felt my calm returning as we finally had a plan of action, and the moment we did we were already moving again, passing by the small scrapyard left behind by the bodies of the hacked droids and what was left of my drones as we did.
Unwilling to let the meat behind us freeload, I flicked my Cyberdeck on and was relieved to find that whatever locks were placed on the droids' guns were not being loop hacked like their wielders. I quickly unlocked the submachine guns and informed the cowards of this fact.
Sharpe made a disapproving noise, but didn't comment as our main group pushed on, leaving the scrambling civvies even further behind us as we made for our exit point.
We couldn't relax yet though as we were met with multiple clusters of droids trying to cut us off with coordination that would have been terrifying if not for the fact we appeared to be tertiary targets at best.
My constant observation of the local net space easily confirmed this as I could see far larger groups gunning down the few corporate soldiers trying to hold the front, and advancing deeper into the secure rooms of the complex, while we were faced only with small groups of the regular grunt models which we could gun down with relative ease.
This didn't stop them from draining our ammunition supplies in mere minutes of fighting though, and soon I was completely out of shotgun shells, relying on my Liberty as much as my chainsword, while Sharpe was hefting my Copperhead, and Kimigawa had begun actively salvaging from their corpses.
And the closer we came to the garden section the louder the sounds of combat became, the pitter patter of small arms fire soon joined with the groans of metal and explosive detonations.
A loud boom went off as we burst through a side entrance, and into the sight of the Militech detachment fighting off a number of droids from atop the stairway gallery that led to the exit downstairs.
The rep's damaged Dragoon bodyguard twitched in our direction before another squad of more bulky combat droids distracted him and forced him to keep gunning them down with his heavy machinegun, the missile rack on his left shoulder having long since been expended on getting here.
We didn't have time to negotiate with the suspicious NUSA rep or the few corpo soldiers still sticking around him as we rushed to join the fighting, and our added concentration of fire soon paid off as the minor tidal wave of security droids were pushed back, buying us a couple of minutes before the next closest cluster could reach us.
Kimigawa sighed as the gunfire turned distant again, and the few armed civvies that joined us (including Donny, he might be a slime but he was still from NC) slumped against the floor, their pilfered guns dropping next to them.
The rest of us knew better than to relax yet as we found ourselves staring down the half a dozen or so Militech goons and their walking tank.
Sharpe flicked me a hand signal to let him talk and I did so, staying still and giving him the go ahead to approach the corpo group while I made sure to keep the VIP completely covered with my body.
"Pardon the interruption, gentlemen." Sharpe greeted the group with his usual personable smile, hands slightly raised while he held his gun by the handguard and approached slowly and carefully "I understand the situation we find ourselves in is rather... stressful."
The Militech rep frowned but quickly grunted "You know what the hell is going on?"
"I would be delighted to share all we've gathered so far." Sharpe assures "Just as soon as we help each other get out of this place-"
[Dragoon signal scrambling.] Logos warned suddenly, and seeing the fullborg growing increasingly twitchy by the moment I felt my panic spike and my Kerenzikov flicked into full power.
My hand was already moving before the psycho Dragoon even began reacting to Sharpe's approach, and I'd already unloaded an entire magazine into his gun by the time he started actually moving.
Unfortunately, the stopping power of the Burya I was used to was nowhere to be found with my sidearm, and all I'd managed to do in that split second was throw the mindless animal's aim off slightly before he finished raising his weapon, and turned most of Sharpe's body into pink mist.
I found myself staring at the misty cloud of gore in slow motion, my thoughts a confused blur as reality slowly but inevitably caught up with my mind and I realized just what had happened.
In the corner of my eye, I caught a flash of panic in the Militech rep's eyes, but that was as long as I cared to pay attention to him.
My powered joints coiled as I found I'd already pointed my chainsword forward, and everything except the Dragoon became an irrelevant blur as I launched myself forward.
With some returned clarity, he managed a defensive step backwards, warding off my overhead slash with a backhand that quickly turned into a stumble as I forced my legs to activate again, shoulder checking the metal behemoth with enough brute force to send him momentarily stumbling backwards.
And in the accelerated perception of the Kerenzikov, a moment was all I'd need.
Logos' entire processing power slammed into his OS, smashing through his SelfICE in an instant and just in time for my chainsword to whip out in a blurry sideways slash, the roar of the teeth and engine disappearing behind a loud clang and screech of metal as my weapon smashed into the bastard's battered neckguard, easily biting trough the metal and very nearly severing the head before I was forced to disengage by a wiled panicked slam.
But the damage was already done, rendered defenseless by Logos as he was, the electromagnetic stream I'd shoved into his internals was not something that could be repaired without a full workshop, or a nanoforge.
My perception of time returned to normal as I felt my Artifex reach into my weapon case and deposit my newest weapon into my hands.
"Wait!" The Militech rep shouted as he realized what was happening.
I didn't.
The modified heavy Nekomata felt weighty even in my arms as I pointed directly at the chest held Biopod of the Dragoon, completely ignoring the panicked snap fire of the Militech goons trying to save their walking tank.
They could do nothing as the weapon loudly charged, and even less as it deposited its tungsten shell payload into the basement two floors below us.
For a long moment utter silence reigned in the ruined multi-level garden.
And then the Militech rat exploded "You idiot! Do you have any idea what you've done?!"
"Killed a cyberpsycho." I responded coldly without bothering to look at him.
"You've just cost Militech millions, you Night City scum!" He spat despite his clear fear "Terrorist attack or not, you aren't getting away with this!"
'So they believe it is a terror attack.' I noted in my private mind 'At least it isn't a rogue AI.'
"Very well." I nodded, finally looking at him.
My response seemed to stump him as his words caught in his throat.
That confusion disappeared rather quickly as my Mechadendrites slithered out from behind me and my chainsword began emitting a low purr once again.
I blinked as an unfamiliar shot rang out across the garden, and stepped away from the pile of gore, taking in a deep breath of the fresh Swiss air as I turned back to the surviving members of my group.
Most of them were looking at me with nothing but pure horror in their eyes, while Kerry Eurodyne was slowly lowering his revolver from where he'd just shot the final Militech rat trying to run away while I was dealing with his buddies.
I gave the drugged out rockstar a clipped nod and said "More droids incoming."
Kimigawa looked up from Sharpe's mangled remains, a pair of glinting dog tags held in her hand, and quickly got up.
That seemed to shake the rest of them from their stunned state and soon they were rushing down the stairwell and towards the ruined glass wall that would lead us into the nearby artificial woodland, and hopefully to safety.
Shouldering my Nekomata, I picked my Copperhead up from near Sharpe's corpse, and marched out.
We were not home free yet.
-------
Bring forth the tribute!
14 glorious chapters await for those wise enough to seek them upon the forbidden Patreon (at patreon .com/ Rastislav156)
If you want to discuss the story or just meme about join my discord server: https://discord .gg/fE4nB3CzDP (link should work for a week. refreshed as of 24.12.25)