531

Yi couldn’t take his eyes off the burning city for long. Every few minutes, his gaze returned to the flickering of flames that echoed in the night sky. Even this far above the mud and mess of the Piles, the air above the Skylines was showing the red haze of smoke. Ash fell on the ground faster than the bots could sweep up.

DaQi stepped up behind him and Yi could see his worried expression through the window.

“Ready?” Yi asked before DaQi could check on him. He didn’t want to talk about what was in his head. There was nothing new to say. His home and the life he’d built over the last 7 years were gone. Everything from here out was to finish it off. Then they would start over someplace new. Together.

“Let’s get moving,” DaQi said.

Yi turned to look at him and the need to steal Two away from all of this was almost too much. He reached over and pulled DaQi in. He pressed his lips to the other man’s, knowing his partner would feel his fear and desperation. DaQi held him just as tightly, but when he pulled away Yi pressed a kiss to his forehead before letting him go.

The tunnels leading into the lower city were still closed so they left their bikes behind.There were access tunnels and service roads that weren’t used by humans and they exploited those. DaQi hacked the maintenance drones so that they were able to ride them through the underpasses to get to the Builds quicker.

When they reached the area, they left the tunnels and went out onto the streets. They weren’t the only ones dressed in black with masks on tonight and they blended into the people in the chaos. They were three buildings away from their target when they went through a broken glass door and headed to the roof. The building between them and the Mariner office they were infiltrating was shorter by four stories. Yi shot a line past it to the building and watched as the hook embedded itself in a concrete pillar on the roof.

“What is it with you and ziplines?” Wu DaQi asked as they got ready to swing over.

Yi smiled. “People don’t look up.”

“They’re going to be looking everywhere tonight,” DaQi reminded him.

Yi didn’t bother to answer. Instead, he pulled an extra pair of gloves on - just in case - and attached the handlebar. “Let’s find out.”

He took off across the distance, gaining speeds he’d rather not think about. Beneath him, the fires were dulled by the press of the buildings around them. They were too boxed in to see far, except for the eerie red glow.He crossed the building wall and dropped off the zipline, rolling to his feet before he could smack into the wall where it was mounted. He pulled a gun out and checked the perimeter while he waited for Wu DaQi.

The building had been one of five with the stolen tech DaQi had marked, and only one of three that had heightened security. It was also home to a series of tunnels that Chan Yi had used once on a mission before he’d emerged. He didn’t know where they all led, but he was betting Obuo’s life that at least one would take them back to Mariner’s corporate office where they’d so obviously taken her in.

There were people in the building, and plenty of security watching exits and stairs. He hacked into their security and used their detection systems to get a head count and see where they were most likely holding Obuo. They’d already had a good idea, but it just confirmed what DaQi had suggested. Yi liked to come in high so they’d hide her down low.

“You didn’t use to like heights,” DaQi said as he set the anchor for their next move.

“You shot me out a window.” Chan Yi reminded him. “Not a lot to be afraid of once you survive that kind of drop.”

DaQi frowned at him, but Yi just smiled as he looked down around the perimeter of the building to the street surrounding them. “I can’t decide if they really think they’ve fooled us, or if they just don’t believe we’ll come for her,” he admitted. There weren’t enough guards here for Mariner to take them.

“Or it’s a trap.” DaQi held up his hand to stop him before he could speak. “I know. Let’s go find out.” Then he moved to the wall and dropped off the side of the building, beginning his rappel down. Yi watched him for a moment before he prepped for his own descent.

DaQi had cut a hole in the glass of an empty office on the third floor and they left their rappelling gear there. Yi looked out the hole and back at DaQi. “Rock, paper, scissors for first?”

DaQi rolled his eyes but he was smiling when he jumped out the window. Yi only waited until he saw DaQi roll to the side before he jumped. He hit the ground hard, but his body was made to take greater impacts and he rolled to the right and back to his feet. DaQi was already dodging around the parked trucks behind the warehouse.

Yi pulled two guns this time, getting ready for whatever was about to come. He was keeping the mini in his arm for backup. He was more concerned about its accuracy after all the issues he’d had with his arm lately.

He came up behind DaQi as they entered the warehouse docking bay. There was no one in there, but the building’s security showed them waiting just past the interior doors. He nodded to DaQi to let him know he was ready, and they were in motion.

DaQi stepped through the door and aimed at the security on the right while Yi took the left. There were four men, but only one managed to fire his weapon. The bullet went wide but Yi shot him between the eyes before he could try again.

They moved through the room and to the stairwell on the right of the building. Chan Yi took the lead down the steps while DaQi watched the upper flights to see when they started coming. The second level flight of stairs was clear, but as they got to the next level the door opened. The first man went down as soon as he stepped out and Yi shot the second in the leg. He took out a third before the other hit the ground. DaQi killed the second before looking back up the stairs.

“No one is coming down. I don’t like being herded, Yi.”

“Yeah, I get that feeling too,” he admitted. Definitely a trap, but they were deep enough in now that they’d see it through.

As they reached the next landing, double doors opened and men poured out. Yi didn’t count but kept shooting. Both he and DaQi were focused on the men below them but no one came from above. They would be easier targets, so why hadn’t Mariner taken advantage?

Dropping. He sent the warning to DaQi just as he jumped over the railing to fall down the center of the stairs. He landed on the ground floor. He climbed up the stairs, working in a coordinated attack with DaQi from above.He shot two before they realized he was behind them, but after that it was attack and counter. Twelve men bled on the last two levels as DaQi joined him at the bottom.

“All good?” DaQi asked, looking him over.

He nodded. “All good. Let’s find Obuo.”

Yi opened the door on the bottom floor and stepped into a tunnel. It ran back towards the Mariner complex but was empty. There was a dead end on the other with a single door on the left side. Yi checked the video feeds but there were no cameras down there.

“They’ve sealed that wall off since I was last here,” he told DaQi.

“Really don’t like this.”

“You keep saying that.” Yi smiled at him.

DaQi quirked his head to the side. “I keep not liking it.”

They approached the door and Chan Yi waited as DaQi scanned the room. “The other soldiers,” DaQi said as he switched out his gun for the higher caliber version. Chan Yi did the same. He could see nine signatures on the other side of the wall. Seven were like them - Sandus’s imperfect AI- but two were human.

With a nod, DaQi pushed the door open and swept right. Yi came in, eyeing the left.

The room was built for experimentation and interrogation. There were three rows of shelves on the right side of the room. On the left were two medical slabs and two sets of shelves beyond that.

Two of the Mariner soldiers waited for each of them at the front of the room. Yi took a shot and downed the first with a bullet to the brain. The other soldier fired on him but missed as Chan Yi ran to close the distance between them. He grabbed the soldier’s left arm and fired into it. The soldier’s gun fell to the floor but he spun, coming up with a gun on his left forearm. Chan Yi dodged and pushed the soldier back, putting a medical slab table between them. The soldier pushed the table at Yi, trying to pin him against the wall. Yi saw another soldier coming out from behind a set of shelves on the other side of the room and dodged under the table, feeling a piece of shrapnel slice his cheek.

The shelves fell on the other side of the room where the soldier had fired at Yi. He looked up and saw DaQi rolling over them to shoot the soldier, then down another who had been struggling to his feet.

Yi’s opponent moved in while he was distracted, and Yi dropped low to cross to the other side. When he was across from the soldier again, he jumped out and leaped over the table. Yi pressed the barrel of his gun into the soldier’s chest and fired. He felt the soldier shut down as they fell to the ground together.

Yi rolled out from behind the table and could see DaQi moving around the back side of the shelves to the right. Yi came around to the middle aisle to draw the other soldiers out. As he reached the rack of stored equipment, DaQi took a shot. One soldier went down but Yi saw the other still waiting for him to come around the next row.

Chan Yi stepped out of the main aisle and went between two rows of shelves. When he was across from the other soldier, he fired through them. He continued to the other end of the rack and came out at the back corner of the room.

Where Bastian Jackson stood, with Obuo in front of him with his gun to her head.

“They said you weren’t this stupid, but I told them you’d come for her,” Jackson said.

“You know me,” Yi said. “I can’t miss a party after you went through all the trouble to invite me.”

“For all the studies Sandus had done on you two, he never worked with you. He didn’t have to deal with those bleeding hearts you developed. Which I don’t get, by the way. How do you go from those hunks of metal to… this?” he asked, waving his free hand to indicate DaQi. “Though I’m started to get the fuss they made about you. I had to beg Sandus for just a few of those perfect soldiers he’s making, but they barely held you up. Maybe they just need some experience. How long were you in the killing business before you ‘woke up’?

“Long enough to do it well,” DaQi reminded him.

“You know this doesn’t end well for you, Jackson,” Chan Yi said. “Without the soldiers, you have no hope.”

Chan Yi could see Jackson watching the walls, rechecking his surroundings. He was trapped and he knew it.

“He’s hoping for backup,” DaQi said. “He’s stalling, on the off chance we left someone alive upstairs to call for help.”

Yi noticed that DaQi was very slowly moving to the right, trying to get a better angle on Jackson. As much as Chan Yi wanted to be the one to put a bullet into the man, DaQi had more space to work.

“Let her go. Come on, Bastian. I’ll give you some goodwill on this one,” Yi said. “For seven years you kept DaQi alive. Give me Obuo and set your weapons down, and I’ll let you walk out of here.”

“You think I believe you?”

“Twice, Bastian,” Yi reminded him. “Twice I left you on the floor when I could have pulled the trigger. I have no desire for more blood. But I won’t let them kill Obuo for helping us.”

“You aren’t that sentimental,” Jackson said. “If I give her up, you’ll kill me.”

“If you don’t give her up alive, I will definitely kill you,” Yi answered.

Jackson licked his lips and Yi could see the sweat beading on his forehead. The man regripped his gun and in that split second, DaQi fired.

Obuo screamed but covered her head as Jackson fell behind her. Yi grabbed her and pulled her away as DaQi moved forward to confirm the kill.

He nodded at Chan Yi, before sweeping back up to the front of the room.

Chan Yi looked Obuo over, “Are you alright?”

“No, I’m freaking out,” she admitted. “I wasn’t worried when they brought me in because I have protection, but Jackson didn’t know that. He had no idea who I was. All he knew was I had helped you.”

“How could you be so sure you were safe? Before him?” Yi asked.

“I’m Albert’s sister. Illegitimate sister,” she said. “Enough of the brass knew to keep me safe. Not enough people knew to keep assholes like Jackson away from me though.”

“Well, that’s one mystery solved,” he said as he led her back to the front. As they moved around the shelves, he watched as DaQi put a bullet in the brain of the soldier he’d shot in the chest.

“Overkill?” Obuo asked.

DaQi looked at Chan Yi when he answered. “They put a bullet in my chest when you went out the window. It shut me down, but it didn’t kill me. And the less of these soldiers that Mariner has left, the better.”

Chan Yi nodded. “Let’s get out of here.”

“You have a plan for that?” Obuo asked.

“The same way you came in,” DaQi said with a smile.