Chapter 10 — Indiscriminate Attack
Rebecca moved as fast as she could, but the heavy machine gun in her arms slowed her down. Maine, Dorio, and Pira on either side absorbed most of the turret's fire.
"Rot in hell, you bastard!"
Rebecca roared through gritted teeth, ignoring the burning shell casings bouncing off her face.
A streak of blue light sliced across her cheek.
Maine felt a violent shockwave brush past his skull.
CRACK.
Rebecca's eyes widened mid-charge — like someone stepping off thin ice straight into an arctic river.
Edgerunners lived on the edge.
When death hovered, they felt it instantly.
"Rebecca!"
Maine's reflex came too late.
Her machine gun disintegrated in her hands, metal fragments exploding outward.
Maine grabbed her and pulled her back. Dorio kept suppressive fire on the Zeta Tech turret, then slipped with Rebecca behind the truck. Their teamwork was effortless — years together meant no need for words.
A sniper was watching them.
They crouched low and sprinted toward an abandoned building. Pira turned and fired full-auto toward Rox's direction. Rox buried his head into the dust until the magazine ran dry, then shook off concrete shards and rolled to a lower ledge beside the rooftop.
> "Heavy machine gun's disabled, Hamster."
Hamster: "Go screw yourself!"
Rox knelt on one knee.
Nekomata rested on his shoulder — the scythe of the Reaper — aimed straight at Dorio sprinting across open ground.
Rox fired again.
The round exploded Dorio's gun, sending steel fragments tearing across her palm.
"He's toying with us!" Pira shouted.
> Twenty minutes…
Rox reminded himself calmly.
He didn't need to kill them — just stop their advance and make them retreat before the Ghost Hounds arrived.
He didn't want to die, but the reward system — and the memories of this world from his past life — forced him to push forward.
He tracked Maine through the scope. Maine leaned too close to a window. Rox fired, the round punching through a wall just one centimeter above Maine's skull.
Good.
Delay them long enough and survival was guaranteed.
Rebecca, restraining herself in Dorio's arms, trembled with rage. If she were free, she'd tear the sniper apart with her bare hands.
"Maine!" she shouted.
"Switch positions — I'm going to find that sniper!"
Maine tapped Dorio's shoulder and vaulted off the side of the building.
Rox reached for him — too slow.
A veteran Edgerunner knew exactly how to deal with a lone sniper.
"Shit."
Rox slung Nekomata behind him and drew his pistol.
If Maine closed the distance, sniping was over.
He needed to press, not hide — show them Dogtown was too big to chew on and send them home.
"They're all lunatics…"
Normal people run when faced with a fortress of Zeta Tech turrets and a sniper.
But Edgerunners? They doubled down.
Maybe that's what made legends.
Rox sprinted down the external metal stairs, pistol low and ready, searching the alleyways.
He had to stay close to Hamster.
If the hacker went down, Rox was dead whether he won the gunfight or not.
---
Maine stalked through the alley — slow, deliberate.
Gun raised.
His Arasaka Kenshin gleamed under neon signage.
The alley echoed with gunfire, addicts screaming, and the booming of turrets fighting Sasha in cyberspace.
Good news: the sniper had stopped firing.
Bad news: it meant he knew Maine was coming.
"These Ghost Hound assholes never die easy…"
Maine muttered.
He rounded the corner — gun first — and came face-to-face with Rox.
They froze.
Rox went cold all over.
Maine was bigger than he remembered. Rox's 1.78-meter cyborg frame looked thin next to Maine's sheer bulk.
Rox kicked Maine's shin — then went for the gun.
A gunshot flashed — killing the neon sign behind Rox.
Maine felt the kick jolt through cybernetic muscle.
How the hell is this twig so strong?
He slammed Rox against the wall. Pain rippled through Rox's organs, prosthetic shock absorbers whining.
"Holy… shit…" Rox hissed.
That strength was not normal.
"You're not Ghost Hound?"
Maine squinted.
"Wait— you're that idiot… Rox?"
Rox drove a knee into Maine's gut — Maine retaliated instantly, hurling Rox aside like scrap. Rox rolled, came up fast, gun raised, backing into a side alley.
BANG!
Blood exploded from Maine's shoulder.
"You bastard… not bad."
Maine called from the smoke.
"What are you? Whose side are you on? How the hell do you know everything about us?"
Rox would never admit he knew their names from his past life. That was the biggest advantage he had.
"Go back the way you came," Rox warned.
"If the Ghost Hounds arrive, none of you are getting out. With or without me."
His temple pulsed. He pushed the lie with all he had.
Everyone here was just trying to make a living.
No reason to die for somebody else's job.
"Hansen's revenge won't land on you — it'll land on whoever hired you to intercept the convoy."
Maine laughed.
"You talk good for a soldier. Anyone listening might think you were Hansen."
"But I'm here to kill you, genius. No matter what you know — Hansen handed you protection. And that makes you the target."
Reasoning was pointless.
Edgerunners had limited intel — and anyone posing a threat was an enemy.
"Rox! Hurry the hell up — their hacker switched fire to the turret!"
Hamster screamed. The connection crackled like it was about to collapse.
Rox froze.
> If Sasha wasn't doing it…
Who was hacking Hamster?
Something was wrong.
Hamster suddenly shrieked in terror:
"It's not the Edgerunners! IT'S MILITECH NETRUNNERS! Rox—!!"
The call cut.
At that same second—
"Maine! Retreat! Arasaka's close!"
Sasha's voice trembled in Maine's comms.
"Arasaka? Sasha?!" Maine roared.
While Rox and Maine were locked in stalemate, the Ghost Hounds had mobilized — fast.
Rox finally understood.
Hanz, Hansen, Hamster — everyone had been played.
The "everybody makes a living" speech was bullshit.
This whole fight was a trap from the start.
A massive explosion ripped through the motel.
Multiple Ghost Hound drones soared overhead, scanning for survivors.
One drone spotted Rox in the alley.
The IFF locked onto him instantly.
"You've GOT to be kidding me—"
Maine swore under his breath.
A wall of turret and drone fire forced both of them deeper into the alley.
They'd both been marked.
Ghost Hound. Arasaka. Militech. Edgerunners.
Everyone had joined the game.
And Rox and Maine were now
the two bodies standing in the middle of the kill zone.