Chapter Forty-Two – Quiet

Chapter Forty-Two – Quiet

“Passwords are only so trustworthy. With the rise of AI computing and systems like SHA-256 becoming so easy to decrypt that anyone with the right second generation augs could do it, passwords fell by the wayside.

Now, anything less than a four-factor authentication system is considered ripe for the plundering.”

–Infosec: On Biometrics and Safety Factors, 2031

***

“Ready?” I asked.

“I was five minutes ago, I don’t see why I wouldn’t be now,” Manic said.

I just nodded. I was getting used to her flippancy, which was probably because I would have said the same thing in her combat boots. We had made our way to another exit, this one into a side-alley. I couldn’t hear any aliens on the other side of the door, so if anything was there, it was being quiet. There were plenty of the fuckers tromping into the apartment building though, most through the front.

We could very easily hear claws on linoleum clattering about above us. “I’ll open, you go in, then I’ll come in behind and cover your back,” I said. “Go left.”

“Uh-huh,” Manic said.

I took that as a yes and tore the door open.

Manic jumped out, sonic gun coming up and whining already as it charged. Then I snuck out behind Manic and pointed my own gun to the right while looking for targets of my own.

The alley ended a little ways in, with a few large trash containers and not much else. A model three was wrestling out a large tarp from one of the dumpsters, though it paused to stare at us with the cloth still in its jaws.

I fired a small burst its way, then adjusted my aim to take account of the kickback. I needed to switch back to something a little more stealthy, bullet-wise, but that could wait for when I was empty.

Manic jogged to the edge of the alley, then fired. The loud ‘whump’ was accompanied by a scattering of dust being kicked off the walls and floor. I turned and started looking for aliens to blow up around the noisy samurai.

Her gun had a wide cone of fire, but it wasn’t so wide as to clear out the entire street. There were still plenty of monsters around, and now that she’d made her signature level of noise, they were all very much aware that we were there.

Or at least, they knew about Manic.

A few antithesis roared and squealed, but the majority of them were entirely quiet as they turned their attention onto us and rushed over. “Just chaff,” Manic said.

“Bigger ones out back,” I replied. “I’ll take them out. Stay safe.”

“Mhm,” was her only reply.

Flicking on my invisibility, I ran the long way around Manic, avoiding the cone of fire from her bass cannon even as I took a few potshots into the crowd and tried to tag the bigger bastards at the back.

I clicked empty just as I reached a line of cars parked along the side of the road. I ducked down behind a wrecked electric car which looked like it had gone up in flames a while ago, then ordered up a fresh magazine for my rifle while my shoulder-mounted guns took care of sniping any of the flying antithesis above.

“I need something that’s not as noisy,” I said.

Coming right up.

My Laser Pointer clicked, then made a happy little humming sound that was a little too close to a purr for comfort. It was enough to know that it was loaded up again.

I let my shoulder-guns take a few more flying models down, then I jumped up to my feet and continued running. My targets were the bigger models in the centre of the intersection. The artillery aliens were going to be a pain to deal with for someone like Manic, and if that huge model eighteen decided to stomp over to her, it would all be over.

Once I figured I was far enough to be outside of the range of Manic’s bass cannon, I cut inwards. My Laser Pointer bucked as I unloaded it from the hip, splattering smaller aliens left and right.

The middle of the intersection had this Y-shaped cement thing, with some streetlights in the centre and a few smaller billboards fixed to it. The bigger fucks were hiding out on the other side of that, which was fine by me.

This novel’s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
I summoned a trio of resonators and flung them ahead of me, the grenades started to whine while still in mid-air. They’d take a while to melt anything though.