Chapter Thirty-Three – No Surrender

Chapter Thirty-Three – No Surrender

“[…]It is in the opinion of the General Inspector that, without immediate action, the water treatment systems keeping the city functional will fail within six to nine months.

At least the sewage issues will be alleviated once the population no longer has access to water.”

–A note to the city council of New Montreal, 2047

***

The first step in my plan, which I was officially dubbing “Operation: Fuck the Doc” required Gomorrah and I be able to reach the doc so we could, in a figurative sense, fuck him.

The problem was that we were three floors up and I didn’t trust my power armour that much. Not enough to risk a plunge from this height, at least. “We need to get down there,” I muttered.

Gomorrah stepped next to me, then looked around. “There’s a rope right there,” she said, pointing.

There was a cord, thick steel wire running from the ceiling all the way down to the ground level. It had lights hanging off of it every metre or so. “Yeah, I guess I could use that,” I said. Like sliding down one of those stripper poles in a firefighter station. “Aren’t you worried you might give yourself friction burns?” I asked.

“Cat… I don’t know why you think that something like a rope would be able to burn me, but… I suppose I appreciate the concern, but it’s not necessary.”

“Fair enough,” I said. The rope was a good ways away, definitely out of reach unless I jumped.

So I jumped.

My cybernetic hand wrapped around the metal cord and clamped shut. The entire thing swung, and me with it, lights rattling below me even as the rope started to screech past and I went from a swing to a barely assisted fall.

Falling, I discovered, happened fast. I didn’t have much time to react except to point my legs down as I rammed through light housings and sent them clattering down below me.

The Doc, his assistant, and the guard jumped up, and the dude in the tub squirmed around to look at the spot where I made my grand entrance.

I landed in a crouch, my entire body jarring within my suit, but it didn’t hurt. I wouldn’t do it for fun, but the suit definitely absorbed the impact. I stood, slow and careful, then faced the doc and his pals.

“What the fuck?” the assistant said. “What made the lights fall?”

Oh, right, I was still invisible.

Ruined my own big entrance.

At least when I was invisible, no one could tell how embarrassed I was.

Nice landing.

“The suit did most of the work,” I said as I stepped out from the pile of broken light fixtures. As stealthy as my boots were, there was no stopping the crunch of glass and tin underfoot.

A sibilant hiss sounded out behind me, ending in a crunch as Gomorrah landed behind me. She stood, then picked up her launcher and aimed in Doc Hack’s general direction. “Back away from the man in the tub and raise your arms,” Gomorrah demanded.

“Who in the fuck are you?” Doc Hack asked.

I stepped to the side, my invisibility turning off. I wasn’t going to miss a second opportunity to be intimidating and cool. “We’re two girls that have spent far too many hours trawling through shit to get to you.”

I should warn you. I was trawling through Doc Hack’s systems and files for information. He has shut off his exterior connections. I intercepted every signal he sent out, but I no longer have direct access to his systems.

I made sure my next line wouldn’t be heard aloud. “Can’t hack back in?”