Judith continued laughing her head off, rubbing salt in the wound as she revelled in Kate’s anguish. Even Colleen and Lola appeared uncomfortable as they both shifted and awkwardly avoided looking at the lead Bloodknight.

  “Well, since we’re not bringing your brother back, we’ll have to find some other use for him,” Judith said. “Maybe we could use him as a training dummy for my new Bloodknight recruits. Though, I should harvest his eyeballs first. He really does have beautiful blue eyes, though not as pretty as Dan’s hazel. I bet those will fetch a fare price on the black market. Natural blue eyes are quite rare.”

  Dan shouldn’t have been surprised at this point. Judith had shown him her true colors during their conversation about her views of family. Her disrespecting Kate’s dead brother wasn’t anything out of character for a psycho who willingly chose to kill her younger sister in her sleep. The same psycho who talked trash about Dan’s squad leader. Still, disrespecting the dead was a new low for Judith.

  He never once thought he would consider extending a helping hand to Kate, a traitor who had crippled Jane’s squad and killed his teammates. But the true villain was the one laughing obnoxiously, and to a lesser extent, the Odyssey twins. If what Ada said was true about the conspiracy between Judith and Michael, then it only made this situation more absurd. Judith was angry about Michael supposedly betraying her and here she was at this moment screwing over Kate.

  Gotta love it, Dan thought to himself.

  His first priority was to let both Li and Kate in on his plan. Next, he had to do something that would prevent Judith and the Odyssey twins from acting immediately. Dan knew that fighting any of them head-on wouldn’t be smart, even with his recent level ups. He glanced over his shoulder and tried scrutinizing the gear the nearest Kodak agents possessed. He specifically eyed the belts to see what grenades he might swipe.

  That will do, Dan thought, spotting a regular frag grenade on the belt of an agent directly behind him. He also spotted another frag on the Kodak agent beside him. He hoped that two frags blowing up in their faces would be enough to throw them off balance and buy him time.

  Dan reached for the machete then opened up private channels to both Li and Kate. Judith’s laughing still filled his ears before he heard voices from his teammate and unexpected ally fill his mind.

  “I’m not enjoying this show,” Li said bluntly.

  Dan’s HUD gave him a tiny notification that Kate had accepted his call.

  “Don’t worry, I’m cooking up a surprise for these motherfuckers. And Kate, you’re going to help us.”

  “Wait what? You need my help? Why?” she said.

  He yanked the machete out of the step in front of him. “Look Kate, I can’t do anything for your brother. But maybe I can get you out of here. Li, we’re busting out of here and there won’t be another opportunity. All three of us are getting out of this place. And if we can’t, we’re going out on our own terms. So listen up.”

  Dan twirled the machete in his hand and faced Kate, pretending to get himself ready in carrying out Judith’s order.

  “Yes, yes,” Judith said while clapping. “Do it!”

  Dan spoke over the channel. “I’m going to activate my warp dancer and swipes some grenades. I’ll blow off that stupid grin on Judith’s face, oh and the twins as a bonus. That should cause some confusion as we try to fight our way out.”

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  “I’m confident in my abilities Dan,” Li said. “But you know that we have no cover. We can’t hope to fight off this entire room in any manner that is efficient.”

  “We won’t. We’ll kill some guys and take some guns, then we’ll get out. You got any smoke grenades on you?”

  “Unfortunately not. They gave my armor back but stripped me of my gear.” The stealth specialist turned his helmet, presumably looking behind him. “But we’re in luck. We have some walking armories behind us. Our escorts have equipped themselves very well in case their highly dangerous prisoners decided to become difficult.”

  “Are you fast enough?” Dan asked. He held the machete with both hands. “I’m covered on my end thanks to my warp dancer.”

  “My last recorded reaction times were one fiftieth of a second,” Li stated. “Combined that with my tier two stats, I will manage.”

  “So what do you say Kate? Ready to ditch these guys?” He stared at her doing his best to give a convincing menacing stare.

  The blonde looked down at him. “Like I have a choice. And… thanks Dan.”

  Dan smiled beneath his mask. He put his plan into action.

  Warp dancer activated.

  He spun on his heel and darted towards the two escort agents behind him. He swung with his machete, slitting the throats of both Kodak agents. With his significant boost in speed and perceptions, the agents still stood and the blood splatter was barely leaving the necks of his enemies. Dan yanked a nailgun out of the hands of one agent and placed the giant rifle on his back. He swiped the frag grenade of each agent then spun around and rushed up the stairs. When he reached the top level, Judith was still moving faster than the rest in the room, though her movements were still sluggish and slowed. She could comprehend that Dan was deviating from her order as he saw her face twist into shock.

  Using his enhanced strength and the cutting power of the machete, he plunged the entire blade into the lead Bloodknight’s armored torso. The blade didn’t sink all the way through, but it should be enough of a wound to slow her down. Dan flicked the pins off his frag grenades and dropped them onto the feets of Colleen and Lola.

  Dan sped off the edge of the elevated level and pulled out his looted nailgun. He still soared through the air while firing heavy projectiles out of his weapon. While he soared through the air during his warp dance, he took a scan of his new weapon.

  Name: CM “Deathsheer” Nailgun

  Manufacturer: Cresh Manufacturing (Kodak-Cresh Subsidiary)

  26-round magazine

  “Aftershock” armor-piercing bolts

  Extremely effective against all agents, including energy shields

  Description: An archaic assault rifle reserved for only higher-ranked Kodak agents. Extreme stopping power and penetration exceeds conventional ballistics and will stop any agent in their tracks, even with energy shields. The ideal choice for Kodak agents for killing high tier rival agents.

  He powered down from his warp dance and his perception of time returned back to normal. Dan soared through the air at normal speed and watched as the streams of projectiles punctured through various Kodak agents before his feet hit the ground. As he landed, he lashed out with his nailgun, shoving the dual bayonets into the torso of the nearest Kodak agent.

  Behind him, Li had already taken down two of the agents who escorted him. Kate hopped down the stairs and rushed through the confused Kodak forces, running and shooting simultaneously.

  “Time to pull out guys,” Dan said.

  He fired another burst of bolts at the next two Kodak agents, blasting holes into their armor and sending them flying backward.

  Li threw down a grenade into the midst of the chaos and the entire room beghan filling with smoke. Dan rushed through the confused Kodak agents as now the smoke was obscuring his movements, making it easier to simply run past his enemies and to the doors.

  The double doors slid open to another trio of Kodak agents who raised their rifles at him.

  Warp dancer activated.

  Dan raised his nailgun and simply fired a single bolt into each of their throats, then deactivated his warp dancer. None of the three agents knew what hit them as all three of their necks shredded apart, spraying blood and cartilege before flopping onto the ground.

  Through the smoke cloud behind him, Dan saw two figures emerge through. First was the silver-cald form of Li. The next was Kate who coughed softly before reloading her rifle.

  “Come on,” Dan said. “Kate, you mind leading the way to the exit?”

  Kate glanced over her shoulder, astonished that they somehow pulled it off. Then she looked back at Dan with a smirk. “Of course. Follow me.”

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