A Bio-Weapon’s Rhapsody

Ale was monitoring the situation the whole time, and as [Golem] and Big sister had said, the other people on the outside weren't coming in, and as for where they stood, they weren't actually blocking the exits. Okay, two of them were actually blocking exits, but there were a few other ways that they could have escaped.

The thing is, while two blocked exits as Big Sister had said, the other two had moved to other spots around the building, and when looked from a top down map, they were forming some kind of hexagon between everyone. As far as Main Core could see, the effect would increase in effect as time went by.

And while she was able to purify the mana thanks to her nanites breaking the impurities down and neutralize its effects, but the same could not be said of [Golem] and Big Sister, even though [Golem] had claimed that it would have almost no effect on them, Main Core didn't think the same. It was just that their Cores were more used to deal with these degree of damage and impurities, it was not that they were immune.

So Ale ran after [Golem] keeping up with his speed and even going as far as getting ahead of him so he would need to rush further and faster. Big Sister had no issues with that since she was flying, the fact that she didn't need to care about the condition of the wind didn't stop her from using her trick of teleporting wind, or well, opening micro portals to let the wind come out.

They went about the route like that, they didn't see any part of the staff at any point, and the scans from Main Core came empty too, apparently the staff had been evacuated already. Was it the attackers? Or had it been someone else?

Ale was unable to find the weird guy either, perhaps they had left after the guy started talking to them? He was a Saintsworths, so he probably had the means to do this kind of stuff, either way, this worked their way. If he had evacuated the staff, then they could probably pin the damage to the airport to that weird guy.

And while they moved on like this, they ended up finding a few blocked areas, "The map says we have a couple more like these, it seems they build it like this to prevent attackers from accessing the boarding VVIP and VIP areas." Ale said as they slowed down to turn, Ale didn't need to brake that much, but [Golem]?

He was trying building to build momentum, so he couldn't brake that easily. It took more effort to break his momentum than to stop, at the latest stop [Golem] pulled out his phone and started fiddling with it, so Ale helpfully sent the map that she had downloaded from the local AI network.

"Thank you." [Golem] said as he stared at the map and then sighed deeply, he was not happy about it was he? Even though he was building his persona as a dumb big piece of rock, he was quite the scheming and thoughtful person after all. "… I am sending a damage report, as of this moment we are fully moving as sanctioned minions, mask on."

And as he spoke, his face changed to the faceless white mask that he used when acting as [Golem] the squad captain of Hephaestus' forge. Big Sister nodded and put on her own mask, so Ale ripped out the bracelet that housed her mask and put on her own mask too.

"What are the orders Golem?" Big Sister said as the cameras around them got destroyed by bursts of wind, "I have destroyed the data server room too, I doubt there was anything left anymore, but rather have it destroyed than not."

"We are going in a straight line, I'll destroy anything on the way, Rhapsody. See if you can find a route that doesn't compromise the integrity of the building." [Golem] said as he walked towards one of the walls that were on their way.

Ale nodded and went around to check the blueprint of the building, she was checking the main support pillars and the make of the building, to ensure she could trace the right path, also the one with less deviation as possible, she didn't want to spend much time here after all.

"I'll transmit the map data to your mask." Ale said as she made Main Core relay the navigational data that she had decided on, "Follow the arrows, if you see an X on any wall that isn't on the way try to kick or punch something their way."

Ale had found that destroying some of the walls that weren't on their way would work to their favor, mostly to ensure they didn't got unwanted attention from the people outside… Also it would make the propagation of the corrupted mana slow down, not by much, mind you, but as much as Ale could get away with in such a short notice.

Another option could be getting asking Big Sister to open a portal somewhere else, but that would not only expose her actual core power, but also would expose her own mana to more corruption, as the mana would need to pass through her. And that would defeat the purpose of this.

"Roger." And with that, [Golem] started running in the direction that Ale had plotted, as soon as he came into contact with a wall, Ale noticed his body bursting with Mana, part of the materials on the wall got absorbed into his frame while others got expelled away.

Ale had not understood why that, at least till Main Core made her notice how one of the wall targets had been destroyed by the barrage of debris that [Golem] had expelled.

But [Golem] was not the only one hard at work, Ale herself also shot some rebar bars out of her arm cannon, an advantage of having the canon be part of her body was that she could load it with whatever she wanted and modify the cannon barrel to adapt to her needs.

Why was she shooting rebar bars? Mostly to reinforce the destruction that [Golem] had brought on the parts that Ale had asked, also she shot them ahead of them to weaken the walls that they would crash into. Ale didn't doubt in the ability of [Golem] to destroy them of course, but she didn't want to slow him down that much.

The prime part of their plan called for [Golem] to came barreling like an uncontrolled train after all.

[Notice, detected Saintsworths network.]

[Access?]

"Yes!" Ale screamed into her mask, Main Core silenced her outburst from the comm network though, that would confuse [Golem] and big Sister after all, and instead she focused on multitask management.

For one part she was reinforcing t he side pathways, on the other she was weakening the walls ahead of them.

"This is Wyrm Twenty Seven, what are your orders?" The man at the other side of the communications said, didn't ask for confirmation, didn't ask for identity, only asked for orders.

"[Golem], I found the network of the airplane. Anything for me?" Ale sent through the communication network of the masks.

"Tell them to prepare to depart as soon as we get there." [Golem] said as he started to change the design of his form to make it more aerodynamic, "And tell them we are arriving in hot."

"Aye sir." Ale said, refraining from doing a mock salute, since the current situation didn't allow it, "Prepare for departure, are there hostiles on that side?"

The other side in the airplane answered within a few seconds, they didn't seem that baffled from the situation to be honest, "Roger, we will start the plane main engine. As for hostiles, they asked for us to no depart, but we refused their approach. They have decided to stay barely outside the area that we consider too close, we warned them that if we turned on the plane that area would expand and they accepted such risks."

"Really?" Ale was surprised at that, they weren't ready to antagonize the plane staff, but they went ahead and antagonized Ale? The discrimination spoke much. "But wouldn't you turn on the plane when we arrive?"

"We require authorization from the travelers to turn it on, that is why they have set up the mana sealing barrier and sent the mercenaries after you." The pilot spoke as Ale heard the sound of machines on the other side, was that the plane turning on? "We are ready for take off, you just need to be within two meters of the plane and we will take care of the rest."

"And my friends?" Ale asked, immediately, she could probably climb somehow into the plane even if it took off, but that was not something Big Sister and [Golem] would be able to do.

"They too only need to be within two meters of the plane, if you get that close then we can move to defend you using the authority granted to us by the Saintsworths Council." And with that, the connection was cut.

"They said that the plane is ready to take off, but we need to be within two meters of the plane." Ale recounted the information she had been given.

"Of the plane, or from the door? Does the cargo bay count?" [Golem] asked as they prepared to break the last set of walls on their way.

"… Let's just stick to our normal plan, that would get us close enough to the plane would it not?" Ale said, she really should have asked that herself instead of waiting for [Golem] to bring it out.

"They noticed us." Big Sister was the one to call the alarm, and before [Golem] was able to break the last wall, Ale was pushed to the ground by a burst of wind.

Barely a second after she got shoved against the ground a barrage of bolter rounds came through the wall, the figure of [Golem] crumbled to the ground and Ale almost had screamed at the image. Using her sensors she quickly found Big Sister floating against the wall with a line of blood falling from one of her legs.

Had one of the bullets clipped at her leg?

[Notice, Mistress you have no bullet wounds, but part of your muscles have been torn from the sudden movement and your own insticts wanting to compensate.]

[It is advised to either take a pain killer medicine or to change the composition of the affected areas.]

Ale silently activated one of the injectors that her armor had came with, she hadn't used them before, but [Elder] had set up some medicines within the body armor in case she ever didn't have enough time to heal herself, or the resources to do so. And she was thankful for that.

"…" "…"

[Notice, detected encrypted communication between two of the three hostiles.]

[Decryption in process.]

Ale cursed at her luck, no one had been attempted to disguise or guard their communications before, and these had?

"Do not move." Before Ale could continue cursing at her bad luck, one of the three people that had attacked them spoke to Ale as they pulled out a smaller gun and pointed it at Ale, "Our reports put you as a regenerator and shapeshifter. That does not mean you are immortal, just more hard to put down. I know this gun doesn't look impressive, but the bullets are seeded with acid and have an electric discharge. They will fuck you up. Surrender and we can get whatever remains of your friends some assistance."

"… Who are you." Ale said as she was attempting to stand up.

Bang

Only for a bullet to come very close to her face, if she didn't have her mask on, that may have left a wound on her cheek, "I said do not move." The person who shoot at her said. "Who we are is irrelevant, the point is you are our target to bag today, while your companions are interesting, and would fetch a good price, they are extras. Do I need to finish them off for you to understand your situation?"

"…."

And as if to make his warning more credible, the other person moved near the pile of rocks that remained after [Golem] crumbled with a device pointed at it.

"That includes your friend on the ceiling." The same man said as the third and last person moved into the room, a gun trained on Big Sister. "Remain there like the abomination you are, if we detect any change in the atmospheric pressure or composition we will shoot you."

For her part, Big Sister didn't move and just remained stuck there, Ale knew that she was burning Mana just to remain there, she just hoped she had enough to teleport these into the atmosphere or something.

"…!" The man that had moved to [Golem] transmitted something and pulled something from the pile of rocks, it was… a geode with red-ish hue, "…!!"

"That is what remains of your friend, he could probably reform again if he gets help from a research facility equipped for bad triggers, meaning you need the help of a megacorpo… Usually that would be a deal killer but…" The man said throwing a folder in front of Ale, who was still stuck in the ground with a very awkward position, "Not for you, Alexandra Saintsworths, daughter of Thaddeus Saintsworths. Your file is quite interesting, our employer sent it with the job. And a very juicy reward if we get you there alive, so tell me… How is that you, a nine? Ten? A teenager is the twin sister to Alexanders Saintsworths?"

…Oh, she hadn't heard that one in some time.

"I can't explain it while looking at the floor, or what." Ale said as she furiously checked all her assets and all the data she had available, these people had their network encrypted, but the plane's network was open to her, and the plane remained in position even at this moment… Wonder if…

Ale quickly sent a data packet and prayed for the best. All the while she focused in what she could do right now, "Are you that worried about a twelve year old beating the ever loving crap out of your fancy armors? Are those exosuits? Power armor? I haven't seen those around." Ale truly hadn't seen those designs, and she had perused some of the options that [Elder] had given her before creating this set of armor.

Thud

Ale hadn't expected that bit, and for that bit, Ale had been kicked upwards, flying almost two meters up.

"You may remain standing up." The man said with some disgust on his voice as Ale did her best to not puke her breakfast with the mask on.

"…Asshole." Ale merely grumbled as she used short burst of her exhaust propellors to correct her stance and land standing up, "Feeling big and powerful now are we?"

"All of this, is courtesy." The man said as he pulled the bolter rifle and shot at the parts of [Golem] that had been trying to move silently towards his Core, "We are not your playmates, we are not sidekicks, minions, Heroes nor Villains. We are human, we do not get off by playing with powers that aren't meant to be used by mortals."

Bang

"Kuh!" Then with the gun that he had threatened Ale, he shot at Big Sister in one of her arms, the arm in question quickly started sizzling and she started convulsing, it didn't take a whole second before she felt to the ground, as she was unable to focus on her Core Power to keep herself up there.

"You!" Ale almost jumped at him before two of those same bullets hit her on both her legs.

[Warning!]

[Detected hostile mana infusion.]

[Purging.]

[Detected hostile materials attempting to destroy Mistress' body.]

[Counteracting.]

[Notice, this will burn a great amount of Mana.]

No! Ale screamed inwardly, she bit her lip and glared at the man who had just shoot her without any warning, or even animosity, Keep the damaged area as it is, just limit the spread and ensure I do not loose consciousness from the pain.

[…As you wish Mistress.]

"What are you looking at, you monster parading as a human girl." The man said as he kneeled in front of Ale and put the gun barrel at her forehead, "I asked you, how are you the twin sister of Alexanders. Did Thaddeus clone you? Did Alexanders do it? Or are you a stray clone from the council? I know you aren't human, we saw the video evidence of you crawling out of the body of that woman in the sewers like it was nothing. No normal human could do that, so… speak before I blow your head off, the client was 20% sure that you could survive that, so I am willing to bet on that."

[They are within the area of effect.]

"Heh." Ale smirked as she finally managed to stall for enough time, now… how would this play off then? "Wouldn't you like to know, did they not tell you?"

Ale sent one last message, before she let herself fall forward, just as she expected the man jumped away from her, wasn't the normal response to try and catch the one who was falling?

Instead these bastards had raised their weapons at Ale as she fell into the ground.

Now they were behind Ale, [Golem] and Big Sister. All with their guns pointed at them.

"Pray that we don't meet again." Ale said as she pulled out her mask out, "Because if we do, I'll personally feed you to Alexa."

[Notice, spatial isolation barrier detected.]

[Notice, kinetic barrier detected.]

[Notice, environmental barrier detected.]

[Notice, Spatial relocation formation deployed under Mistress, Skye Venti and Eduardo Herrera.]

[Thank you for surviving Mistress.]

And with a burst of light, Ale and company dissapeared from the rubble, the last thing she saw was a barrage of bullets coming at them as the three armed men ran towards them and they got struck by the invisible barrier that the plane had deployed.

"That was good planing Mistress Ale."

Ale was not sure who said that, but she was too tired to care at the moment.

"We will deal with the rest."

And so, Ale fell unconscious.