Нова Проспект / Nova Prospect: Phantom Battle (Адам)

"Listen, buddy, Wintermute, or whatever your name is," Adam hissed, "you picked a really fucked up time to make jokes.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:27

"Open your eyes, buddy," his unseen interlocutor sighed.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:27

Adam zoomed in on the image. The low resolution made it impossible to distinguish anything but the outline of two figures: a small, apparently female figure sprawled on the ground, and a large, male figure looming menacingly over her.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:28

Such a scene immediately ignited a cold fury in him.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:28

"Got it? - Wintermute asked contentedly. - Be so good as to run out of here before the Tyrans get to you first."

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:35

The hacker highlighted the emergency exit on the virtual map.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:35

"You know what I really don't like? - Adam asked. - Charity. What do you need?"

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:36

He made his way to the place he had indicated. From the corridor to the right came the muffled shuffling of footsteps of a man who mistakenly thought he was making less noise.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:37

Without taking his eyes off the schematic of the building in front of him, Adam reached around the corner and silently fired several bullets. He heard the thud of a fallen body and the thud of a weapon rolling across the floor.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:37

"I won't let the girl go to the Illuminati," Wintermute replied. - They have big plans for her, and I'm not about to hand them the keys to a wonderful new world.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:38

What? Adam knew his luck wasn't his strong suit, but running into a conspiracy hacker was just out of line. Illuminati, damn! As if elves, terrorists, and magicians weren't enough. If he believed the bullshit they were telling him, he'd go insane.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:42

"Look at those legs! - Wintermute changed the subject as if nothing had happened. Adam saw the image of the ultra-long legs, which, judging from the angle, had been captured by the drone's camera. - You could kill for those!"

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:44

In the background, Adam caught a glimpse of Namir. His cybernetic muscles were twitching in painful spasms, and the mercenary looked as if he were about to give his soul to Yahweh.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:44

But even so, they still have a whole army left.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:44

"I'd say you should," Wintermute muttered as Yelena's legs were hidden by a reflective shield. "The devil knows where it's taken her."

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:45

Behind the next door was a hall lined with long rows of ant-like cubicles. A hastily abandoned open space. The coffee cups were still steaming, and the printer was chirping happily, throwing out white sheets at breakneck speed.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:46

A twenty-first-century ghost ship.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:46

A gray glimmer flashed across the room, immediately noted by his subconscious. Reflexes told Adam of the threat before he realized it, and his hands swung the gun toward the enemy. The electromagnetic field dissipated with a sudden pop, and the woman hiding beneath it shuddered slightly.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:48

Toward the enemy. At least a dozen of Belltower's thugs burst into the open space with Elena.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:49

Adam decided that today was an extremely bad day to die. Before a barrage of bullets could hit him, he knocked over a heavy armored cabinet and ducked into the makeshift shelter. If it hadn't been for the noise filters, Adam would have been deafened by the rumble. One of the bullets grazed the carbon fiber of his right leg and ricocheted into a coffee cup on a nearby table.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:51

He fired from cover almost blindly, guided only by the terahertz sensor. The bullet was followed by a muffled wheeze. Even if it was a death rattle still, too many enemies. This sucks.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:53

++"FIRST DOOR ON THE RIGHT, DATA CENTER." - The message flashed before my eyes in a red line, like the credits in a horror movie.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 15:53

Adam cast aside his doubts about Wintermute and sprinted in that direction. The camouflage wouldn't last thirty seconds at this sprint.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 20:02

Yelena, who had rushed after him - the only one who could catch up with him - didn't stop firing. The two submachine guns burst out in a flurry of merging bursts.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 20:03

Thirty seconds was enough. Pushing open the heavy door with his shoulder, Adam found himself in a data center that looked like a temple to a neon god, with servers instead of columns. The monotonous whirring of machine units sounded like a prayer.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 20:04

...And two portable turrets at the very entrance. Twenty-millimeter automatic cannons - enough firepower to take down a small plane.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 20:04

God bless Steiner-Bisley.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 20:05

Adam jumped over the turrets. They were trapped in a tight rectangle, its edges outlined by the shimmering blue of the server racks.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 20:08

Yelena threw up a leg topped with a sharp blade in a balletic lunge. It whistled a centimeter from Adam's face, scratching his skin. His predatory smile turned into a grimace as he retaliated with a kick to his exposed side. The tip of the nanoblade went through the bulletproof jacket, and Yelena howled more from rage than pain as she hit the server blocks.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 20:41

And disappeared.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 20:08

He needed at least a minute for the batteries to recharge so he could respond with the same. Adam stepped backward toward the turrets, firing a burst of machine gun fire where Elena should be hiding. The bullets ricocheted off the machine blocks, hitting the reflective shield. From the outline - she was about to make a slashing motion that would have severed the man's tendons.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:13

Black choking smoke billowed from the walls.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:14

In time to anticipate the movement, Adam jumped, knocking Yelena to the floor and pinning her down. Holding her was like trying to catch an invisible snake: she bucked under him with inhuman strength, trying to escape by any means necessary. Adam stabbed at random, trying to hit her neck, but the blade sank into the stone floor.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:14

When will the camouflage finally come off?!

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:15

Elena "helped" him pull the blade from the floor, imprinting her iron fist into his ribs and throwing him off of her. At the edge of Adam's field of vision, chest warning signals flickered. The system was pumping adrenaline into his bloodstream in powerful doses and the pain was fading into the background. That blow had cost Helena too much strength, and Adam saw the beaded beads of sweat on her half-shaven head.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:20

Now it was his turn to play hide-and-seek. Losing sight of Adam, Helena jumped to her feet and scrambled backward, trying to guess where he was, wasting machine gun bullets mindlessly. The blades on her feet scraped across the floor like knives on glass.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:20

Adam ducked down, pressing himself against the wall. The camouflage was enough until Yelena needed to reload. Taking advantage of the hitch, Adam jumped up, pointing the submachine gun at her. He shouldn't have underestimated the length of her legs - Elena growled deafeningly, knocking the weapon out of Adam's hands with her foot, leaving a deep, cut in the carbon fiber.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:21

She should have been a goddamn ballerina, not a killer.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:22

Yelena took another step backward, stumbling into the neon-blue wall, bumping into a bare, gunshot-damaged wire.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:24

The second of electric shock was fleeting but sufficient.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:24

Adam lunged forward, more successfully this time, swinging in a downward strike. The blade slashed across his neck and Adam's face was stained with blood. Elena tried to cover the gushing wound with the palm of her hand, sliding slowly down the wall, but not even a Health Guard could deal with a wound that quickly.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:25

She coughed, and a dark trickle came out of her mouth. Yelena tried to disappear but to no avail. For the first time, instead of a hunter's gleam, there was a flicker of quite human fear in her eyes. Which, as you know, is a damn bad counselor.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:27

The air is starting to heat up. Is she crazy?! Adam had used the Typhoon enough times to know what launching it looked like. It would destroy them both, and billions of taxpayer dollars at the same time.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:27

"Stop!" he shouted at her. "I won't kill you if..."

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:28

Yelena grinned like a cornered animal. That "if" would never come.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:28

Adam tore back toward the turrets before the fragmentation grenades went flying in all directions, burying Yelena beneath the masses of servers.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:33

The blast wave threw him back onto the bullet-riddled bodies. The stifling odor of blood and burning synthetic components was in the air.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:33

Rising to his feet, Adam saw what was left of Belltower's squad. Wintermute had locked the tungsten steel doors, trapping the mercenaries in the corridor between the open space and the data center. Alone with the turrets.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:34

Adam's never caused a massacre like this before. It was, uh.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:35

"Cool, buddy! Now will you finally get out of here?" - Wintermute's voice sounded unnaturally loud in the ensuing silence, broken only by the faint background groans of the wounded.

Camrad_RIP 18.03.24 в 21:36