Corpo Age

Chapter 243: Ushering Lambs

Pinned to the ground, I quickly realized my opponent didn’t have full control of me yet. They had been injured by my particle beam previously, and this was their desperate last attempt at fighting back.

I rolled over to escape their grasp and drew the particle beam sword as I got up. My opponent did the same, except their weapon of choice was a shield. We carefully gauged the distance while circling each other for a few moments before I decided to make the first move.

Melee wasn’t my strong suit, but I had a plethora of devices to rely on.

The particle blade in my hand swung down at breakneck speeds, but my opponent managed to duck behind their shield. They expertly angled their shield to deflect the blow, but when it made contact, nothing happened.

The particle beam appeared to phase through the shield, but it didn’t cause any damage, either. Instead, a new pair of arms grew out of my shoulders and swung down again at two different angles. My bewildered opponent could only jump back in response, but that was something I predicted.

With a full set of cybernetics that were synergized to work with each other, I was able to achieve a new level of speed. My bio-coprocessor allowed me to easily process moving at such velocity, so my foe couldn’t escape me.

My two sets of arms slashed from two different directions again, causing my opponent to pick one side to block. However, it didn’t matter which side he picked. Both attacks were holographic images with no substance behind them.

My real attack came swinging from below. With their energy shield already exhausted from my previous shooting, it made contact with their power armor. My blade faltered for a brief moment as it rapidly melted away their protection. A scream could be heard as the occupant inside suffered burns. They were short-lived, as their protection failed, allowing my particle beam to cut through their body.

+20 EXP

Seeing this, I decided to do something. I knew the reason Thorne was on his back foot was thanks to the presence of several other enemies in power armor. They were spectating their superior duel, so they didn’t interfere yet, but that could change at any time. Thorne had to keep that in mind, so he had been reserved with his movements.

Although I planned to assist, it didn’t mean I would travel all the way to his location. It would take too long, and just wasn’t efficient. There was no need to do so myself in the first place. My invention, the D-Mothers, was still scouring the base. All I needed to do was to order them over.

The stealthy drone quickly zipped down the corridors with its active camouflage on. There was a quiet humming noise that could be heard at close proximity, but the entire design philosophy was to ensure it never got that close to anyone. It stopped a dozen paces away from the action and released several Nyes and Pixies from its bay.

It gave me both vision of the guards on standby and the ability to detonate an EMP charge next to them. I knew their equipment was well shielded, but it shouldn’t matter against a point-blank strike.

With them distracted by Thorne’s fight, I delivered just that.

The little pixies could be seen with the naked eye. They hugged the ground and made their way over to the unsuspecting targets. They reached their targets, and I made them run up along the back of their legs. Only when there were several of them on their body did I detonate them.

A low buzzing noise sounded out as several small EMP discharges went off in unison. It caused Thorne and his opponent to pause for a second as they looked over. As someone experienced and well-versed in our gadgets, Thorne recovered first and immediately took advantage of the opening.

Neither he nor I knew when Aurora’s equipment would recover from a conventional EMP attack, so he redoubled his efforts. He got close and let out a flurry of blows. It managed to force his foe onto his back foot, as he desperately tried to keep up while retreating step by step.

Instead of pressing even harder, Thorne chose the perfect moment to jump backward, pulling his Light Judgement out in one smooth motion. He fired just as his feet touched the ground, and another beam of light lit the corridor of Aurora Corporation’s base.

The move had been executed so quickly that his opponent couldn’t react in time. The barrage of sword blows had managed to disable the energy shield layer on it, so when they tried to shield themself, the particle beam bore straight through it.

With the commander of the enemy team falling to the ground, Thorne didn’t hesitate to adjust his aim and fired off several more shots to finish off the team I had disabled.

“I think Andrew and Peng are with the final team of captives, making their way to the extraction point. Hurry your ass over,” I called out over the comms.

“Roger, that.”

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Layla - Civilian

A small girl around the age of eight or nine was huddled in the corner of a dark, musty room. In her embrace was her younger brother, a boy a year younger. They expressionlessly stared at the ground, desperate not to draw attention from any of the others held captive in the same room.

Months of being kept in here had taught them how to survive. Their captors didn’t care for their well-being, and neither did any of the other captives. Everyone in the room was desperate to survive, but without any hope of ever escaping, some were on the brink of losing their minds.

It wasn’t uncommon for sudden fights to start, so Layla learned to protect herself by making herself as small as possible. The only time she could relax was when the people in lab coats took them away. While they would poke and prod their bodies, she at least took comfort in the fact she would be safe during those tests, as the researchers wanted results, not to kill them.

The only concern during those moments was if she would see her brother again. Being separated for just an hour or two could mean many things could happen. So the siblings could only pray for each other’s safety during those times.

One day, their regular routine was finally disrupted when the researchers who had visited daily didn’t show up. Instead, a strange man wearing one of those menacing power armor stepped in. He made his visor transparent and smiled kindly at everyone in the room.

“We’re here to rescue you! Everyone, please divide yourselves into groups of tens. We’ll be escorting you out of here.”

No one replied with enthusiasm. Instead, they mechanically replied, like they were conditioned to do. While Layla noticed the strange markings on the man’s armor to be different from the usual, she didn’t bother asking any questions.

It was apparent to all that the newcomer was of corporate origin. He may be spewing words about rescuing them, but many of her fellow captives had long lost hope. Still, they knew how to be obedient, especially to people holding guns.

The captives quickly did as told and began following the man out of the room.

Layla and her brother were no different. They obediently walked as commanded and halted when told to stop. With their heads down, they soon reached the gathering point, where she found dozens of people crammed into a small room.

More people came every so often, led by one of the men in power armor. As their numbers grew, so too did their anxiety. Layla’s brother, Teo, tightened his grasp on his sister’s hand as she sensed the unease in the room.

“Sis, where are we being taken?”

“I don’t know. Just listen to them and it should be okay—I hope.”

“But aren’t they from another corporation than the usual people? They have a white owl as their symbol.”

“That doesn’t matter right now. Just keep quiet and do as we’re told.”

Her words didn’t satisfy her brother, but before he could retort, the base shook as an explosion rang out somewhere.

“Do you think this new corporation will feed us more or less food?” Teo muttered.

His sister ignored him and the entire room remained silent, so he continued.

“What if they’re worse than the previous people? Should we refuse to leave, after all?”

“Teo! Shush!”

Just after she finished placating her brother, the doors to their room opened. Another group of fellow captives was escorted in by two men in power armor. With the words of the young boy still fresh in everyone’s mind, the atmosphere grew even more tense as their new masters stood guard over them.

This lasted until the doors opened once more, where another two power armors entered, each pushing a large cart. One of them stepped forth to address the group.

“Our rescue ship is on its way! Everyone needs to get in a spacesuit as soon as you can!”

The carts behind him opened, revealing stacks of spacesuits. They began handing them out. Not long after, a bright flash of light drew everyone’s attention as they watched one of the armed men cut a hole through the walls of the room.

“I’ll be fetching a line from our rescue ship shortly. Make sure to secure yourself to it before heading outside!”

With his words, the air began to be sucked out of the opening they cut out. It slowly dawned on Layla that they would have to make a trip through the vacuums of space.

“Sis—isn’t spacewalking dangerous?”

As if echoing his words, every other captive hesitantly looked around. It was as if they were scouting to see who would take the first step, as none of them were willing to be the first to venture out.

Their unwillingness to cooperate stunned the four men in power armor. They confided with each other for a moment before the same one, the biggest of the four, stepped forward again.

“Everyone!” he yelled. “I know you’re scared and you may be confused. You’ve been cooped up in here for who knows how long, forced to endure unimaginable hardships.”

“What do you know?” someone whispered from the crowd.

“I do know!” the corpo shouted back. “I had been in your positions before!”

Our position before? Him? He’s probably lying—is what I would think, but his tone sounds genuine.

“I also know that this may be sudden, but we’re here to truly save you. We plan to bring you back to your families! In fact, some of them may even be fighting outside.”

“What do you mean?” one of the captives quickly shouted.

“Yeah, what are you talking about? My family are normal people living in Aegis. How could they be involved in some corporate fighting?”

“You will learn the details when we get out of here. The people outside have been working hard in order to save their families. I can’t say for certain if they’re your family members specifically, but they plan to save you just the same.”

Hearing Thorne’s cries, a murmur rippled through the crowd, growing louder with every passing moment. Even Teo immediately pulled on his sister’s sleeve.

“Sis, do you think it’s true? Mom and dad are outside?”

“That—”

Before Layla could reply, multiple people in the crowd started loudly questioning their rescuers about the people outside. They were shouting out names to verify if their loved ones were nearby.

Seeing the scene getting out of control, one of the men in power armor, who had been standing quietly in the back until now, stepped forward.

“Silence! You can stay here to continue being test subjects if you like, but we’re getting out of here now. If you want to tag along, no more questions! We don’t have time for this shit.”

The man’s harsh words combined with being fully armed quickly shut the crowd up. Then, he began evacuation without a care in the world.