Val crouched beside the others on the roof of the building above what she knew was a top secret base of Enigma Enterprises. This was the one that procured the living sections of brain to fuel their experiments, and it looked like a hospital.
"So what was the plan, exactly?" she glared over at Jaden, who leaned forward to look at the security guards beneath them.
"We're going to save all the people in that hospital," he replied. "Which means we're gonna blast it to hell. Flare, you're on explosives. Krone, your job is to sneak in the back while we fight our way through and steal the main boss computer. Flare can hack it at a later date. Fleck shall guard you just in case."
Val's eyes narrowed, "And what shall Krell and I be doing while this happens?"
"Krell will be inside clearing innocents out. You, on the other hand, will come with me to protect Flare as she entered the building to set up the explosives. Once the innocent people are gone, we'll blow the place sky high."
Val slicked hair back from her face, "We'll see."
"Krone, Fleck: go ahead. We're about to start," Jaden waved them off, and they vaulted off of the roof, disappearing into the night. Jaden dropped down outside of the door, leading Flare and Val inside.
There were only two people on the inside- a man at the desk shuffling through files and a teenaged boy crying quietly in the corner, clutching at his head as if it really hurt him.
Jaden sauntered up to the desk as if he was just coming into the murder hospital for a typical checkup, and he leaned his elbow onto the desk, "Hey, man."
The man at the desk didn't bother looking up, "Welcome to the Derek Hospital sponsored by Enigma Enterprises, how can I help you?" His tone was completely flat, expressing as much interest as the bored expression on his face as he continued typing without looking up.
"Well," Jaden picked up the coffee cup on the desk and took a long sip, "I'm here to turn this place to charred ashes and broken dreams, and I was wondering where the best room to plant the explosives would be."
The man looked up sharply, and recognition flashed in his eyes. His hand shot towards the phone on the desk, but Jaden popped the top of the coffee cup and dashed the scorching hot contents over the man's shirt. He shrieked, leaping to his feet as his skin blistered beneath the dark brown stain on his white shirt.
"Ice cubes were meant for a reason," Jaden told him, his eyes slipping to Krell who was urging the sobbing boy in the corner to leave quickly.
"Bastard!!" The man hurled a stack of papers at him, using the distraction to grab for the phone. Val moved instantly, and the man's hand fell to the floor. He opened his mouth to scream as he saw dark scarlet explode from his wrist, but the knife in her wrist sliced through his throat before the sound escaped. Blood bubbled in his mouth, and the man collapsed.
Jaden blinked, "Girl, that's harsh, even for us."
Val sheathed the knife into her wrist, snorting, "He kills people for a living. He deserved to die painfully."
Krell rushed past them to go check the other rooms as the three of them strode back down the hall to find the center of the building. A nurse leapt out of one room, her gun drawn and ready to fire. Jaden smashed a fist into her skull as they breezed past.
A bullet exploded the wall next to them, and Flare crouched down. She had enough explosions inside of the bag on her shoulder to level the entire building— it was best if she stayed out of the gunfire.
"Two around the corner," Val reported, doing a quick scan. The barrel of a gun poked around the corner, and Val snorted. She kicked through the wall as Jaden ducked a bullet, and the debris knocked their attackers backwards as it flew at them. Val's fingers closed around a man's neck, and there was a sickening crack as his scream was cut off.
A blow to the back of her head stunned her momentarily, and she blinked hard as the woman in the white coat with the second gun cocked the gun to fire. But she was thrown into the wall and held there by Jaden's large hand, "So sorry, ma'am," he shrugged, giving her a regretful smile as Val's hand snatched up the man's gun and fired it. The woman's head exploded, splashing Jaden in the chest and staining his clothes a cheerful red.
Krell, who had been beside Jaden, covered his mouth with a hand as he dry heaved. The sputtering blood stained his shoes and spattered his face, and he wiped it frantically from his cheek, "Ew ew ew ew EW!!"
Val's lip curled as her ears picked up the faintest click. She thrusted Krell backwards into the wall as a bullet exploded where his head had been a split second before. She spun around, her gun blasting through the wall where the shot had come from. It was replied to with a barrage of bullets that made them all dive for cover.
Flare looked up to Val, "How good is your throwing arm?"
"Mechanics and tech make my aim flawless, why?"
"See that hole in the wall? Throw this grenade through it," Flare pulled the pin from the top, tossing it to her. Val caught it in her left hand, pitching it easily through the hole that it barely fit through. It exploded, blowing out the walls, and the gunfire stopped with a scream.
"You know, this is much cooler reading in books than doing it in real life," Krell spoke up as they ran past the horribly disfigured body around the demolished corner, "I mean... you don't get covered in icky stuff while reading."
Val snorted distastefully at him, and he shut up. They reached passed a room with a tiny child inside of it, and Krell picked her up in his arms, "I'll be right back."
Flare heaved the bag from her shoulder, and it clattered to the floor, "I'll give it a two minute countdown and bolt it to the floor," she did so as she spoke, and Jaden gave a nod of approval.
"Krone and Fleck are already outside," he informed them, his eyes flickering over the doorway in lookout for any danger.
"There's four people coming, heavily armed and armored," Val could see them through the lens over her eye, "They're a few walls back, but they're heading this way. Should I take care of them?"
"I'll come with you," Jaden said, and she rolled her eyes.
"If you must." She ran around the corner, and the sound of gunfire filled the air. Bullets burst through walls, echoing with the shouts of her enemies. She swiped out a leg, tripping one up. This caused a hole in the gunfire, and Jaden clipped a second man in the face with a fist so hard it dropped him like a rock. The gunfire was turned onto Jaden, giving Val an opportunity to snap the man's neck and catch the woman in the back of the knee with a dagger. The life didn't cut completely through her armor, so the move unbalanced her.
Unfortunately, falling beside Val was as bad as falling in front of a striking cobra. There was a sickening crack, and the woman went limp as Val rolled onto her feet. She inhaled sharply as a bullet sliced straight through her lower arm, and she found a gun barrel aimed at her head.
But the attacker's head snapped back as Jaden brought his foot up into the man's chin. He fell over, and Jaden's fist came down on his chest. Ribs cracked, and Val rolled over on top of him to stab her knife through his forehead.
"I love your technique, but we don't have to kill everybody," Jaden told her, "Especially because you're making this really violent..."
"Let me deal with me," she returned with a growl, "You deal with you." Her hand covered the bullet wound through her arm. Fortunately, the wound didn't disable the entire arm, just weakened it greatly.
"You're shot," he realized.
"Am I really?" she said through gritted teeth, ducking a knife swipe as the final man lunged. She caught his wrist and used his momentum to sling him over her head, and she used every fiber of her strength to smash him into the ground.
Flare, who had ran out of the room at that moment, winced, "I don't think he's walking away from that."
"That's the idea," Val snorted, tossing her head, "Let's get a move on. Bomb's good?"
Flare tapped her watch, "Time's ticking."
"A heads up would be nice!" Krell exclaimed from beside them, helping a woman walk out of the room. She seemed sluggish, as if she was just coming around from some sort of sleeping drug.
"Heads up!" Flare declared, "But let's hurry up. Assuming we don't want to be blasted to pieces, of course."
They raced through the hallways, leaping over debris. They were met by Krone and Fleck, who were waiting in the lobby. They were now surrounded by bodies that laid limply all around the waiting room, the pristine white carpet now mostly crimson.
"Thirty seconds!" Flare warned, and they took off at a sprint out of the building, bursting out of the doors. Krell led the woman at a swift pace, letting her lie down only when Flare told him they were a safe distance away.
Fleck dialed a number on the woman's phone, saying into the speaker their exact location. The boy from the waiting room and two other people were there as well, and Fleck glanced at Jaden, "Cops are coming to pick them up. Oh, I hope they get here soon..."
"That's our cue to leave!" Krone exclaimed as the street rumbled violently. They all turned to watch smoke drift into the sky, and Flare grinned, "Beautiful as always."
Jaden gestured with a hand to follow him, and he led them back to the skyscraper. Once they had reached the top, Krell sank down into a deep sleep against the cluster of rods, his mouth open with his snores.
Jaden watched Val fidget with her damaged arm. The sparking hole had disabled her knife in her right wrist as well as the claws. Strength was reduced by half. She had lost a good fifth of her abilities with this wound, and she couldn't stop the curse words from spilling freely under her breath.
"Need a hand?" Jaden asked, crouching at the edge of the tower beside her. She shot him a hateful look.
"As long as you know what you're doing," Val held out her arm, and he scooted closer to look at it.
"No clue," he told her, and she jerked her arm away, "I don't do well with newer models. That's Flare's department."
"Then could you tell her to come look at it?" Val kept her voice tight with frustration, her fingers flexing. She felt an odd sliding feeling in her forearm and rubbed it with a bitter scowl.
"Sure. But it ain't gonna do you much good without the parts," Jaden rested his hands on his knees as he leaned in to examine the wound, "You're a new model, who knows how rare your parts are?"
"Stop saying that."
"What, your parts are rare?"
"No, stop saying I'm a 'newer model'. I'm a person, not an iPhone!" Her scowl deepened as he blinked slowly. Then he nodded in understanding, eyes glinting thoughtfully.
"You're right." He gave her a tiny grin, "So, Valencia 704. What's your story?"
"You know mine. I'm a rebel against my makers, and I plan to kill them all. But your story, however, may be more interesting. I know only what I saw in your memories, but that was edited. Even I could tell."
"Well, I didn't want to bore you with all of my memories. But the only thing I edited out was Sparks," Jaden smiled faintly at the moon above them, "I did that to save time, to be honest. That and the fiasco with the guy that had the rocket launcher."
"So who exactly is Sparks?" Val rested a hand over the hole in her arm as she looked across at him.
"My dog. He was a test subject in the lab when he was a tiny puppy. He was about the size of my hand, covered in soft, black fur, and he had these huge eyes... and he was locked in a tiny crate and filled with needles. So I rescued the little guy. Turns out he's a wolf, but he's still my 'dog'. And the experiments altered him a bit, so to speak. He's really smart."
"I've never really seen a dog before. Well, not that counts, anyway," she sighed, lifting her head so the gentle breeze would wash directly over her face, "I'd like to meet him."
"He should be back soon," Jaden shrugged his shoulders carelessly, "Then you can hang with him all you want."
Val fell silent, massaging her forearm at the damaged place. She sighed deeply, leaning back onto the flat steel surface. "So is that all you bots do? Blow up places?"
"And steal information," he added with another shrug, "We try to publicize all the nasty things Enigma Enterprises does to shut them down, but they're too good at covering everything up."
"That's the only reason they're still around," Val grumbled, brushing dark hair out of her eyes with her good arm. She let a sigh escape her, her eyes drifting close, "So... do we have a plan for tomorrow?"
"Get food. Figure out how we can get some repairs done, since both you and Fleck are damaged. Fleck got a hand blasted off, not much of a hindrance since the only thing he could do with it was stab anyway. And Krone got a nick on his foot. He says he's missing a toe, but unless he had eleven to start with, I don't believe it." Jaden laid back beside her, turning his head to look at her. "And after that, we attack a festival thrown by Enigma Enterprises."
"Sounds fun," Val muttered under her breath, flexing her damaged hand as she spoke. She allowed her eyelids to droop closed, sealing the moonlight from her vision. What she wanted right now was just a long, relaxing rest.