N fell to ground, waving at Doll again. He winced to see acid burning her hand. He opened his mouth to speak.
- N fell to the ground, arm switching as he fell, a shotgun firing. Doll dodged, throwing up a glowing hand.
“Would peace be so bad, Doll? I’m willing to try. Uzi was willing to try. I think even J—”
“It was a lie. Just as I betrayed your trust, Uzi and her murder drone intended to do the same.”
- The dodge was curious — it couldn’t block the spray? Shotgun cocked, the hunter lined up another shot. But Doll’s knife flew out first. He didn’t dodge; he let the blade sunk in torso. Keep it lodged in him, and Doll couldn’t use it. The hunter took aim, fire again. The prey moved slower this time, and half his spray hit her, cutting holes in clothing.
It was hard for N to keep track of all this this. His processor picked out the words, then the data was flushed from his caches as he context-switched back to hunting routines. N admitted he felt a bit two-faced, right now.
- Doll jerked her hand, yanking at the blade, but the hunter held onto it. Shotgun for pistol, he fired a shot. The bullet got close before curving away. Powers flagging? Yes. The hunter wore her down.
“So you’re afraid we’ll betray you, if you extend that trust? I wasn’t going to betray you! I promise. I meant it!” The words felt so meaningless, when he was shooting her even as he said it.
- Giving up on retrieving the knife, the strange force grabbed a metal spring. The symbol spun and the spring compressed, and one hand-swipe flung it at the hunter. He dived out of the way.
N got one last glimpse of her visor, wanted to believe there was doubt in the saccades of her pupils. But she steadied herself, regained that neutral mask.
- Where the hunter had stood, the expansion of the spring is a massive explosion of oily snow.
Doll shook her head. “Any possibility of sympathy with your kind died with my parents. If you are any different, you are simply more foolish. It’s nothing personal.”
- Target tracking lost sight of his prey in the resultant cloud. A pop-up window (
It looks like visibility is poor. Would you like to try another sense?) He could smell the acid, and the oil from this worker smelled of many workers. Curious, but discarded as irrelevant.
- Target tracking lost sight of his prey in the resultant cloud. A pop-up window (
Wasn’t personal? Then what drove this drone here? Why was she after V? N had questions. He opened his mouth to ask.
- Doll burned like smoldering coals in thermal vision, hotter than a worker. She was circling around, crouched down low. Target acquired. The hunter lined up a shot.
O_O