"They're spreading out." Taura watched the blips in several of her windows change direction and frowned. "Dividing into teams of two and entering all the other stairwells."

"Fuck." Corona arched a brow ridge and swatted Jack on the ass with her tail. "You jinxed us."

"I -- what?" Jack shook his head and muttered something under his breath.

"Okay, no more Ms. Nice Cow." Taura expanded her holofield to hold more windows and launched a dozen of her most aggressive passcracks, worms, snakes, and phantoms. "I'm not waiting for those things to box us in and gun us down. Time to give 'em the horns."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Uh, what are you gonna …?"

"I'm going after their security server. Before, I was trying to disable a few specific systems without damaging anything else, but now I'm taking the nuclear option."

Corona grinned. "Mmm, you're hot when you get like this. When we get back home, I am gonna have so much sex with you both!"

Taura froze, cleared her throat and shook her head quickly, and continued working. Uh, wow. Okay, don't get distracted.

"At least now we have something to look forward to." Jack looked around. "How close are the mechs?"

A new window appeared in her display, with a red flashing border around it. She winced. "They'll be on us in a minute, and we just had a bunch more hop on the elevators from the basement."

"How many more?"

Corona glanced at the window and her red eyes glowed brighter. "More than enough."

"Oh, that's just fuckin' great." Jack glanced around and held his guns a little higher. "Can't use the elevators, can't use the stairs. That leaves …"

"How about the fire escape?" She reached into Taura's holofield and enlarged the floorplan. "Where are we?"

"Here." Taura pointed at three blips and moved her finger over to one of the rooms. "The fire escape's outside that window." She nodded off to the right. "That room."

"Perfect." Corona pushed the door open, gave the room a quick look-over, and stepped aside to let Taura and Jack in.

Taura glanced at her display. "They've reached this floor." She closed the door and took a quick look around. They appeared to be in an office. A half-dozen desks lined two walls and three more occupied the center of the room.

Corona rushed over to the nearest window, checked the edges and sighed. "Marvelous, there's no way to open it." She gazed down at the street. "Good, no people or vehicles close enough to be hurt." She picked up one of the center desks and hurled it through the window, her huge muscles rippling as she moved. The desk shattered the glass and caught on the window frame.

Jack jumped at the sound of the glass shattering, but he recovered quickly and grinned at Corona as she yanked the desk out and tossed it aside.

"I never get tired of seeing you do stuff like that."

She paused for a second to flex her pipes for him, but then she got down to business. She folded her wings around her shoulders and stepped through the now-open window. The fire escape creaked under her weight and her eyes widened.

"Oh, this thing isn't holding together very well. Let's not all get on at once."

"They're outside the door," Taura whispered. She nodded at Corona. "Go ahead. Jack, you go next." She pulled two more of her disc-shaped grenades from her trenchcoat pocket.

Corona climbed the stairs, taking each step cautiously. Jack stopped at the window, stared upward for a few seconds, and finally followed her.

The door to Taura's left swung open and a seven and a half foot-tall mech ducked through. Taura flung both grenades at it, smiling grimly when they stuck to its chest. She jabbed the "detonate" icon in her holofield as she squeezed through the window.

The blast ripped the mech apart and blew the rest of them back into the hallway.

The metal structure rattled and groaned under Taura's hooves. A glance at the bolts holding it to the outside wall made her wish she hadn't looked at them. The bolts had been pulled more than an inch out from the wall and the whole fire escape shifted with each movement.

"Ohhhh, shit!" She gripped the handrails and began climbing -- slowly and carefully.

"Hurry!" Corona hissed.

"Trying!" Taura increased her pace. The fire escape rattled and creaked -- and one of the bolts in the corner of her eye pulled out another inch with a shriek. She froze, gripping the rails, trying to stop trembling, and failing. "Careful! It could come loose any second!"

Metallic clanking sounds came from below her. She took a quick look down and gasped. Four more mechs were climbing onto the fire escape.

"Get back inside!" Taura glanced upward and found Jack and Corona already three floors above her. When they paused to look at her, she shook her head. "They're coming out here. This thing can't hold us all! Get inside now!"

"Get moving," Jack snapped. "We're not leaving you here!"

Corona rushed to the window, peered inside, and tapped the glass frantically. She pointed at the lock and yelled, "Open it! Please!"

The mechs stopped at the bottom of the stairs just below Taura and pointed their guns at her. She revved her body up, whipped her gun out, and emptied the magazine into the nearest one's chest. It staggered back and bumped into another one before it collapsed.

Taura popped the magazine out and hurled it at a third mech, nailing it in the head and knocking it off balance.

The fire escape shrieked again -- and all the bolts on the platform yanked out of the wall.

"Taura!" Jack and Corona screamed, and she looked up again. Someone inside had opened their window and both of them had squeezed through and were now staring down at her.

She charged up the stairs, surging forward in a sudden panic.

The remaining mechs opened fire. Sparks erupted all around her as their bullets struck the stairs under her and the platform above.

One slammed into her back, right between her shoulder blades.

She screamed, her mind flashing back to the last time she'd been shot, but somehow she remained upright. She reached the open window and Jack and Corona grabbed her arms and pulled her through.

"I'm hit," she groaned, weeping and shaking.

Corona gasped. "Where?"

"My back."

Corona rushed behind her, looked her over, and ran her hands over Taura's back. Finally, she sighed and threw her arms around Taura.

"You're okay. It didn't penetrate your vest's armor layer."

"That stuff actually worked?" Taura sobbed again and nuzzled Corona, then she put her arms around Jack and kissed him.

"Yeah. Good ol' non-Newtonian fluid." Corona patted Taura's shoulder. "Never leave home without it."

She nodded, took a few deep breaths to calm herself, and looked out the window.

Two more mechs were making their way up the fire escape.

She shoved her hand into her pocket, found one last grenade, leaned out the window and dropped it. It attached to the lead robot's head with a click and Taura set it off with a smirk. The blast took the robot out and knocked its companion over the rail, sending it plummeting to the street.

"Is that the last one?" Jack slipped his arm around her waist.

"For now."

"Good." He rubbed her back for a moment, and sighed. "Let's finish up and get the hell out of here."