Otto tried to put his pants back on while running along with the rest of the group. He tripped on the pantlegs and faceplanted. "Uh – shit!"

Shakira helped him up and stared at him as he pulled his pants up and fastened the button. He managed to grin at her, trying to distract himself momentarily from everything that had just come out of nowhere.

"Y'know, since you've seen me naked now, I figure it's only fair if …"

"Just keep moving!" She pushed him through the door leading into the stairwell, where Rocky, Hoshi, Shadow, Ramirez, Montoya, and Hiro waited. "What now, guys?"

"There are more hostiles on the way," Hoshi said. "Splitting up to escort you out of here could be a bad tactical decision."

Rocky nodded. "We'll meet up with Machiko and Winslow, find a defensible position, and hold out until Jack and the girls arrive. Once they're here, we can trap the hostiles in between us."

"Sounds like a plan." Ramirez popped the magazine out of her gun while everyone else started up the stairs, and replaced it with a clip of twenty-millimeter rounds. "Where to, then?"

"First, the armory. I hate to do this, but given what may be coming, we'll have a better chance of survival if we're all armed."

Shakira's mouth fell open.

Otto shrugged and held her hand again. "Whoever those guys are, they'll kill us just for being here, so I say we do what we have to do."

"That's easy to say when you've never actually killed anyone before." Ramirez gave him and Shakira a nudge, urging them to pick up the pace.

To keep Shakira safe, I'd do it no matter how much it fucked me up. He slipped his shirt over his head and shoved his arms through the sleeves, catching a glimpse of the bullet holes in the process. A shot from one of the hostiles had passed clean through him a few minutes ago, but he was unharmed. The bullet had struck Rocky in the chest when it should have punched through his heart instead. And then his clothes had fallen off, having apparently passed through his body just like the bullet.

How could that even happen?

"I've relayed our plan to Jack and the girls." Hoshi stopped at the door two levels up from where they entered the stairwell. "They're making their way toward us now."

The rest of the group gathered behind her. Otto sat on the stairs and put on his socks and shoes.

"The armory's down that hall," Montoya said, keeping his voice low. "Hoshi, anyone in our way?"

Otto stared at the door and said, "There's five people in the hallway and two in the armory." He shook his head. "Don't ask how I know. I just … I dunno, felt them. I can't really put it into words."

"He's right," Hoshi whispered. "I'm still linked with the hallway cameras. There are five armored troops approaching the armory, and Machiko and Winslow are inside."

"Goddamn déjà vu," Rocky muttered.

Hoshi passed her confiscated assault rifle to Rocky. "Keep the civvies under cover. I'll clear the road for you."

"Without a gun?" Hiro whispered.

"I don't want to risk hitting Machiko. Don't worry, I'll have another gun before this is over." She grasped the door handle. "Now, keep quiet, everyone."

She eased the door open, slipped through, and crept toward the five intruders. She came up behind the nearest man, grabbed the sides of his head and gave it a quick twist. She put her arm around his neck and held him up, using his dead body as a meat shield.

Two others looked over their shoulders to see what the sudden crunch was. They recoiled and spun to aim their guns at Hoshi.

She grabbed the dead guy's rifle and blasted the one on the left at point-blank range, drilling a single round through his visor. Before his body even started to drop, she flung her meat shield at another hostile and charged a third. She crashed her left arm down on his rifle, knocking it out of his hands, and kicked his legs out from under him. She caught him in midair and snapped his neck before he hit the floor.

Two left.

They backed away from her, panicking, and hosed her down. The bullets ripped through her jacket and shirt, tore pieces of artificial skin off, and bounced off her metal skeleton and peppered the walls. She strode toward them as if she hadn't even noticed the bullet impacts. They ejected the spent clips and their hands trembled as they tried to insert fresh ones.

Hoshi drove her right foot into one man's knee, hitting a weak point in the armor and snapping the joint sideways. He collapsed, screaming as his knee folded in a direction it was never meant to bend, and she turned to the last man standing.

He got the clip in and raised his gun – but that was as far as he got. Hoshi deflected his aim with a punch, picked him up and hurled him through the wall. The top half of his body hung into the next room and the bottom half stuck out into the hallway. His rifle clattered to the floor inside the room and he scrambled to pick himself up.

Hoshi grabbed the front of his armor, lifted him, shoved her hand under his chin and forced his head back until his neck crunched like fresh celery.

The guy with the snapped knee scooted backward, babbling incoherently and trying to reload his rifle with violently shaking hands. Hoshi walked up to him, squatted, grabbed his head, and twisted.

Suddenly, there was silence.

Hoshi stood and paused for a second. Scanning the cameras again, Otto guessed. She turned toward the armory and said, "Clear."

Machiko appeared with a big, high-tech rifle in her hands, a katana on her belt, a huge sniper rifle with a drum magazine holstered on her back, and a cigarette clenched in her teeth. She also wore combat armor and a helmet.

Montoya stared slack-jawed at Hoshi. "I think I'm in love."

"I'm married." Hoshi walked over to Machiko and Montoya sighed and hung his head.

"Just my luck."

Rocky led the others into the hallway.

"Cameras have picked up the next wave. They're not wearing armor, though, just plain black jumpsuits." Hoshi frowned. "And their movements are rather mechanical."

"Probably the cyber-zombies Winslow told us about." Machiko pointed a thumb over her shoulder. "Choose your weapons and armor, everyone. We need to move." She glanced at Otto. "We don't have any armor your size, but if you stay under cover, you should be okay."

Oh, yeah, that's encouraging.

Shakira stepped into the armory, picked up a chest plate, and held it in trembling hands. She looked at Otto, waved a hand over her chest and abdomen, and tried to chuckle. "Well, you'll have a better chance if you hide behind the fat chick."

"The hot one, you mean." He glanced at her ass and managed to smile. "I’d never use you as a shield, but if this ends up being the last thing I ever see, I think I'd be okay with that."

Shakira rolled her eyes and focused on the armor in her hands. "Can someone show me how to put this on?"

Hoshi paused long enough to secure the latches on the chest and back plates, then picked up a huge assault rifle.

Rocky opened a cupboard and grabbed a first aid kit. "Guess sticking a few of these in the armory was a good call, huh?"

"Well, given what happened the last time we got pinned down in the armory, it made sense." Shadow finished latching her armor and grabbed a set for Hiro.

Rocky pulled her shirt up, quickly disinfected the bullet wound in her left breast, and secured a thick bandage over it with surgical tape. "Best I can do at the moment," she muttered, and reached for an assault rifle.

Once everyone had finished gearing up, Machiko locked the armory and took point.

"We should find a large, open room with plenty of cover in one spot," Hiro said. "That way, they'll be exposed, but we won't."

"Yep." Machiko nodded at the door leading to the stairwell. "I know just the place. Let's get going."