"To the left?" Yamata asks, completely ignoring Tyrant, who is roaring at the top of his lungs below us. What a loud and annoying guy.
"Do you mean for us, crawling along the ceiling, or according to the conventional system?" After all, when you're moving on the ceiling, your left will be where it's right for those walking on the floor.
"For us, of course. Or do you want to jump through bulletproof glass in the other direction? If so, sorry—count me out!" Four Eyes declares firmly with a smirk.
"No, I don't really want to. But who knows what might pop into your head? Women are like that, and your unexplored subspecies even more so!" I reply in the same tone, admitting to myself that the question was silly.
Looking back, I can say that Four Eyes learned to crawl quickly—and with a weapon—in record time. About twenty minutes, and the "combat cockroach" was ready! Well, considering that I was her teacher, it's no surprise… though I really need to do something about my self-esteem; it's constantly trying to inflate! Could this be Vector's influence creeping through? It shouldn't be. Judging by memories, he didn't have such "slips." The poor Russian medic certainly didn't, and the German didn't bother with anything like that at all.
Now my partner and I were moving along a flat corridor with a branch to the left. But we weren't discussing it, because we'd just come back from there. Roughly speaking, it was a dead end. More precisely, Birkin had passed through it—and so carelessly that clearing the debris was impossible, especially with a factor like Tyrant directly beneath us!
After returning to the main corridor, we had only two choices: dive left again, into a door leading to what looked like a small room, or continue on toward the descent already visible on the right, at the very end of the tunnel. That was what we were discussing—jokingly. Why jokingly? Stress relief. It's not every day you crawl over one of the most dangerous "beasts" in the world.
"Now remind me again," I sigh, asking more to calm my growing paranoia than because I actually need the answer, "why this loud, burly guy can't follow us into what looks like a small room?"
"Because look at the size of the door! It's just above human height. For a T-103, it'll be waist-high—maybe a little higher. He simply won't fit. And he won't break through the walls; one paranoid person has already checked their thickness. By the way, how's your fist? Has it regenerated yet, paranoid? So the only tricky part is the descent to our entrance." Four Eyes replies calmly, though she can't resist a jab.
"Better to be a living paranoid than a dead brave man!"
"Judging by the fact that you're some kind of undead, an appropriate response comes to mind, brave man!" Four Eyes giggles.
"I'm a bad influence on you! Ah, what a quiet, good girl you were at first!" I roll my eyes to the heavens—forgetting that I'm on the ceiling now, which means I'm actually looking down. Beneath me was a free circus show: a leaping Tyrant, desperately trying to reach me.
"Eh… most likely not you," Yamata sighs strangely.
"What do you mean by that?" I ask, intrigued.
"After you absorbed Vector, his traits began to manifest in you. That conclusion wasn't hard to reach—even without analysis. And with me… I absorbed the Party Girl in the same way… She was the survivor from Echo-6. In short, I inherited some of her character traits, that's all," Yamata says sadly. Unlike me—who had completely redefined myself as a person—she was clearly frightened by this fate.
It was understandable. Thanks to her willpower, and the fact that she was the one doing the absorbing, she took a dominant position. That made it much harder for her to accept changes in her own character. As for me, like Alex and the remnants of Nathan, I drowned under the "weight" of Vector's consciousness. A new personality emerged—derived from the other three. So that doesn't scare me, because I owe my birth to that event. And no personality can break through Cain's established views.
"Roger Roger. Let's make this clear," I say. "You go down first, anyway, that muscle-bound bully is focused on me right now—you might even slip by unnoticed. I, on the other hand, should be much faster than him, so I'll just jump through the open door." I said carelessly, or at least tried to make it seem that way. Better to get busy than to dwell on things
"It's a stupid plan," Four Eyes says, "but there's no other option. I'm going."
She jumps toward the entrance to the room. A quick swipe of the card I took from one of the employees—well, from his corpse in the first room—and with a quiet click, the door opens.
I don't know what did it, but something makes Tyrant break away from me. Maybe he has sharp enough hearing to catch the click from below, or maybe he noticed Four Eyes's movement. Either way, I have to act fast. This beast doesn't need much—one step, one blow—and in the worst case, I'll be left without a partner.
With a sliding motion, I launch myself forward, spreading my limbs at the end to bleed off momentum, yet still clip the doorframe. In the same motion, I shove Four Eyes inside. I note that my left arm has stopped obeying me—it feels like it's been ripped out of its socket. Ignoring it, I push off the floor with my good arm and legs,flying through the doorway after her.
Where I was a moment ago, Tyrant's foot slams down heavily.
Made it!
"You could've been more careful," Yamata says, hopping up and slamming the door shut, "but thanks anyway."
"Yeah," I reply, forcing my shoulder back into place as I look around the room, "and we hit the jackpot."
(End of Chapter)
Hey! Don't forget, your support is very important.
Please donate power stones, write reviews, and leave comments. It will be a huge help!
🎁 Bonus chapter at 50 power stones!