Previously…
“Well, there are at least two guards in there if I didn't mess the readings... What do you say, ladies? Fancy doing some muscle work?”
Taylor patted Eneit on the shoulder as she moved to get out of the vehicle and jump onto the wagon.
“Leave it to me, I need to let off some steam,” said the Hyde, her skin turning gray as her eyes began to grow as disproportionately as her claws.
Taylor Galpin, now fully transformed, jumped out, clinging to the outside of the armored wagon while the local Wednesday interfered again with the vehicle's internal systems. The cybernetic Addams' eyes glowed with the remnants of hacked code that allowed her to slam open the side door of the transport, giving the Hyde full access.
The reaction of the two guards was as expected.
“Holy shit!”
“Oh my God! Is that a Hyde!?”
Of the two, it was Hart, the veteran who until a few minutes ago had been fed up with the routine of his job, who was the first to react. The pulse rifle in his hand flashed as it fired its accelerated molten metal projectiles.
In many other circumstances, that would have been enough to, if not kill, at least seriously injure any Hyde who had the misfortune of being shot at such close range.
But Taylor was not just any Hyde, and unlike many of her kind, she had not rushed into battle naked. The same specially treated clothing she wore to stay dressed between transformations had also been imbued with strong defenses that blocked the worst of the attack.
That didn't mean she could take it lightly or as if it were nothing. Taylor felt each and every one of Hart's shots, and the force of them made her take at least one step back. But none of it caused any real damage... just intense, stinging, burning pain.
The kind of pain that a Hyde affiliated with the Addams family would take more as a motivating stimulus than anything else.
Which led to her claws immediately extending in a powerful blow that struck Hart directly in the torso. Despite the guard's armor, the enormous creature's talons pierced through it, skewering him like a shish kebab. The weapon fell from his suddenly lifeless hands as blood spurted from his mouth and wounds with a wet, unpleasant sound. All his concerns about his work routine, the unfairness of his salary, and how those dirty outcasts should learn their place or be eliminated once and for all vanished with his rotten consciousness as he died.
The reaction of his partner Struycken, the rookie who had no idea who the prisoner they were guarding was, was painfully predictable.
Of course, he also raised his weapon, ready to shoot despite the horror he had just witnessed. But the fear that gripped his body made him shake, slowing his movement. The rifle slipped from his hands and fired as it fell. The shots flew in random directions, and several hit Taylor's body, once again neutralized by her suit.
But one single random bullet grazed her temple.
A few centimeters more in the right (or wrong) direction and the shot would have hit the female Hyde squarely in the head, with possibly fatal consequences.
But luck would have it that it was only a scratch, leaving a line of blood on her forehead. Taylor was fully aware that, by a stupid twist of fate, things could have gone in a very different direction, and her most basic instincts of survival and rage took hold, zeroing in on the shaking figure of Struycken.
The Hyde took just two steps forward and grabbed Struycken with her claws, squeezing him tight. The guard tried to say something, perhaps to ask for mercy, or offer a futile apology, or a final insult.
She didn't care, nor could she have understood the words at all in the carnivorous frenzy she had fallen into. The poor bastard let out one last scream before Taylor's oversized jaws closed over his head, decapitating him with a crunchy, juicy bite.
Taylor couldn't say how much time had passed, but shortly after swallowing her improvised lunch, she began to revert back to her human form and her mind cleared, calmer than she had felt since her forced separation from Pup. The paleness of her skin, the dark circles under her eyes, and other signs of exhaustion and stress that had been growing over the last few hours had noticeably diminished.
Finally, Eneit entered the transport, followed by the local Wednesday.
As for Joel Glicker, he remained in the hover car, keeping it parallel and at a constant speed alongside the armored wagon as they flew following the floating rails that meandered between the immense skyscrapers bathed in neon and pollution.
“Well, that was... expeditious,” said Wednesday, clearly impressed. “I've never met a Hyde before, but I've heard stories of their ferocity, and it's obvious they weren't exaggerating.”
“I'm sorry,” Taylor began, momentarily interrupted by a burp she could barely contain, “I'm not in an ideal situation, and I needed to let it out or I would have ended up losing control, probably at a more inopportune moment.”
The cybernetic Wednesday simply nodded before turning her attention to the containment cell where her Enid Sinclair was being held.
“Oh, ma louve argentée,” she murmured, “You will soon be free.”
Eneit, for her part, walked over to Taylor and gently placed a hand on the young woman’s shoulder.
“Are you feeling better, Lady Taylor?” asked the barbarian princess, looking at the female Hyde with concern but without judgment in her eyes. Only the genuine esteem of someone who cared.
Taylor gave a simple nod of affirmation, “Yes, yes... I know I should feel worse about the cannibalism, but... well... nothing that can't be fixed by taking antacids later, you know.”
Eneit nodded in response, “Indeed, the hearts of enemies are easier to digest than skulls.”
As they spoke, Wednesday had knelt down next to the cage and begun to operate on a small circuit board in one of the lower corners.
One of her arms opened up, splitting into separate metal pieces, and a series of cables of varying thicknesses emerged, moving almost like tentacles, sinking their connectors into the circuitry of the advanced prison.
The Addams' cybernetic eyes flashed blue and red as she raised her voice, which reverberated with an unexpected mechanical echo, “Joel, stay alert. Between our attack and the hack, I estimate we'll have between forty-five seconds and a minute to get out of here.”
“On it!”
In a short time, a hissing sound of air was heard. The reinforced restraints that held the unconscious Enid Sinclair immobile opened, and a metallic click echoed, causing the cage’s door to shake.
Wednesday turned to the werewolf princess and the Hyde, “I need one of you to help me. The door is open, but the material it's made of is extremely dense and normally can only be moved with special hydraulic equipment or...”
“Or someone ridiculously strong, I understand,” said Eneit, approaching the cage.
The she-wolf extended her claws to improve her grip and grabbed the edges of the large door, pulling with all her might. Her muscles tensed as the enormous mass of metal and carbon finally began to move with a shrill squeak. Small sparks flew from the edges of the door as it scraped against the frame of the cage entrance.
Inside, the unconscious Enid, now free of her restraints, suddenly found herself with nothing to keep her upright, and her chrome body began to lean forward and fall. The only thing that prevented her from hitting her face on the metal floor of the transport was Wednesday's quick reflexes as she caught her in her arms.
“I've got you, querida,” she whispered. “All right... we're leaving. Joel! Get behind the wheel and be ready to release the anchor as soon as all four of us are in the vehicle.”
From outside, Joel Glicker laughed.
“Boss, it's not the first time I've done one of t...”
Joel's response was never finished, because at that moment everything went to hell.
A flash of light. A white, incandescent glow struck the hover car head-on, causing it to explode into a huge ball of fire. The force of the impact shook the armored car, and the three women and the unconscious rescued Enid were thrown to the opposite end of the door, hitting the cold metal walls of the transport with force.
There was a bloodcurdling screech and sharp noises that indicated damage to the connectors between the armored vehicle and the floating rails that guided it.
Wednesday was the first to recover, her face frozen in an expression of controlled surprise, horror, and alarm.
Through the dissipating smoke, the remains of the anchor attached to the bottom of the armored wagon could still be seen. But all that was left of the hover car was a few pieces of blackened, twisted metal, with what little remained of the rest of the vehicle undoubtedly already falling into the abyss to the delight of the scavengers who lived on the city's surface levels.
And there was no trace of Joel. His body had surely vaporized or melted into the wreckage of the vehicle.
An artificial voice echoed in the air.
“UNAUTHORIZED INSURGENT OUTCASTS. CEASE ALL RESISTANCE AND PREPARE TO BE ELIMINATED.”
“Drones!” Wednesday muttered, “Those sons of bitches were faster than I expected!”
Without further ado, she passed the unconscious Enid from her arms to those of an alarmed Taylor.
“What? But...”
“There's no time!” shouted the Addams, "They'll blow us up sooner rather than later! I'm going to try to get this off the rails. The car will fall into the void, but at this speed we'll gain a couple hundred meters of horizontal flight, and maybe I can even redirect it a little before gravity completely screws us over. And with luck we can jump onto a rooftop or urban ledge. You two get close to the door and be ready on my signal!"
Eneit nodded, taking Taylor by the shoulders and guiding her toward the wagon's exit door. “Come on, Lady Taylor. Jumping into the void, even with the vain hope of being able to cling to one of those monstrosities of concrete, steel, and glass, gives us a better chance than being engulfed in a ball of fire.”
Outside, a growing swarm of those unmanned vehicles resembling flying motorcycles that had pursued them upon their arrival in that universe could be seen.
Wednesday was kneeling in the center of the transport. Wires emerged from her (from her arms, her back, her skull) like the branches of a poison ivy forged in steel and shining chrome, sinking into the nooks and crannies of the vehicle, its circuits and internal systems. Her eyes had become black wells where the white of numbers flashed at high speed as she sought to unhook the wagon from the rails.
And of course, just when it seemed like things couldn't get any worse, they did.
A second shot hit the transport directly.
Its shielding prevented the wagon from disintegrating on the spot, but a considerable part of its outer hull burst open and was torn away, causing sudden decompression. That, combined with the force of the impact, caused Taylor, still holding the local Enid in her arms, to lose her balance and fall backwards into the urban abyss.
“Oh, FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!”
“Lady Taylor!!” cried Eneit.
“Go after them!” Wednesday shouted, silver tears streaming from her eyes, one of them smoking and melted from the energy feedback after the impact, “I have to…”
And when it rains, it pours.
Behind the cybernetic Addams, the air tore apart, as if reality itself were a piece of cloth.
A figure that had not been there a moment before materialized fully, wrapped in crimson robes that fluttered in the wind, holding in their hands a kind of silver pistol pointed directly at Wednesday. Beneath the shadows of their hood, a sharp, psychotic feminine smile could be glimpsed.
Eneit recognized what was undoubtedly one of the members of the Normalcy Nine on the spot.
Her performance was exemplary, let there be no doubt about that. With war-hardened reflexes and experience, she threw her sword in a split second, almost without thinking. The weapon flew through the air, spinning with the promise of certain death and pain.
She was deadly accurate. The steel blade severed the arm of the member of the Nine (a variant of Laurel Gates, although Eneit couldn't have known that at the time) quickly and cleanly, causing the newly arrived intruder to let out a cry of disbelief and pain.
But fortune, or perhaps it would be better to say misfortune, would have it that the severed arm had already received enough synaptic signals from the brain that, even after being cut off, its muscles moved and a finger pulled the trigger, firing the gun.
And a shot from the silver gun struck the Wednesday Addams of that universe squarely in the back, causing her to vanish into luminous ashes.
All this happened at the same time as another shot from the drones destroyed what was left of the wagon with a tremendous explosion, throwing Eneit out of it as well.
The barbarian werewolf fell, still trying to comprehend how everything had gone so wrong in a matter of seconds and avoiding focusing on the bitter reality that they had failed in their mission. Above her, fading into the distance, she could see the wagon disappearing, not into a ball of fire and molten metal, but into the Nothing.
The Nothing, spreading across the sky, impossible to truly describe in a coherent way. It absorbed the heavens above it, the drones, and everything around it in its path. A tide of inexistence growing with relentless force, erasing that reality from the multiverse.
Shaking her head and trying to adopt some of the pragmatism she had learned from her husband, Eneit turned around, looking down. She could see Taylor falling in the distance, still holding the unconscious Enid of strange metallic body in her arms. The Hyde had partially transformed, no doubt due to the panic of the fall.
Eneit stretched her body, leaning down vertically and accelerating her descent, falling like a missile toward the other two women. As she approached Taylor, she activated the multiversal travel device on her wrist, without stopping to look at the destination, thinking only of getting out of that place as soon as possible.
When her hand reached Taylor, the Hyde responded by clinging to her tightly. At that moment, with the three of them still united in free fall, Eneit activated the device.
With a flash of light, they left behind that universe that fate itself seemed to have wanted to spit in the face.
NOTES
Well, a story set in a cyberpunk universe wasn't going to end well, but I don't think anyone expected such a succession of calamities in such a short period of time. I should rename this segment "A Series of Unfortunate Events", or something.
Some translation!
ma louve argentée: (french) my silver she-wolf.
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