Corpo Age

The fight quickly turned to one similar to whack-a-mole. I would pop a few shots his way and he would force me to relocate by retaliating. I was obviously better at this game, and his energy shield was steadily draining.

Someone of his level should have more up his sleeve, but I kept the pressure up by mixing in new patterns of attack. I did that by revealing the other armament I was outfitted with, the particle beam sword.

With two swords in hand, I would occasionally pop out beside him to give him a surprise. The Ferrumus blade slipped through the energy shield as always, but the alloy of his power armor managed to block my attack no matter what part I targeted. As for my beam sword, it should be draining quite a bit of energy from his shield, but there was no way for me to tell exactly how effective it was.

I thought I was pressuring him pretty well, but he proved me wrong when his entire armor piece started to glow. The ambient temperature rose before it suddenly went up even further as the fire started shooting out from this Executor in every direction.

The entire room was engulfed in his attack. That meant the people I had previously knocked up, his allies, were affected by it too. Thankfully, I had my helmet on because I did not want to know what charred humans smelled like.

The only good thing to come from all the fire was that it obscured visibility.

Seeing how it wasn’t wise to continue frontal combat against my target, I decided to get the hell out of dodge and ran out of the bridge. I only got to the corner when my Argus noticed my fiery adversary sprinting after me.

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“Am I too hot for you? Regardless, running only hurts my feelings!”

The red power armor leaped out of the flames and I took that as my cue to pick up the speed.

“If it’s tag you want to play, then tag it is.”

My persistent pursuer kept spewing words at me, but I didn’t have the leeway to respond. He bulldozed his way into every corner, so I made as many turns as I could. The issue was that I had only mapped out so much of the ship. I hadn’t brought any D-Mothers along because I had yet to upgrade their stealth, but it soon dawned on me that it was a mistake. This elite Executor of SocialCorp had detected me anyway.

Wait a minute. How in the world am I still being detected? My stealth tech should be the most advanced in the entire world!

Several possibilities soon came to mind, and I didn’t hesitate to test it out.

Stealth had several weaknesses. I have employed it as my main tool for so long that I was naturally familiar with these weaknesses. The most annoying of them all were doors. That was why I tackled the issue some time ago, focusing on using projection technology to counter my arch-nemeses.

The other obvious counter to stealth was weight sensors. I had incorporated the ability to propel the power armor over long stretches that were equipped with pressure plates to address the issue, but what if this entire ship was advanced enough to detect my mass?

Without any delay, leaped away with the help of the ionic jetpack at the next T section. I left a Nye behind to evaluate how my pursuer reacted.

To my relief, he paused, showcasing I had been right, but I didn’t like what happened next. He reacted to the sprinklers throughout the ship, the kind that rained down the special type of water infused with ink that would render my active camouflage useless. It only turned on for a split second before I managed to shut it off, but that was all it needed to stain my power armor.

Shit.

I hadn’t made it that far and was noticed right away. The chase was back on as I raced for the exit. With me no longer invisible, there was no point in detouring any longer, and I beelined straight for the airlock where my shuttle was waiting. To get there, I had to cut through a large cargo bay where there was a whole lot of nothing.

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My behind was exposed. I had my energy shield ready to answer weapons fired my way, but he didn’t shoot.

Is he not shooting because he really wants to punch me or—maybe he doesn’t want to damage this ship?

Anything that could potentially penetrate a power armor would penetrate the hull. It made sense if I started thinking from his perspective, but that also ruined my schedule. There was only so much time left until I reached the airlock, and it wasn’t enough.

Taking a quick survey of my surroundings, I found an area filled with larger crates in the corner of the cargo bay. I dove straight into this jungle of crates and my instincts took over.

I could feel his line of sight and intuitively feel where I needed to go to lose him. Of course, running away wouldn’t be possible, as I would need to run across the empty cargo bay to reach anywhere. Without my active camouflage, he would definitely spot me. However, it was more than enough to buy some time by using these crates as my cover.

“Why did you even bother to come here if all you’re going to do is run? Didn’t you want to destroy this flagship? Well, go ahead and give it a try. It won’t matter anyway, just to let you know. Another ship has taken over command, and our fleet is making progress as planned. It’s only a matter of time until we overrun your allies.”

“Well, you are right about one thing,” I finally responded. “It’s only a matter of time.”

“Is that all you have for a retort?”

He began taunting me even more as we played hide and seek around these crates. Thirteen points in stealth was no joke. Even without any equipment to help me, it was hard to spot me even if you knew my approximate location.

Understandably, my pursuer soon got frustrated by the game of cat and mouse.

“If you want to continue hiding, fine! My reinforcements are coming, so your time is limited anyway. Enjoy your—”

He abruptly paused mid-sentence, and I knew the reason. It was because my scheme had worked. The EI rounds I fired earlier had established a perfectly good connection to his system for me. During this entire chase, I had left my body on autopilot while my mind was focused on breaching his cybersecurity.

I’ve got to say, SocialCorp was the top corporation for a reason. Even with all my upgrades and preparations, it took almost ten minutes to get through. Now that I had succeeded, his power armor listened to me.

I sent out commands to have his power armor follow me to the airlock. It was a lot better than having to carry my target myself. His movements were janky, as I could tell he was using every ounce of his strength to go against what the power armor was forcing him to do.

“There’s no use struggling,” my voice sounded out within his helmet. “It’s only a matter of time before I gain control of your cybernetics, too. Then I’ll be able to move your limbs for you.”

I cheerfully explained to him about his fate as I continued working on his software. It was time to find his method of communication with Silas, so I could go pay him a visit as well.

Like that, I gained a new friend, and we made our getaway back to my shuttle.