Deep Dive Ch. 07 - Break-In

This warehouse was one of the biggest I came across, but at the same time had only a few small windows near the top of the walls, letting through very little light. Heaps of stacked boxes created a maze with no logic to it, even more so when you started climbing on top of them.

I slowed down to catch my breath and pulled up my full inventory screen. No medkits, no energy boosters, no grenades. Not like I needed any of that.

The weight of my marksman rifle in my hands was all I was missing, and now I had that back. Time to clean this place up.

------------|V|------------

I waited until the last one of the four enemies walked into the room. They were moving slowly, almost as if they were expecting an ambush. Well, better luck next time boys.

I pulled the trigger twice, intimately familiar with the recoil by now, and in the span of half a second, the shield and then the head of the alien popped. The suppressor muted the sound of the shots, but the supersonic crack of the bullets still echoed between the walls. The other three silhouettes scattered, looking for cover and hiding behind the various boxes and shipping containers.

I jumped down from my vantage point and slinked forward while activating my heightened senses. I couldn't help but smirk when I picked up faint noises of footsteps and armor scraping against wood coming from a few directions. One on the right side, and two on the left. I moved silently, there was no need to hurry now.

I caught him from the side and hip-fired three shots into his chest. His dead body slumped to the ground.

There was a sound, loud. Someone was shouting. Probably calling the one I just killed. Maybe in other circumstances, I would have felt bad, but they wouldn't have shown me any mercy if our roles were reversed, and I had none to spare.

The sounds were getting louder, faster, more erratic. And then, they separated. Now nice of them. Tap, tap, tap, the sound of footsteps closer and closer to the doors to the warehouse. More shouting, but I paid it no mind, I had the entrance already in the crosshair, waiting for the target to walk right into it.

Tap, tap. Two spent casings hit the floor at the same time as the third dead body. All three of them had the exact same armor, which meant that the only one left was the leader, the one with the better gear.

The one breathing so hard I could hear it as loud as his nervous steps. It was so unfortunate for him that he chose to walk right into my line of sight.

The first shot took out his shield, but the second one never came, when the firing pin met the empty chamber. Damn, I should count my ammo. The enemy fell to the ground anyway, not dead, just panicked.

I moved, changing my position and swapping mags. Maybe this was a good opportunity to make an experiment. I took an empty magazine and threw it against a nearby container. As expected, the leader, well, former leader, started walking towards it.

I waited patiently, until he stepped out of the maze with his weapon raised, facing away from me, searching for the source of the sound. I tapped with one hand against the box I was sitting on, to get his attention.

This was an awful position. Without his team, with no shield, and with my rifle already pointed straight at him. He should have surrendered. Any sane person would.

Instead, he was the fourth one to fall, his weapon thrown aside by the inertia after trying to fire a desperate burst right before I put two holes in his chest.

Despite being almost sure of that outcome even before it happened I was a bit disappointed. Advanced AI huh? I would have at least faked a surrender. Still much to learn guys.

I moved closer and started going through the pockets of the former leader, and quickly found what I was looking for. A dark blue magnetic keycard with two black stripes. The one I already had was yellow, so I guess it makes sense that I couldn't open the blue card reader with it, shame I didn't think of that earlier.

As my enhanced hearing was running out I caught something. The sound of multiple footsteps coming from the doorway, but one of them was different, heavier.

I slid behind one of the support pillars and watched as the second team walked into the warehouse hiding the keycard behind my belt at the same time. Three regular aliens, the same ones I already fought and killed, but the fourth one was someone I had already met and was quietly hoping to never have to repeat.

Towering over his team was the leader from the drop ship, clad in the same blue armor and carrying the same heavy rifle that took down my shield with a single shot last time. He stood there, looking around, noticing the bodies on the ground.

I couldn't hope to solo him in one versus one, and now he had three more at his disposal. Running away was the only option, and not even a bad one, since I already had a keycard.

He said something to the other three and they moved back into the entrance, while the leader walked further into the warehouse. Okay, I take back what I said about AI being stupid, that was a smart move by him. Seems like there is no avoiding this boss fight. I hope I won't have to blow up my arm again to finish him.

My suit still had a few points of energy left, so I activated both the boosts to my reflex as well as my senses. The world became more vivid once again and the timer started counting down, I had to make the best use of the next sixty seconds.

I shot twice and immediately retreated, looking for the next cover as the pillar I was hiding behind rang with the sound of hitting bullets. Then the same from behind a wooden box, two shots, and a dive to the side as my cover turned into splinters after a long burst of automatic fire.

My opponent wasn't standing still either, but here I had a clear advantage, being able to track him by the sound of his footsteps and remain hidden thanks to my superior stealth skills. He in turn had to guess where I was or wait for me to shoot him and reveal my position. Even then because of his heavy armor, he wasn't quick enough to catch me before I changed my hiding spot.

I repeated this maneuver thrice more, hide, shoot, reposition, and each time the reaction was coming a split second slower than the previous one. Despite all the protection he had I must have started getting through his armor and started chipping away his health. Level and stats didn't mean shit now, as James told me, with enough skill and a good plan every battle was winnable.

I picked the next spot and started quietly moving when I spotted something flying straight up from where the leader was hiding. This broke the pattern of the fight and my first reaction was to take a better look and assess the threat.

A flashbang.

I turned my head away and closed my eyes but that wasn't enough. The sound alone brought me to my knees, my rifle landing on the floor as I clutched my head in my hands. All there existed was the ringing sound piercing my brain.

I noticed something grabbed me only when it yanked me backward. I slid across the concrete floor and came to my senses laying out in the open, without my weapon and with both of my boosts disabled after being stunned.

A blurry blue shape appeared above and reached for my head. After many fights, my muscle memory kicked in and I crawled away, trying to get out of the range. That wasn't enough when I was grabbed and lifted into the air by my belt. I knew I wasn't that heavy, but he'd done it with one hand. I don't know why but at that moment it was all I took out of this situation.

The details of the outside world were coming back, and shaking the last effects of the stun I reached down and unlocked my belt, freeing myself. Immediately after landing back on the ground, I kicked against his leg, pushing myself away and out of his reach, readying myself for an attack.

But that never came. My opponent stood still with my belt in his hand, seemingly surprised by me still putting up any fight. That gave me the time to get up and think about how would I want to play this out. I guess we both were unsure how to proceed. Then he threw my belt to the side and took a fighting stance.

The situation was bad, really bad. I couldn't get to my rifle in time and had no chance in melee no matter what tricks I used. I could stall for time with my reflex boost, I should have enough energy for one last use, but once that runs out I'm done for.

But what if I didn't have to win? I looked at my discarded belt, and there among spare magazines was the blue keycard. This was going all-in on a plan that assumed that a lot of things would go exactly as expected, and even a single deviation will ruin it all. But it was all I had, so fuck it, we ball.

I activated my reflex boost, stepped forward into the melee range, and had to immediately dodge a left hook to the gut. This was frankly a bit disrespectful punch with how slow it has been, but from his perspective, I wouldn't have bet on me putting any fight either. He either wasn't taking the fight seriously or was testing me. The latter was more probable.

Either way, that gave me just enough time to see where the spots on his body were not covered by the armor. The neck was protected by the high, antiballistic collar, but the joints were unarmored. Seeing everything up close I also realized that the only thick pieces of his gear were the chest plate and the helmet. All the rest, like the arms, legs, and back were much thinner. Seeing him from afar I assumed all the armor pieces were the same, so I aimed for the center of mass, to score an easy hit. Turns out I was playing right into his hand. Clever design, but I won't make the same mistake again.

I dodged the next two punches and timed the kick to the knee as he was readying the third. The height difference between us was making it difficult for me to aim anywhere high, but everything up low was a fair game. My attack took him by surprise, taking him off-balance for a second, which I exploited with another two kicks, one to the shin and a roundhouse to the hip.

That finally took him to the ground, even if only on one knee. An elbow to the side of the head wouldn't do much damage because of the helmet, but I hoped to stun him for long enough to get to the keycard. I took a swing with my arm to put as much force into it as I could and almost choked as I was stopped dead in my tracks when his hand closed around my throat.

He stood back up, still keeping me locked tight despite me using both hands trying to break his grip. He wasn't even putting effort into it, simply staring into me as I fought for air, making the enormous difference in our strength even more obvious. I kicked him again but this time he didn't even flinch, instead raising his arm and me with it until I could barely touch the ground with my toes.

It was getting harder and harder to breathe and I could feel my arms getting weaker with each passing second. In a last-ditch effort, I tried to punch the hand holding me but lacked the strength to make it anything more than a light tap. In the back of my head, I knew I had a way out of there, but my mind was all too foggy, and slipping even further as I started to lose consciousness.

And suddenly I could breathe again. One greedy inhale and my body leaped into action like a pre-tensioned spring. With one move I opened my quick-access menu, took out a knife, and stabbed it into his forearm. The pressure on my neck vanished and I jumped back, pulling the knife out but keeping it in front of me, ready to strike again, but making a few extra steps back to keep my distance. I was still catching my breath, so I quietly hoped he wouldn't follow with another attack. And again I was right, which at this point was making me ask more questions about the strategy or even motivation of my opponent.

Why hadn't he finished me already? He had plenty of opportunities to do so. Looking around I couldn't see anything that would force him to loosen his grip on me, so he must have done this of his own volition. Was this some kind of game to him? Was he testing me? Or playing with his food?

The leader looked at the hole in his arm, a few drops of blood staining the edge of the cut. His heavy helmet was as inscrutable as ever, but from the slowness of his movements, I knew he didn't care. Maybe he wanted me to get free. Or maybe this was just an unplanned inconvenience. Fuck if I know.

I rushed forward, closing the space between us, and faked a wide stab, releasing the knife at the last moment, and sending it flying straight towards his head.

He grabbed it mid-air with his other hand.

I knew he would, damn show-off. Getting down I slid on one knee past him, reaching her his belt where he had strapped grenades. I was tempted to pull the pin on the frag, but my self-preservation instinct told me to stop being stupid, so I chose a flashbang instead. Using the momentum I rolled forward, toward my discarded belt and grabbed it as the whole warehouse went blindingly bright for a split-second.

Being ready for it and not having my sense boost active made all the difference, especially the later part, as I was able to keep moving forward, even if on unsteady legs. The big man will be back on his feet in a few seconds, and I think I saw the three other guys moving toward me as well.

The only thing that mattered now was the keycard. If I lose it, all of this will be for naught. I started strapping my belt back on but realized that this wasn't secure enough. They took it off once, kinda with my help, but they can do it again, and probably will. I patted my suit, searching for a place to hide the card but it seemed to follow the standard woman's clothing design of having no fucking pockets!

I stopped running and discovered that I had driven myself to a dead end. Double-stacked shipping containers on both sides with no way to climb. And even if, not enough time. I could hear the heavy footsteps of my pursuers hot on my heels, and approaching rapidly. Screw that, only one option left.

I unzipped my suit, slid the card inside, around my torso, and placed it behind my back. I started to zip it back up... wait, it could crack it if I fell down. I should move it to my thigh, where it can't bend. I unzipped the suit again only to hear the last few steps of the running enemy leader before he appeared from around the corner.

Seeing him crash into the wall as he didn't slow down enough may have seemed like a mistake on his part until the moment when the metal side of the container bent inward under his mass, acting as a buffer. I barely managed to do a half-turn to face him before he pushed himself off the wall and closed the distance between us. Despite all of this weight, he was damn fast when he needed to be.

My back slammed against the wall behind me and before I could get my bearings my hands were pinned above my head. Not-so-distant memory came back, drawing a connection between my current position and the one I've been once in already, but this time I may be forced to take a completely different approach to solving it. Somehow I immediately understood the cause-and-effect sequence of the last two or so seconds that put me here, but still couldn't believe it.

It was a combination of many different, supposedly not-connected details that ended up creating frankly a ridiculous situation. When the leader rushed to grab me, he impacted the container behind me and bent it inwards. Since he was much taller than me, the dent reached from the point high up where he held my wrists to around my waist. That meant, that my torso was pushed further back, relative to my hips and legs. That in turn put pressure on my lower back, exactly where I put the keycard, which right now was being pressed dangerously hard against the metal surface behind me.

No big deal, I can push my chest and hips up, and it should ease the pressure on the keycard. I tried that. And felt the front of my suit unzip just a tiny bit more. Because I didn't have the time to close it back up, it was open from my neck to the bottom of my ribs, and each slight movement I made made it open up more.

I looked up at my captor, but he was busy searching for something in one of the pouches on his belt with one hand, while he pinned me to the wall with the other. At least he wasn't watching me at the moment, which was the sole thing I was grateful for, since my breasts felt as if they were about to pop out.

I purposely took shallow breaths but even then I could feel the edge of my suit sliding dangerously close to my nipples, and I was afraid that once it reached them, that would be the point of no return. I instinctually turned my head, and closed my eyes, just thinking about it. Suffocating myself would be less embarrassing.

I tried to move my hips sideways, to push the card to the side instead of having it stuck directly against my spine. Being stuck in this bent back position was making it difficult for me to breathe, not to mention maneuver a piece of thin plastic inside my clothes by rubbing it against the wall behind me without breaking it.

The card caught against one of the vertical ribs of the wall, and I could feel it moving inside of my clothes. Now I only needed to push it far enough...

The leader grunted something and pulled my hands further up, discontented with my seeming attempts to get myself free. I could feel the keycard bending against my spine and the wall, threatening to snap at any moment. I had to decide. This was my key to getting out of here. It's worth it. It must be.

I stood on my tip-toes, pushing myself up, bending further back, and letting the keycard slip from the metal rib, now once again to securely lay flat against my back. All was well until the tension from my breasts pressing against my suit unzipped it down to my navel.

I froze in place, watching as my captor's attention shifted from whatever he was searching for, to me, as the visor of his helmet met my own eyes. We were so close I could see my flushed red face in its reflection. My heart pounded in my chest, I could feel my body heating up from bashful self-consciousness.

His gaze drifted lower, and I swear I could physically feel it when it did. To maintain the illusion of my decency I took one last half-hearted try at freeing my hands, hoping to convince myself that I was put in this situation despite my will and wasn't enjoying any of this.

His grip didn't budge. But it shook my body, just a little bit, and to my dismay that was enough to overpower the friction and inertia that kept my suit in place. I tried to hide my face in my raised arms as both sides of my suit slipped apart, putting my breasts in full view.

I was hyperventilating, conflicting emotions ran through me at such speed I was starting to feel lightheaded. There was shame, there was anger, there was a sense of helplessness, but at the forefront of it all was arousal of an intensity as I have never experienced before. But worst of all, part of that arousal took its roots in curiosity.

What effect have I had on him? Did he like what he saw? Despite a wave of embarrassment, I turned my head slightly, enough to check with one eye. Why was this even important to me?

He stood still, motionless, but I knew that behind that mirrored visor his eyes were following the rise and fall of my chest that repeated with my every breath. I gave a test pull with my arms, and to my surprise I moved them down, dragging his semi-inert hand with me a few inches.

That seemed to get his focus back, and the iron-like grip came back, pinning my wrists to the wall. His helmet moved a few times between my hands, my face, and my breasts, almost as if he couldn't decide what he should pay attention to.

He was winning while in familiar territory, making use of his physical strength to the point of completely overpowering me. Then in just a few seconds his whole battle plan got flipped upside down, and now he didn't know what to do next.