Vane was screaming.
The battery acid hissed furiously as it ate through his composite visor, filling the air beneath the overturned transport with the noxious smell of melting plastic and burning skin. Blinded and panicking, the P.A.C.I.F.I.C. specialist raised his heavy pneumatic Captive-Bolt Pistol and fired wildly into the acid rain.
THUNK. A heavy, armor-piercing steel bolt shattered the concrete an inch from Maddie's boot.
She didn't hesitate. Maddie vaulted from the wreckage of the transport, her Vanguard class surging raw kinetic energy into her legs. She closed the distance in a single, explosive blur.
Vane heard her boots hit the flooded asphalt. Relying on his corporate training, he pivoted toward the sound, dropping the empty pistol and drawing a serrated combat knife from his chest rig. He slashed blindly in a wide, desperate arc.
