Inside the narrow hallway beyond were several more doors.
Behind her, she thought the foremost robots had arrived, as the approaching footsteps had suddenly increased in volume.
She didn’t bother to close the door behind her, but instead made her way forward. Since the thick door wasn’t completely open, she moved to the far side, where she would be out of view of her approaching attackers.
She headed for the far side of the hall, drawn by the only pair of double doors embedded in the corridor. She quickly transitioned into a sprint.
She opened fire as she ran, not wanting to risk being locked out, not when she was so close. She drilled a hole the size of her chest into the doors, and when she reached them, she crouched at the edge, peering past with her weapon. She scanned the cube-like interior. The room was empty, save for a desk.
Either Mayor Grandas hadn’t come to the bunker. Or he was in a different room.
Behind her, it sounded like the rising footsteps had reached the bunker entrance, because they stopped suddenly. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the tip of a rifle barrel protrude past the edge of the thick door as a robot approached, weapon first.
She fired at that rifle, scoring a hit. The weapon immediately withdrew.
She reached through the hole she’d made and unlocked the doors. She ducked inside, zigzagging. Plasma fire ate through the air on either flank, forcing her to leap behind the desk. She toppled it for cover.
Energy bolts slammed into the desk itself, eating partially through it. The wood wasn’t going to hold up for very long under the assault, especially not when more combat robots continued to arrive all the time, joining in the attack.
As that deadly fire continued to rain down upon her hiding place, she decided she might as well try the next room. There was no point in staying here until the robots destroyed her.
The individual rooms within the bunker would likely have thin walls, with the majority of the armor and padding placed at the entrance.
She checked her map: the bunker was blank save for the areas she had explored, but she could see where the hallway doors were placed, which allowed her to pick the wall most likely to have an adjacent room behind it.
She opened fire at her chosen wall; it was made of hastily poured concrete, and she drilled through readily enough. She did have to occasionally reposition as pieces of the desk beside her crumbled away; she would pause to return fire, shooting randomly over the top of the desk before continuing her assault upon the wall.
When she was through, she took a moment to survey the next room through the gap. It contained a lone desk like this one but was otherwise empty. Well, if the mayor had really been somewhere in the bunker, but in a different room, he would have been evacuated by now. Too bad.
Well, either way, she wasn’t going to give up without a fight.
She fired randomly from cover a few times to force her enemies back and was about to roll into the adjacent room when something caught her eye below.
An outline in the concrete floor.
As if there was a trapdoor.
Cocking her head slightly, she pressed along the edges of that outline, until she found a surface that depressed. The outline folded upward, forcing her to one side.
Still using the remnants of the desk for cover, she peered into the opening.
A ladder led down into darkness.
With a shrug, she slid the pistol into her belt and pulled herself into the opening, head- first, and climbed down. She hooked the top parts of her feet onto the rungs and gripped the sides of the ladder with her hands, slowly descending.
Light came from another opening below. She could see a concrete floor, and part of a wall.
When she reached the edge, she paused to withdraw her pistol, and then peered past to get a better view.
She saw a security robot standing next to the mayor in the otherwise empty room.
The robot had the rifle barrels underneath its forearms aimed at the opening.
Rhea managed to squeeze off a shot before it returned fire.
She pulled back but heard a loud clang—she looked down in time to watch the robot crumple into view. It didn’t get up: she must have gotten a lucky shot in.
She started to peer around the edge of the opening again, but shots erupted, forcing her back. The mayor obviously had a pistol of his own.
Above her, the bunker was completely quiet. She knew she didn’t have much time until the other combat robots reached her. The mayor had probably communicated what was happening already.
She considered her options. She was a cyborg, with a reaction time far faster than a human’s. The advantage was hers, here.
She knew then what she was going to do.
She slid her feet forward, unhooking them from the rungs above her, and plunged into the room.
She kept the pistol aimed in front of her as she dropped.
The mayor came into view. He had retreated to one corner and held a pistol aloft; Rhea targeted his weapon the instant she saw it, and as she fell, she fired once, striking the pistol in the center.
Grandas shouted in pain, dropping the weapon as it melted away.
She twisted, tucking in her legs to hit the ground rolling, and then clambered to her feet beside him, next to the fallen security robot.
“Have them back down!” Rhea commanded, shoving the pistol into his cheek. “Now!”
The mayor shrugged, seemingly unafraid. “Fine. But it won’t do you any good. You’re never getting out of here. City Council doesn’t negotiate with terrorists or hostage takers.”
“Then I guess you’re screwed too, huh?” She pulled him forward roughly, away from the wall, and slid behind him. Now that he could no longer see her, she
