Jane wasn’t focused on how much time was passing. Both her and Hunter still stood at the same distance from each other in the same spots in the cabin. The glowing pink from her viper fang sword was the only source of light other than the dimly lit interiors of the dropship.

  “You’re shaking,” Hunter pointed out.

  She tightened her grip on the viper fang’s hilt. Jane kept her other hand free, in case she had to draw another weapon or respond to a sudden lightning-fast attack from the senior agent.

  “Worry about yourself, old man,” she spat.

  “Stop the delusion, little girl. You don’t want this fight,” Hunter said.

  In her hand was one of the deadliest bladed weapons in her arsenal. The viper fang sword only had three models produced in the whole world. A sword that practically ignored armor and could cut right through almost anything. She kept the tip fo her sword pointed at the veteran agent. Yet his stance didn’t change. He kept his arms down and to the sides, still not drawing a weapon. Jane saw the double pistols on his thigh mounts along with the shotgun hung on his back.

  Jane could only recount a few occasions where she wasn’t in complete control over the situation. Even fewer times where she felt truly inferior.

  All the possible ways of attacking Hunter flashed across her mind. But with the cramped interior of the cabin, she knew the even the limited handful of scenarios that popped in her head still ended grimly for her. Being this up close meant the fight would come down to speed and reaction times. And if those were the battlefield conditions, Hunter would win.

  Hunter let out an amused huffed. “Look at little Jane. Did you forget how to even walk? Oh wait, you couldn’t before you became an agent. It’s no wonder why your sister abandoned you and joined Kodak-Cresh. You were a useless burden and you still are. Look at you, costing the Alpha Corp valuable resources on a pointless personal crusade.”

  In any other location, Jane would immediately charge in after such an infuriating dig at her past. But she felt almost paralyzed being in his presence. This veteran that had her outclassed in every category measurable for an agent.

  But then her mind shifted to Dan, her first impressions of him, his perseverance in surviving the situation in Amethyst. Then him returning home broken but alive from the heist with Michael. His performance against competing teams in the Combat Games.

  Her decision to go against the shard’s orders. Gathering willing teammates willing to put their lives on the line to rescue Dan and Li. All of this was for those two. Her teammates were always worth fighting for, even if it meant insubordination.

  “You won’t stop me from rescuing my teammates,” she said, forcing every bit of defiance she could muster in the presence of Hunter.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  The veteran agent tilted his helmet at her. “Admirable. Stupid, but admirable. We both know you can’t win against me. You got lucky against Bobby, and I will stop you in your tracks. Disrespect and disobedience against that Alpha Corp will not be tolerated. We don’t need rebellious fools like you in our midst.”

  “Funny. I recall the board disrespecting agents like Dan and Li for their contributions to take back the stolen container of Arctic serums. It’s their actions that helped in the rollout of the next generation serum from the shard.”

  Jane said what was necessary before her mind simulated and pout together her next move. She contacted her pilot.

  “I need a steep descent,” she ordered. “Put this entire craft into a nosedive.”

  A second of hesitation felt like an eternity for Jane until she got her response. “Understood ma’am. But I could only keep up the dive for maybe eight seconds. Then, our craft can’t be recovered.”

  “Do it. Now.”

  Jane felt the immediate effect from her crazy order. The dropshift suddenly descended and she felt the stepp tilt of the entire aircraft.

  “What the hell?” Hunter shouted. The agent still stood in place thanks to the magnets in his boots.

  What Jane needed to do within the next six or seven seconds would push her armor and body to their limits. She reached behind her and drew an Aero SMG. Then she pulled her other arm back, preparing her sword for a slash.

  The aircraft descended steeply as the nose pitched down. Jane felt her feet lift off the ground and during the split second where she wasn’t attached to any surface, she flew in Hunter’s direction as the rushing air sucked her out toward the opened door.

  Everything happened in a blur and Jane wondered how this would all look to the eyes of an observer. Her enhanced perception and reaction times were working overtime to allow her to pull off her next move.

  Her SMG peppered Hunter, causing his energy shield to flare up and envelop his armor in a gold glow before she slammed into him. She forced the tip of her viper fang into his foot, disabling the magnets in his boot. His other boot proved insufficient in keeping him in the cabin and detached from the deck. The steep dive, Jane smashing into him and taking out one of his feet, Hunter flew out the back of the opened door while Jane narrowly managed to punch her arm into the floor of the cabin. Her SMG smashed to pieces on impact and her arm sunk deep into the metal floor.

  All of this occurred in a flash. She wasted no time in contacting her pilot.

  “Get the dropship stabilized and close the door. Now!”

  Jane’s arm that sunk deep into the floor was the only thing keeping her from flying out of the aircraft and plummeting to her death. Her arm slowly dragged through the metal as the pilots struggled to regain control aircraft still flew at high speed. She hoped she didn’t shove her arm so deep that she could potentially be damaging fuel or hydraulic lines.

  The dropship’s door finally shut and Jane was no longer flapping in the rushing air and the aircraft eventually leveled out. Her knees slammed into the ground and Jane was never more grateful for her feet feeling solid ground.

  Jane took another few ragged breaths before pulling her arm out of the hole in the deck. Her energy shields were at zero spent protecting her coat and armor from the high speed impacts against Hunter and shoving her arm through tough metal alloys to keep herself from being sucked out.

  Her breathing hadn’t slowed, but she just fine with that. Jane had outwitted a tier four agent, possibly killed him if he didn’t survive his plummet to the groun below.

  “This is going to be a long mission,” she said.

  Sign up for the ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) team to follow regular updates on the official Amazon launch in 2025.