The lobby of the Iron Tower descended into absolute, bloody chaos.
The moment the heavy glass doors shattered, the alarms triggered. "WEE-OOO! WEE-OOO!" The pristine, white lighting of the lobby instantly shifted to a glaring, flashing red.
Arthur stood in the ruined entrance, perfectly calm. To his right, Cassia dropped her violin case. The black leather unzipped itself, and she smoothly pulled out her heavy sniper rifle in one fluid motion. To his left, Vane reached into his pocket. A flash of spatial light erupted, and his massive, chipped broadsword materialized in his grip.
"Intruders in the main lobby!" a guard shrieked from the reception desk. "Open fire!"
The dozen heavy mechs outside spun around, their rotary cannons tracking Arthur's back. But before they could pull the triggers, Cassia moved.
"PEW! PEW! PEW!"
Cassia didn't aim for the thick titanium armor. She aimed for the glowing red optic sensors. Three hyper-condensed plasma bolts punched cleanly through the lenses of the three closest mechs. The machines sparked violently, their targeting systems short-circuiting as they blindly fired their cannons into the sky.
"Vane! The doors!" Arthur barked, stepping smoothly into the lobby.
"HAAAA!" Vane roared. The hero didn't bother with finesse. He swung his massive broadsword in a brutal, sweeping arc, catching two of the blinded mechs right in their knee joints.
"CRUNCH!"
The heavy steel blade shattered the hydraulic pistons. The two eight-foot-tall machines collapsed forward, completely blocking the entrance and creating a temporary barricade against the rest of the mechs outside.
"Good," Arthur noted. "Now clear the floor."
The lobby was massive, filled with marble pillars and indoor waterfalls. And it was rapidly filling with Consortium guards. Dozens of heavily armored mercenaries poured out of the side corridors and the main elevator banks. They carried crackling stun batons and lethal plasma rifles.
This was not a duel. This was a meat grinder.
Vane took the vanguard. The scarred frontiersman charged straight into the center of the room. He was a force of pure, kinetic destruction. He didn't use the sharp edge of his sword. He swung the flat side like a giant baseball bat.
"CLANG!"
Vane slammed the heavy blade into the chest plate of a charging guard, launching the man twenty feet through the air. The guard crashed into a marble pillar and slumped to the floor, entirely incapacitated. Vane didn't stop. He absorbed glancing plasma shots against his durable armor, roaring as he swept the legs out from under two more mercenaries.
Cassia covered his flanks. The rogue bounty hunter danced through the crossfire like a ghost. She vaulted over a marble desk, sliding across the polished floor on her knees. She didn't use lethal rounds. She fired customized stun bolts directly into the unarmored joints of the guards. Knees buckled. Elbows locked. She dropped six men before they even realized where the shots were coming from.
Arthur moved with surgical, terrifying precision.
He didn't run. He walked through the chaotic crossfire with the elegance of a corporate assassin. His 10x multiplier gave him the speed and strength he needed, but his mind did all the heavy lifting. He analyzed every trajectory, every swing, and every misstep of the guards.
A mercenary lunged at him, thrusting a crackling stun baton aimed at Arthur's face.
"Swoosh."
Arthur merely tilted his head an inch to the left. The baton sailed past his ear. Arthur stepped inside the man's guard. He didn't draw the Ebonheart Sword from his back. He just brought his right hand up, grabbing the guard's wrist. He violently twisted his hips and applied pure, agonizing torque to the joint.
"CRACK!"
The guard shrieked as his shoulder popped out of its socket. Arthur casually tossed the screaming man aside and kept moving.
He ducked under a wild rifle swing. He delivered a brutal, palm strike directly to the floating rib of the next attacker, knocking the wind out of him instantly. He spun on his heel and swept his heavy boot across the back of another guard's knees, sending him crashing face-first into the marble.
It was flawless. It was a perfectly oiled machine. Vane broke the lines, Cassia disrupted the ranged shooters, and Arthur systematically dismantled anyone left standing.
[Ding!]
[12 Hostiles Incapacitated. +1,200 Merit Points.]
[24 Hostiles Incapacitated. +2,400 Merit Points.]
The system notifications chimed happily in his mind, tallying the non-lethal takedowns. Arthur made sure they didn't kill anyone. He was not going to pay the 500% Destruction Tax on a bunch of low-level grunts.
"Boss! More coming from the east wing!" Cassia yelled over the din of battle. She dropped an empty thermal clip and slammed a fresh one into her rifle.
"Ignore them!" Arthur commanded. He kicked a groaning guard out of his path. "Push to the central lifts! We are not getting bogged down here!"
"Pushing!" Vane roared. The frontiersman lowered his shoulder and tackled a heavily armored troll guard, driving the massive beast directly through a glass partition and clearing the path to the elevators.
Arthur sprinted behind him, Cassia covering their rear with suppressive stun fire. They reached the primary grav-lifts at the back of the lobby. The heavy, gold-plated doors were shut tight.
"They locked the elevators!" Vane yelled, slamming his fist against the metal.
Arthur didn't hesitate. He stepped up to the glowing biometric control panel. He raised his fist and channeled his 10x multiplied kinetic force directly into his knuckles.
"CRASH!"
He punched straight through the control panel, shattering the glass and exposing the sparking wiring beneath. He grabbed the internal locking mechanism and brutally ripped it out of the wall.
The gold doors groaned and slid open.
"Inside. Now," Arthur ordered.
Vane and Cassia piled into the spacious, opulent elevator car. Arthur stepped in last. He looked out at the ruined lobby. Dozens of incapacitated guards littered the floor, groaning and clutching broken limbs. The reinforcements from the east wing were just arriving, their weapons raised.
Arthur casually reached out and grabbed the frayed wires of the broken control panel. He twisted them together, manually short-circuiting the door override.
The heavy gold doors hissed shut, perfectly sealing them inside just as a volley of plasma fire scarred the exterior metal.
The chaotic noise of the lobby instantly vanished, replaced by the smooth, quiet hum of the grav-lift.
Arthur let out a slow breath. He adjusted his ruined tie and wiped a speck of blood off his cheek. He looked at the floor indicator panel above the door.
"Going up," Arthur smirked.
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