Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG Chapter 333

Mira sprayed into the lunging rat with Blaze rounds, causing fire to sprout all over its body. It didn’t even seem to notice. Instead, the rat let its bone plating take the hits while it leapt at us. It used the wall to ricochet forward, aiming at the closest target: .

This ti, I was ready. I pulled the Jade Dagger out and dropped into a low stance. If I could just stab into one of its several eyes… I saw my a perfect angle and threw the Jade Dagger—

The rat pulled back into a feint just as the blade flashed forward. Instead of a smooth dodge and retaliation like I’d sched, I pitched myself forward into a completely exposed state. It was a rookie mistake to not even consider the thing might have so level of intelligence.

A heavy chill of Insight flashed across my side. A brutal impact was coming, one that would shatter several bones and gouge out chunks of flesh. I didn’t even think about it. I used Arc Flash and flickered away with a blinding burst of light. In an instant, I’d repositioned away and back behind Mira.

”Shiro!” Mira called out and launched a haymaker at the rat’s face.

Her fist cracked the air with the pure strength behind the blow. While the creature wasn’t too scared of , it rembered the last ti my mikata hit it. The beast backed away and dissolved into the darkness once more.

“Shit! My plan is out!” I scanned the road for my Jade Dagger. No luck. Retrieval was impossible with a cyber-demon-rodent stalking us.

Mira backed up to , rifle up and ready to strike as soon as the rat showed itself. She bumped into and motioned her head backward, repositioning us down the tunnel. “I’ve got one!”

”Better make it quick. I don’t know how much longer I can hold on.” Cold-Blooded kept standing, but otherwise the acid still burning into my left arm would’ve completely incapacitated .

“Here.” Mira tossed the coil-pistol. I snatched it out of the air, feeling its comforting weight in my hand. “Shoot up when I tell you.”

”Up—?” I looked up to see the water pipes above us. “Are you planning on quitting?”

“Har har—“ Her faux laughter abruptly cut short as the rat lunged out from a wall. The cold of Insight didn’t fade even as I staggered to the side with Burst Step—

Too slow. It’s slamd into my fleeing leg, crumpling the limb unnaturally to the side. It twisted into a shape no organic limb should ever make with a wet pop and sideways twist that made my heart pound in my throat.

Cold-Blooded kept from feeling the pain, but just the sight of my limb was enough to make bile rise in the back of my throat. The sound of it jerking to the side replayed in the back of my mind. I forced it down with several ragged gasps of air and backed way awkwardly.

Mira reached the rat in a blink to force its attention away. Fury rolled off her in waves, and she slamd its side with a kick heavy enough to crack the bone plating across its fur. “Now!”

The rat recoiled into the center of the road, perfectly aligned with the pipes above thanks to Mira’s efforts. Although my leg was entirely screwed, that didn’t an my arm was out. I didn’t waste a second and pulled the trigger.

Boom!

The pipe burst with my grenade, spewing out a deluge of rancid water across the road and absolutely drenching the rat. It staggered under the water pressure, slipping and falling into a disorderly lump on the ground.

”Shiro! Use shock!” Mira called out a beat later and jumped up onto a concrete barrier to get out of the water.

I saw through her plan imdiately and activated the transformation of Fox’s Fluffy Cloak. My body shifted in an instant, throwing off my sightlines and making wince as my injured limbs remolded into a different form. Unfortunately, broken was still broken even if reshaped.

With a leg and arm—two legs like this—out, I wouldn’t reach the rat on paw. I once more used Arc Flash. The lightning burned at my head from overuse, though that was a Future Shiro problem. I teleported into the water and channeled my full Kinetic ability into it. Electricity, empowered by being in fox form, radiated from bright enough to blind.

“SCREEE!” The cybernetic rat howled in pain and convulsed violently into the pool of electrified water. Its body was absolutely soaked, and that acted as the perfect boost to my ability.

I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop. Not without prolonging this battle till our injuries beca much more serious. I forced every ounce of electricity out of , and then kept pushing until my vision wavered with exhaustion. The brilliant arcs didn’t fade for a single mont.

“Stay down you disgusting furball!” Mira wasn’t idle either. She dumped mag after mag into the things skull. At first, the shots didn’t do much. If one shot didn’t work, try a hundred. Sustained fire eventually pulped the beast’s brain into the pavent.

By the ti I was entirely drained and collapsed, the rat had turned into a charred ss steaming with a foul stench. Its head was fully turned into a well cooked paste by our combined efforts.

Mira darted to my side and knelt over . If I felt small before, then this made feel microscopic. “Y-you okay, Shiro?”

”Yip—“ I broke into a ragged hacking and imdiately shook my head. Everything hurt, I felt horribly drained, and my skull thundered with a headache.

Mira picked up before I could shift back into a human and gently rubbed my silver fur. Her warm arms sunk into my slightly damp fur. “Your leg’s broken, right? J-just stay like this for now. I’ll carry you.”

I wanted to squirm free and reassert my cool, human dignity, but she had a point. And she was warm. So incredibly warm like a comforting hug. I blinked a few tis and then huffed softly, allowing her to carry .

Mira carefully treated my wounds. Neither of us knew how to treat an animal, she just stuck with giving pain dication and wiping off the remaining acid sizzling my fur. She then covered the nearly hairless limb in heavy layers of antiseptic and hemostatic foam.

Her halo bobbed over her head, gleaming against the gloom. “What do you want to do? It might be smart to leave now. I know we’re close to Kaynis, but you’re injured quite heavily.”

”Yip…” I closed my eyes for a mont and then ca to a decision. “Yip- yi-yip yip?”

“You…” She frowned, trying to figure out what I was saying. “Want to go after Kaynis anyway?”

I nodded my head several tis. Could she speak fox? I couldn’t do that, and I was a fox. I just made noises and hoped for the best, but I couldn’t actually understand much of what I was doing.

”Fine… but we leave at the first sign of trouble. I don’t want to fight while you’re like this.” Mira headed off to the far side of the road and picked up my Jade Dagger.

”You guys alright?” Saint asked across the link just as we headed down the tunnel once more. “The cara cut out.”

Right, the Dragonfly was on my shoulder. When I turned into a fox, it must’ve been stored wherever the rest of my equipnt was put. They missed the tail—heh—end of the fight.

”We’re fine. For now.” Mira held tightly and kicked at the mutant rat’s corpse. “I highly doubt this thing was ever human. And they strapped chanical limbs to it too? Just what were they testing in that lab?”

”Probably so kind of weapons program.” Saint offered. “Weapons seem to be the go to for Savants, anyway. Shiro, you alright?”

”Yip.” I called, trying to make the bark sound close to how I normally speak. It didn’t work. Like, at all.

”Was that—was that Shiro?” Saint paused for a mont. So far, it’d been kept just between and Mira that I could turn into a sprite. I wanted to keep it that way.

Thankfully, Mira picked up on my thoughts. “She got hit by acid. Throats all fucked up. As soon as we get Kaynis, we’re getting out of here.”

”Right… smart idea.” There was still hesitancy in his voice like he wanted to ask more questions. Curiosity was second nature for a reporter. I ntally prepared myself for so very uncomfortable questions— “Stay safe. You still have the coordinates?”

Luna answered for us. ”M-my connection to her chro is b-busted. I-I’ll send them to your phone instead, Mira.”

“Thanks.” Mira lightly held to her chest with one arm, and the other held up her rifle.

For a mont, I thought it was stupid to keep moving with a rifle instead of a pistol given our situation. She had the Shift ExoCore boosting her strength by leaps and bounds, though, so she could probably one hand it without too much issue.

Eventually, the path led us to a heavy bulkhead blocking the way forward. It was dropped down onto the road, cleanly breaking off access. “Snowy, can you get this open for us? Door… Beta-337.”

”Looking… g-got it. Uh- no, s-sorry. It’s hardwired.”

“Well, that complicates things.” She sighed and looked down at . “Got any ideas?”

”Yip?” I poked my snout toward a half-hidden maintenance hatch.

”A vent?” She opened the hatch with brute strength. The cold, frosty tal slid to the side, revealing a dank, freezing passageway. A burst of frigid air slamd into us.

“This is how I die. Not from mutants, not from bullets, but from claustrophobia.” Mira stared at the passage unwillingly.

”Yip yip?” We fit perfectly. What was she making such a fuss about?

”You fit. You’re compact. I’m not designed to fit through tubes like this.” She jerked her chin to the passageway.

We entered anyway. Not like there was much of a choice for workarounds. The passage was tight, forcing her to squeeze so much tighter as she hunched through the tunnel. Pipes, faintly vibrating, line the walls of the tunnel

Mira grumbled non-stop the entire way through. “I swear, if sothing jumps out at , I’m punching it so hard in the face it’ll wish it was never born.”

If she hit sothing in the face with her full strength, unless it was a freak like that mutant rat, I highly doubted it’d live long enough to make wishes— “Yip!”

“Wha—“ Mira froze midstep as her light spotted what I did. She moved closer and pulled out a small clump of fur that’d been caught on the tunnel wall. “Is this our werewolf’s?”

It looked like his, but it could just as easily be so other creature down here. These tunnels weren’t much higher than the Underground. There were probably several places they overlapped.

Mira looked like she was about to call it into the group, but then stopped and just sighed. She tossed the clump and continued. Eventually, the tunnel widened into a utility alcove with dead consoles and broken valves. From there, another hatch opened out back into the tunnel. This one was clawed up and forced open.

She carried out and continued down the road on the other side of the door. I ran a quick calculation through my head. We should be on the outside of the heights now.

Occasionally, she checked the tracker. The signal grew stronger and stronger with each passing mont until we finally stumbled across a chamber off to the side of the road. It looked like a garage of so sort, except this one had been hit by a tornado.

”What happened here?” Mira moved forward cautiously into the garage. Bullet marks, blood, and deep gouges covered every surface. A massive fight went down here, one big enough to trash the entire facility and almost every vehicle down here. And recently at that. So of the blood wasn’t even dry.

Mira followed the signal to a far corner of the garage. A mound of discarded gear, ripped out fur, and blood lay there. She carefully set down on a van and dug through the stuff, pulling out the transponder we were hunting for. Her expression imdiately soured.

“Y-you’re right on top of his signal. I-is my brother there?” Luna asked.

Mira sighed and glanced back toward . ”No… but the transponder is. A fight broke out here. Can’t tell who won.”

I looked around, trying to find clues as to what happened. Outside of a seriously large strike force hitting the leader of Polar Moon, I couldn’t figure anything else out. He put up a fight, injuring several of his attackers, though was eventually subdued. Oh, and his attackers were heavily ard.

As for whether he was alive or not… well, it was a good sign that he wasn’t here. He could’ve escaped and fled into the tunnels, leaving behind the transponder. More likely, however, he was incapacitated and bagged by whoever attacked him.

The mound of gear in the corner was damning evidence. If he was dead, they wouldn’t have left his gear. If he was alive, he’d still have it. Soone took him and didn’t want him ard when he woke up.

Mira ca to the sa conclusion that I did. “Looks like soone nabbed him. ASCorp?”

Saint shot down that idea. “No, they probably would’ve just killed an intruder… besides, have you run into any ASCorp personnel?"

“Aside from the one checkpoint, no.” Mira sighed and ran a hand down her face. “The group that put transponders on Polar Moon? So other, third group? Who’d you piss off, Luna?”

”A-a lot of people.” Her voice sounded like it was barely holding back tears. “W-with the bounty too… c-can you find the group?”

“They’re long gone.” Mira looked around the vehicle garage. “Probably with rides, too. We won’t catch them.”

”S-still—“

”Even if we find them, we aren’t in a state to fight anymore.” Mira glanced back toward slumped over on the van. “As the one in the field, I’m calling it here. We need to recoup.”

”B-but—!”

“We found two of three, which were impossible odds to begin with.” Mira sighed and moved back to , ruffling my ears. “I’m not saying we’ll stop trying. I’m saying that while we rest, you need to find your brother. You’re a Netrunner, right? They couldn’t leave zero traces. Find him, and we’ll be ready to strike by the ti you do.”

”I agree, Mira.” Saint piped up. “Shiro’s hurt, right? Even if you found the group, what are the chances you could win a fight?”

”Not high if they bagged Kaynis.” Although she said that, Mira had absolutely zero idea who he was. I hadn’t told her much about them, partially because I myself didn’t know much.

“F-fine.” Luna’s voice hardened.

”And before you try anything stupid,” Mira picked up once more, “Iris still needs you. If you die or get captured too, then she’ll be all alone.”

”Ugh!” Luna groaned and then abruptly cut off the link.

”I’ll talk to her. You guys just get out of there safely.” Saint sighed and likewise went silent.

Mira just shook her head and moved for the exit. “Let’s get out of here before sothing else shows up.”

— - —

AN: I don’t rember if I left a note yet, so here one is/another one. I know I replied in a comnt sowhere, but here’s an official one. Myth//OS isn’t dropped. Just on hiatus for a bit. Been a bit of a slog writing it, so I decided to just take a break instead of forcing myself and then hating the result.