The Trauma Team used ZetaTech's Atlas AV, a typical high-performance AV.

In North America alone, the Trauma Team had more than 1,500 of these. Compared to the Manticore, a combat AV designed purely for military use, the Atlas's armor could only be described as "adequate."

Bullets chewed at the AV's plating like locusts, and in Kaneck's ears the sound was like a torrential downpour, metal raindrops sparking wildly as they struck the hull.

The AV slammed toward his hated enemy at 70 meters per second—like a meteor, unstoppable!

On the ground, Emperor Ragnar and Holt both froze. Just as Ragnar stuck his head out, he saw an AV dropping toward him!

But though he was too slow, his driver wasn't. Slamming the accelerator, the tires screeched and the car shot forward!

Woolley, who had just administered an immunosuppressant, went pale as well. He didn't think the AV was coming for him—but he wasn't about to gamble on that!

One second.

Judging by the AV's altitude, they all had only one second!

The car and the mercenaries both bolted in opposite directions, but only managed to cover a few meters.

Death was closing in—but luck was with them: this was Arasaka Waterfront!

Arasaka's firepower was no joke.

Boom!

A volley of missiles slammed into the AV, erupting into a massive fireball and forming a mushroom cloud overhead. The hurtling AV was completely knocked off balance.

Kaneck's eyes nearly burst from their sockets—his world was slowing down with his burning consciousness, slower and slower—so in the moment of impact, he saw the AV veering off course!

But he hadn't noticed—the AV's vector thrusters reignited mid-plunge, making a desperate adjustment—

The only thing Leo could still do for him!

Boom!

The engines exploded outright. Already shredded by bullets and missiles, the AV tore apart!

The shockwave hit Kaneck full force, hurling him like a bird freed from its cage—

The veering, crippled AV no longer had any chance of hitting Woolley. The explosion freed Kaneck from what would have been a coffin.

The final shockwave became his wings!

As if heaven itself had helped him.

Kaneck's hand clenched tightly around his SMG. But instead of pulling the trigger, he just gripped it even harder.

Since failing once because he couldn't pull the trigger, this time he wouldn't even try!

Woolley sprinted for his vehicle, practically leaping for it, when suddenly a gale and shockwave tore through from behind.

His world slowed again—the Sandevistan's hyper reflexes gave him one last chance to turn—

Whoosh!

The wind roared, Woolley's head spinning—

A hand clutching an SMG smashed into his skull with brutal force, snapping Kaneck's arm in the process!

The vengeful specter sacrificed an arm to drive the empty weapon into his enemy's head. Woolley's reinforced skull caved in with a hideous crack!

Bang!

The wreckage of the AV crashed to the ground, tossing the two cyber-enhanced bodies across the street, rolling uncontrollably.

Ragnar, just pulling away, didn't even make it past Woolley's crumpled body before his car jolted.

Inside, Holt wiped cold sweat as he watched from the electronic rear-view mirror.

He was a politician. He'd seen all kinds of terrifying weapons, invincible corporate armies—but never a fight like this.

Who would gamble their life like this?

Arasaka's troops kept their distance, watching the fallen AV and the two motionless figures—

This spot was dangerous, but they had to hold position. For all they knew, this was a diversion.

Specialists would be dispatched to clean it up soon.

Kaneck hit the ground, his world twisting and warping. The wind slowed, the sound dulled.

Colors bent strangely. Everything was familiar, yet foreign.

Did he kill Woolley?

This time, he hadn't pulled the trigger.

His arm was broken—but still he hadn't released his grip on the SMG.

The gun had shattered from the impact, its fragments driven into Woolley's skull, still half-embedded, his severed forearm frozen around the grip.

Their bodies were both mangled and immobile—but Kaneck was still moving.

He didn't even know why he was so stubborn. He was already a man with nothing.

But he knew one thing: he had to make sure this bastard was dead.

Click.

Woolley's body suddenly jolted. His twisted frame writhed as motors and artificial muscles flexed, shifting his bones and organs beneath his skin.

In ways no human should move, he stood up like a puddle of sludge reshaping itself.

His head creaked around at an angle, tilting toward Kaneck on the ground.

"Urrrghhh—fuck it hurts, it hurts, it hurts so much!"

The human body was an organic system, its functions tied together by blood vessels.

But it was also a flawed system—no one could survive such an impact, much less self-repair.

But a machine could.

Woolley's organs and skeleton were fully integrated. Displacement and circulatory rupture weren't a problem. Maybe a few synth-lines had ruptured—but machines were tougher!

His advanced auto-repair system pulled muscles and bones back into place, rerouted power, and kept running.

That punch had caved his skull, but hadn't pulped his brain.

This was a cybernetic monster.

Kaneck had only one thought:

He had to stand too—and kill this man!

His body wasn't reinforced with full-body custom chrome. Only torn synthetic muscle, and too much fragile meat.

Every motion squeezed out more blood. Synthetic fluids leaked from ruptured conduits into his body.

Both were cyberpsychos, but in two different ways.

One's powerful chrome kept his body running while pain shredded his mind—he only wanted to inflict that pain outward.

The other was a man with nothing left, burning the last scraps of himself to do one final thing:

Revenge.

Click!

A final snap signaled Woolley's full restoration. Kaneck dragged his broken body upright too.

Bang!

They charged at once—but Kaneck only managed a limp step forward, while Woolley's foot left a crater in the pavement.

The difference in speed was overwhelming.

Sometimes, the gap between dreams and reality is just that vast.

To ordinary eyes, Woolley was only a blur.

To Kaneck, Woolley seemed slow, like he was just walking.

He didn't know why it looked that way—but he himself was slower still.

His limbs felt like lead, numb and unresponsive.

A man doesn't bend the world just by burning everything away. Willpower breaks against the iron wall of reality.

Kaneck's gaze lost focus. He braced to accept it.

But in the next instant—his reality shattered, as a Mackinaw barreled in!

Smashing through the iron wall of reality!