Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 476: Careful of the Ceiling.
"If you wanted to call the heroes, why haven’t you done so before?"
Jaguar’s bionic jaws groaned as his anger continued to boil, and before he knew it, he was lunging at the hairy giant. Before he could reach him, something flashed in the corner of his eye, and he was forced to make a sudden stop.
A red beam shot right in front of his face. Unlike the ones released from his hands, this one was rather thin, barely a few millimeters in width. Another beam came, and Jaguar was forced to dodge again. He shifted his body to face its source, and when he saw it, confusion quickly clouded his mind.
[I will be your opponent!]
The voice came from something tin can—a yellow cylinder with round edges. It was jumping around on short stubby legs, waving arms of roughly the same shape and length. Its face was a simple emoticon made from a bunch of pixels, and generally speaking, it looked like a cartoon mascot.
[A clanker?]
No sooner had Jaguar said the word than the yellow bot’s behavior shifted. Without a warning, it suddenly shot toward him, cutting the distance between them in an instant. Startled, Jaguar whipped his right hand forward and shot a white beam, but the yellow bot stepped aside as if it were nothing and leaped, raising one of its short arms as it crossed what’s left of the distance.
[Clanker!!?] Light shot out of the extended arm, forming a green triangle. [Like you have the right to talk!]
The energy blade came swinging and collided with the blue screen that formed in its path. Jaguar leapt backward and held out his right hand again, but the white beam he intended to shoot never came. The gauntlet had overheated again, and by the time he switched to the other one, the yellow bot was out of his aim, already closing in on him from the right with a blade extended.
Before he knew it, Jaguar found himself being pushed back by the yellow bot, forced to evade and dodge its swings. His energy shield could only take so many blows before it went down, forcing him to charge the next.
He wasn’t allowed any openings to attack either. Whenever he managed to put some distance between himself and the bot, it would aim its other arm at him and release another one of the thin red lasers.
As he barely evaded another one of those, he suddenly remembered the corpses he had seen a few days ago when his brat escaped, as well as Kindjal’s comment about the wounds that killed the guards weren’t made with simple bullets.
Pissed, he made the reckless decision to tank one of the beams and released one of his own. As light flashed from his palm, his vision shook, and he found himself flying once more.
In the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the red-haired brat, his right fist outstretched as if he had just finished delivering a punch. His jacket was gone, and his bionic arms were now in full view. The design alone wasn’t a sign of quality, but those things were able to send the Obsidianovy Drakón flying with a single punch, which went to show that they weren’t any normal bionic arms.
"Give it up, Kent. Even with that thing, you aren’t making it out of this."
Henry’s calm, uncaring voice was like fuel spilled into a wild fire. Panels popped on the obsidian suit’s back, and a ring of light formed on its back. Instead of falling to the ground, its trajectory changed, and it rose into the air, away from the battlefield.
"Careful!" Came a shout from below. "You don’t want to hit the ceiling!"
Jaguar ignored the warning and stopped at a height of thirty meters, particles of light already gathering around the ring at the center of his chest plate. As he faced his old friend, he allowed the white orb to grow larger and larger until its shape became unstable.
"You know I can just deflect it back at you!"
The mocking remark went in through one ear and came out of the other. The trigger was pulled, and the white orb exploded forward, turning into a massive beam.
"Oh Shi-"
The explosion that should have followed never came. By the time light faded, only a dark spot was left in the area that should have been erased. Jaguar was shocked beyond words, but his failed attack was only a part of the cause. The force of his blow was so strong that it blasted him backward. He had anticipated as much, which is why he took off to the sky, wanting to leave enough space so he wouldn’t end up running into something. But he ran into something.
Looking above, he failed to spot whatever it was that hit him. The sky was the same, with the city lights causing the clouds above to appear as if they were glowing.
"I told you-" The voice came from right beside him, and he turned to see Henry coming down at him with a hammer strike. "Look out for the ceiling!"
Failing to react, Jaguar took the blow head-on. He crashed into the ground before he could realize what was happening, and by the time he got up, he found his old friend climbing down a nearby building, lying a few meters away.
The yellow bot came within sight, and the red-haired bastard followed, appearing from the shadow of a building. The anger continued to boil, but confusion quickly overtook it, and so did stress.
Jaguar was a Level 4 Ascended Cyborg, or that’s the evaluation the BEO gave him when it designated him as a potential villain. The Obsidianovy Drakón was on the higher end of Level 4, too. Threat Levels might not stack, but the combined power of his Cyborg body and the masterfully engineered power suit should have pushed him to Level 5, and yet-
’FUCKING DAMN IT!’
Jaguar could only curse in his mind, wondering why he was being pushed back despite his strength having reached the upper realm of what an Enhanced Individual could reach. He was supposed to be one of the most powerful humans in the world. He should have been able to contend with the powers looking down from above.
’Damn it...’
Obsidianovy Drakón wasn’t enough. He needed another armor. A stronger armor. He needed to get to the trucks. But how would he do that? Those three wouldn’t just let him.
’Damn it...’
He was left with no choice but to issue a remote command. As he contemplated a way to buy himself enough time to equip his secret weapon, a shadow fell on Jaguar. He was shocked to see the massive frame fall from above, and as it shook the ground around him as it landed, he couldn’t help but question how it arrived so fast.
The momentary joy that welled up inside him was snuffed the instant he took in the form of the giant machine, realizing it was not the one he had called for. His confusion only grew when its upper half shifted, and its right arm extended, leaving him to stare at the light gathering in the depths of the barrel at its end.
’SHI-’
Light swallowed the obsidian armor, and with it went the road and half a dozen buildings.
