The tension in her body was far higher than Valerie would ever admit as she stared at the camera screens available to her. Both Kal and Wombat had slipped from her sight again and there was no communication from either of the two aside from Kal's grunting that meant he was either brawling or decided to join whatever party had been up there in that room. All she could do right now was sit by and advance on the other nodes. She couldn't risk cutting off Kal's escape route.<br/><br/>The gunshot tore through her nerves, setting a fire of panic as Valerie reflexively focused her attention back on meatspace. She saw Wombat standing there near the back alley, a body at his feet. How close had that guy been to sneaking up on Valerie while she had been distracted in the Neuronet? Three more gunshots, and Valerie felt her heart plummet into her shoes. Of course her cybernetics kept both her breathing and heart rate at a normal pace.<br/><br/>Valerie would never admit how much her heart jumped in relief when she heard Kal's voice. His half-naked walk around was charming but Valerie was unable to even muster a tiny bit of romantic or sexual interest in his flat chest. Her relief was short-lived as he called to her for hope and she had little to give as the armed men streamed past a camera under her control. She took a deep breath, mustering her courage while she locked all doors on the fourth floor, closing them all.<i>"Bleu, you need to get out of there. There's at least five more of those guys out there with three coming down the south stairwell. They've got assault rifles, body armour and stuff. Do you have an exit? A window maybe? They're taking out the cameras and know I'm in the system but both the third and fourth floor service entries are still under my control. Wombat, the first floors should be clear could you keep it that way to give Bleu an exit?"</i><br/><br/>SNAFU. Situation Normal All Fucked Up. It was to be expected really with their limited intel and Valerie's limited control. Still, she wasn't just going to roll over and give in or run away. Whomever the user was that sat so passive in the system Valerie didn't know, but he was a link she could use. Besides, her systems were hungry for prey more challenging than a 60-year wreck. She got out her heavier scripts, deactivating her Watchers to clear runspace. Big programs like these would be wasted on 60-year old security, especially with a far more enticing target hovering there in front of her.<br/><br/>Valerie had some of the strongest portable hardware in the dreg and was one of the few more than self-educated. Her target wouldn't even last five minutes if he couldn't manually summon up some countermeasures and Valerie enjoyed cybercombat with a hunger that was inhuman.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>