Chrome was interrupted, shaken out of the state of madness, blood and death she entered whenever the killing began if she wasn’t careful. Why be careful when all they had to throw at her were underpaid grunts? However, there had been a surge of energy which had hit some of those she had planned on killing herself. A number of them got back up on their feet, so she wasn’t too upset, but she did become concerned with finding the source of that blast. If it was a third party entering the fray they needed to be neutralized as well. The problem with an unknown third party was that they would be a much more challenging opponent than any corporate lowlife. Someone else showing up this early hadn’t been part of the plan either, but she knew how to improvise.

For the moment, she returned her attention to the corporate forces, but ordered her camera droid to scout the area discreetly. The last thing she wanted was to end up needing to repair it, and lose the chance to capture more footage for the events that were about to take place. There should be some discovery to make, but without her droid no one would be able to view it take place. She wouldn’t get the credit and fame she deserved. Thankfully, the droid wasn’t all that fragile and it had been damaged enough in the past for her to realize she needed to strengthen its shell.

She holstered her revolvers, reached for the assault rifle strapped across her back and began firing corrosive bullets at the remaining and newly arrived grunts. Corrosion was her favourite elemental effect, not because it could tear through armour and defence like nothing, but because of the sizzling sound it made when it came into contact with flesh. It reminded her of waking up to a loved one cooking breakfast, which was long years into the past now. Watching someone’s flesh melt off of their bone while they screamed in terror was always nice too, and it made for an efficient torture tool.

Her killing spree resulted in a lot of dead bodies and a lot of grunts unwilling to come out into the open, or even reveal their positions. Actually, maybe they were all dead, but she thought she’d counted more than she’d killed. Of course, they could have retreated back into the depths of the mining complex, planning to ambush her in tight corridors. Damn, she wished they would!

The droid returned to her side to confirm that there was a third party nearby, but they appeared to want to hide and avoid attention. As they should, she was probably way above them in skill and competence, but there was also the slim chance that they were a more stealthy assassin-like enemy which meant she couldn’t lower her guard just because they stayed hidden.

Chrome walked over to the main entrance to the depths. A grunt was still alive, lying in her path, gurgling and clawing at his face. What remained of it anyway, the corrosive element had already melted his skin and was working its way through his skull towards the brain. She stepped past him, quite amused, and stopped in front of the entrance. 

“Come out, come out…” She shouted as she turned to have a final look at the surrounding area outside. “I know you’re hiding like a spineless skag.” Chrome took a couple of the grenades she’d brought with her, and held them in her palm so they were visible to anyone observing her. “Tis my discovery down there. If you value your life you’d flee with your tail between your legs while you have the chance.” She grinned, and placed the grenades in the walls in a way that should collapse the entrance when they exploded. “But just in case, you know.” The grenades were set to activate within a few seconds. “Tick tick boom.”

The droid flew into the mining complex, lighting the way ahead for her as she began to run to get away from the explosion and the following collapse. She might have effectively sealed herself in when that happened, but then she’d make another way out later. There had to be plenty of tools to dig an exit from within a mining complex. 

When the sound of the explosion behind her echoed through the tunnels, she slowed down from running to walking. Better not run into an ambush at full speed or down a hole either for that matter. Chrome reloaded her assault rifle, and went as deep as she could, as fast as possible. It wouldn’t do to be second to the goal.