Junebug was momentarily face to face with the Spider, the woman's face contorted in shock and fear. That momentary startlement transmuted quickly into rage as she realized she hadn't been badly hit. She rolled on top of Sayeeda and pulled a knife from a sheath at her waist, the point glinting above Junebug. The armor was proof against most attacks but she didn't doubt a determined enemy could find a seam to work the blade into. She paged frantically though the restart menus but couldn't get the armor to boot up. Whatever damage the anti-vehicle round had done, it had been severe.

"Can't get your fancy suit to work?" the Spider sneered, leaning down to drag the point of her knife across the visor of the helmet. Gunfire was beginning to slacken outside though the goon who had survived Neil's grenade attack was firing his rifle out into the night, using the hole her armor had punched in the adobe wall as a firing port.

"That is the problem with all you offworlders who come to Teosinte, thinking you are so fucking clever, you always get too clever for your own good." The stinger stabbed the knife down at the visor. It struck the plasteel and deflected away. Cursing the gang boss tried again with as little effect. Getting wise she found the neck seam and began to probe with the point.

"You just lay there and die like a good little..."

Junebug triggered the suits critical fail. Spending a life in armored vehicles gives one a healthy fear of being trapped inside after the vehicle has been crippled. More than one tanker ended their days screaming as fire consumed their vehicle as they pounded at a stuck hatch. Junebug had harbored similar concerns about the suit and had allayed them by spreading an ounce of blasting paste along a machined grove where the armor mated. She triggered it by doubletapping a small switch in her right gauntlet. The armor burst away from her body in a wash of heat as its connections were literally blasted appart. The Stinger screamed and tumbled back, beating a flames on her leggings. The effect was stunning, but Junebug had been ready for it. She rolled free of her ruined armor and snatched for one of the fallen rifles. The Stinger, her reactions damned quick despite the concussion of the blast, lunged forward with her knife. Junebug parried clumisly with her weapon as though at bayonet drill and then drove the butt of it down into the gangsters chest. Whatever armor she had there cushioned the blow but it was powerful enough to send her crashing back into a ruined cabinet. Junebug swung the rifle up and pulled the trigger. The weapon clacked and seized as one of the brass cartriges fouled the loading mechanism. The Stinger barked out a laugh and lunged at her with the knife. Junebug tried to parry but her opponent was wise to that and the blade raked up her arm shredding the body suit she had been wearing and sending a flash of pain through her body. Sayeeda drove a knee up in a blow that would have broken bone if the Stinger had been unarmored. As it was the knife weilding woman was lifted an inch from the ground and staggered back. Junebug delivered a spinning kick which connected with her opponents shoulder, pitching her back across the room and slamming her face against the wall. With the agillity of a street fighter the Stinger came round, blood on her lips and knife in hand.

"You will have to do better than that, I've been killing with a knife since I was a child," the bloodied gangboss snarled. Junebug rolled her eyes.

"Do you ever shut up?" she demanded, raising both her fists into a guard posture. The Stinger shrieked in rage and rushed forward, blade held low. Junebug stamped on the edge of a piece of shattered timber, spinning it into the air and spoiling her opponents footwork. The Stinger stumbled but came on slashing with her blade. Junebug struck out with a feint that lifted her opponents gaze and then delivered a punishing strike to her opponents elbow, forcing her to drop the knife. Pivoting off the momentum she delivered a stomping kick to the inside of the Stinger's knee. THere was an audible pop and the woman screamed and went down. Junebug took a step towards the downed woman but the Stinger came up with a grenade in her hand, handle primed.

"Over so quickly, well I guess I can take my time with your boyfriend when I find him, I'm going to..." the threat trailed off in a scream made tinny by the boom of Neil's handgun. The Stinger's wrist exploded like a tree bursting in the winter frost. Without thinking about it Junebug kicked the hand, sending the grenade flying out into the night where it burst with a crump that threw Junebug to the ground. She blinked the spots from her eyes and then saw Neil's face appear in the hole in the wall. He looked down at the Stinger but she was already dead, having caught a piece of grenade shrapnel with the back of her skull.

"That," Junebug commented, "Is fucking team work."