As soon as the creature reared up, 595 crawled backwards over the uneven vines, one arm reaching for the Rothian sword. She wasn’t looking when a second barrage of plasma splashed all over her attacker’s neck area. The superheated particles on the exterior joined with the coating that was currently melting the creature’s throat. The monster’s head listed alarmingly towards Vreta, and its screech slurred into a loud humming. Its leg glowed bright as the third shot sprayed it, but the incredibly strong superstructure remained intact.

595 grasped the sword with one hand and turned to look at the creature just as one of its legs came down on her thigh, piercing the armour and the flesh behind her bone. The Agent roared out loud as the razor-sharp end twisted around when the creature tried to drunkenly pivot towards the Rothian. Activating the sword in her left hand, 595 swung it into the insect’s midriff and tried to pull it through. She added her other hand to the hilt as the beast writhed sluggishly around, a sickly slicing sound filling the subway.

The other creature did not take this well. Issuing a final terrifying war cry, it raised its front arms as if to throttle Vreta, who was in front of it, and shambled forward alarmingly fast. Freyr moved with Vreta’s tail as he swivelled to address the other threat, and noticed now that the other creature was considerably smaller and stockier than the female 595 was now cutting into. The shots to its legs slowed it slightly, but it carried on despite the risk of collapse. It used its tail to cross the final distance, leaping at Vreta like some flying, plasmafied spider. Freyr screamed and fired at its underside, flaring the Rothian’s shields again by mistake.