MOCHA // OMEGA: Lavender Kunoichi #1

Chapter 5 // Robot Dogs

Chapter 5 // Robot Dogs

Omega police—corrupt scum—arrived on scene with two cybertrucks. A squad of 8 men exited one of the armored vehicles. They had electronic visors with a red line replacing their eyes. A troop went to the other truck and activated two robot dogs that stood 3 feet tall. They burst inside the mall like blood-starved beasts, famished and hungry for sustenance. Another entrance welcomed a group of amateur mercs, male and female, ready to make a quick credit.

Mocha and Tatsuki hid in the courtyard, center of the mall. Tatsuki had been here plenty of times in the past, but it was eerily quiet, minus the holograms. Mocha pointed to a security office and ordered Tatsuki to hide and for Yoshi to protect him at all costs. The door to the security room was locked but Yoshi took care of it. Tatsuki locked the door and approached the command center. Hundreds of computer screens, buttons and knobs... Tatsuki cracked his fingers and sat in the chair to see what he could do. He found Mocha on one of the camera feeds. Unfortunately, he did not have a microphone to warn her of the approaching enemies from both sides. This did not look good, not at all. Dogs?! Ah man, we're screwed...

A guy with a toothpick stared at a blue female hologram. "Sheeesh, look at those thighs!" He ran his fingers across the hologram and his hand floated through her legs. He pulled his arm back and ducked alongside his mercenary friends when they heard the robot dogs enter the mall.

"Pigs!" a girl with blonde dreadlocks said. "What we finna do, boss?"

The shirtless leader with ugly tattoos across his body sparked a 1000 credit cigar. "Let the pigs do the hard part. Kill them after. We'll collect the reward."

"Boss! You're a genius!"

"Yeeeee!" A crackhead rubbed his hands together and excessively licked his lips.

Yoshi hacked the security mainframe. Tatsuki took control of the mall. He activated the metal doors, covering the main entrances to stall further reinforcements. He kept one exit open for a future escape route. Tatsuki decided to leave the holograms running to provide Mocha a bit more cover. The holograms continued reciting sales pitches while the police searched for the terrorists and the mercs hid far away. Tatsuki wished he could do more, but this was the extent of his power...

The police moved in four groups of two-man squads. They swept the mall, keeping each other updated with every move they made. They carried pulse rifles with rapid-fire but needed to cool down after so many shots. When this happened, they had pulse pistols to switch to.

A few minutes passed. A robot dog approached a clothing store with mannequins behind the glass walls. The dog opened the door with a claw. It looked like it was sniffing a trail as it entered the store.

Mocha dropped from the ceiling and lunged her katana through its head. To her surprise, the dog was still not dead. The pulse cannon on the dog's back fired at Mocha as she dove over the checkout counter. The blast missed her, making a hole in the wall. The police swarmed toward the noise. The closest squad was 10 seconds away.

The dog fired another pulse round at the counter, destroying half of it. Debris dispersed all over. Mocha dove out from the counter and landed sideways while aiming the semi-auto rifle. 4 shells hit the ground and the robot shut down.

Mocha ditched the gun and detached the pulse cannon from the dog. She ran to the back of the store. The cannon was much more heavy than she expected; she had to hold it two-handed like a gatling gun. Her bloody arms had a massive pump as they became vascular under her sweat. All the stores were interconnected and had doors leading to each other. She moved from one store to the next, staying low and silent.

A two man squad approached the clothing store with pulse rifles drawn. One guy propped the door open with his back while the other checked on the dead dog. He inspected its damaged circuitry, then noticed the semi-automatic rifle on the ground, then the missing pulse cannon. He spoke into his radio.