The EMP cannon. I sprint back, throw myself through the door. Paris is huddling on the ground behind his desk, he lets out a yell and goes for the door. I leap onto desk, crashing into tools and apparatuses, knocking his crap everywhere as I tumble off and impact the floor. I’m blind in the dark—I feel around desperately, scrambling, clutching for it.

From the shallow space beneath the desk I see Paris make a run for the door, something flash in his path and then there’s this sick noise and his body crumples and his head, cleanly decapitated, flops onto the ground next to me.

I rise up, arm outstretched, EMP clutched firmly in my hand, thumb on the button.

“Hey, Asshole.”

He’s standing in the door. His eyes scan the thing with a cold, machine intensity. He knows what it is.

He takes a step forward. “You killed my sister, Jack Fenix. Your reflexes are not fast enough to push that button before I kill you. You are going to die for what you have cost me.”

I stare him in the eyes. “I didn’t kill your sister, you idiot. CyberCorp did.”.

“Tough cookies, asshole,” I jam the button.