The Z-shaped walkway was narrow, with the reactor vessel's outer shell on one side and a rusted mesh guardrail on the other. Far below lay the dizzying depths of the workshop.
Pipes ran overhead, while a platform occupied the corner beneath them.
It was a death trap, but also a graveyard made for hunters.
"Jenson, get onto the pipes! Take the high ground and eliminate the wounded Predator first! Maya, Bossie, cover Jenson! Everyone else, form a defensive line with me and draw the larger one's attention!"
Jenson acknowledged her in a low voice, quickly climbed onto the pipes, and found a stable firing position. He braced his sniper rifle, its muzzle aimed steadily downward.
The large Predator was already charging toward them with unstoppable force.
Calista calmly gave the order. "Stagger your fire! Aim for its lower leg joints and armpits! Don't worry about penetrating the armor. Just slow it down and keep its attention on us!"
A hail of bullets struck the large Predator's thick crystalline armor, scattering sparks and fragments. The barrage successfully drew its full attention toward the defensive line ahead.
Meanwhile, the smaller Predator once again tried to climb along the outer edge of the guardrail. It intended to bypass the front line and strike the team's flank, directly beneath the pipe Jenson had climbed and right where Bossie and Maya were positioned.
"It took the bait!"
Jenson's voice came through the team channel from above.
He slowed his breathing until it was barely perceptible. Through his high-powered scope, the crosshairs settled steadily over the smaller Predator's constantly shifting spindle-shaped tumor.
The grooves Calista had shot through earlier were still visible and had not yet fully healed.
The crystalline shell was broken there, leaving the tissue beneath exposed.
It was the perfect weak point.
"Pfft!"
A distinctive, muffled gunshot sounded.
A specially made, high-precision armor-piercing round left the barrel. Just as the smaller Predator gathered itself to leap, the bullet entered through the damaged groove with pinpoint accuracy and buried itself deep inside the tumor.
The smaller Predator abruptly went rigid.
Its claws released the guardrail.
It did not even manage a proper screech before its entire body dropped from the edge like a puppet with its strings cut. It struck the equipment platform below with a heavy thud, twitched several times, then went completely still.
Black-green fluid poured from the bullet hole in its tumor.
Jenson had eliminated the first threat with a single precise shot.
"Nice shot, Jenson!" Maya exclaimed.
The large Predator saw its companion die instantly, and rage overwhelmed what little intelligence it possessed.
It unleashed a deafening roar and ignored the bullets striking it from the front. Its enormous body slammed sideways into the guardrail and the walkway's supporting structure.
"Boom! Crack!"
The rusted metal groaned under the strain. A large section of the guardrail, along with part of the steel plating along the walkway's edge, twisted outward beneath the creature's terrifying strength.
The walkway shook violently.
Worse, the impact had occurred dangerously close to Bossie.
"Bossie, watch out!" Calista shouted.
Bossie reacted instantly and threw himself toward the inner side of the walkway. He narrowly avoided the Predator's attack, but the chemical contamination detector strapped beside him was not as fortunate.
A heavy piece of shattered guardrail flew through the air like a blade and sliced diagonally across the side of the device.
Its reinforced casing shattered, exposing the delicate circuit board inside. A brilliant burst of sparks erupted, then the screen went completely black. The acrid smell of burned electronics filled the air.
"Damn it! The detector's destroyed! We can't monitor the contamination levels anymore!" Bossie shouted angrily.
Just then, Mikey called out.
During the instant when the large Predator struck the guardrail, he had caught a brief glimpse of something.
"There's a section below its tumor where the crystalline shell looks thin!"
"That's our target!" Calista's eyes sharpened as she looked toward Jenson. "Jenson, can you hit it?"
Lying prone on the pipe, Jenson quickly shifted his rifle.
Through the high-powered scope, he watched the large Predator swing its forelimbs continuously. The weak point beneath its tumor appeared and disappeared with each movement. The angle was difficult, and the area was partially concealed by its own bone blades and the smaller crystalline plates above it.
"The angle is terrible. The target keeps disappearing behind its armor and movements. I need it to hold still or lean far enough backward to expose the area for at least one second!" Jenson replied quickly.
"Then we'll make it look up!" Calista immediately formed a plan. "Guys, do we have any stun grenades left?"
Everyone checked their equipment.
"I've got the last one!" Maya shouted.
"On my command, throw it directly in front of the creature! Everyone else, focus your fire on its tumor and force it backward! Jenson, get ready!"
Maya drew a deep breath, calculated the timing, and threw the final stun grenade after a short delay.
It arced through the air and landed in front of the large Predator's feet.
The creature seemed wary of the blinding flash and deafening blast that had hurt it before. It instinctively tried to swat the grenade aside, shifting its weight slightly backward.
"Now! Fire!"
Calista and the rest of the front line concentrated all their firepower on the tumor atop the large Predator.
Bullets hammered against it, forcing the creature to raise its "head" to avoid the attack.
At almost the same instant, the stun grenade detonated.
"BOOM—!!!"
The flash and blast caused the large Predator to freeze and recoil for a split second.
As it struggled to regain its balance, the tumor involuntarily rose and became exposed.
For that single instant, a thin section of shell near the tumor's lower edge came clearly into view through Jenson's scope. Beneath it, faint movements of neural tissue were visible.
Time seemed to stop.
Jenson applied steady pressure to the trigger.
"Pfft!"
The second distinctive shot tore through the air.
The spinning armor-piercing round followed a straight path and struck the center of the weak section with perfect accuracy.
"Thud!"
The bullet penetrated.
"Rrroar..."
A broken howl escaped the large Predator's mouth.
Its enormous body shook violently. Dark, viscous fluid sprayed from the wound in its tumor, splattering across the nearby metal and crystal with a violent corrosive hiss.
The creature staggered backward. Its flailing forelimbs lost both strength and accuracy before it finally crashed to its knees on the walkway.
Calista and the others did not lower their guard.
Several more rifle rounds struck its tumor and joints, extinguishing the last traces of life within it.
The enormous body finally went still.
The second threat had been eliminated.
The battle was over.
The team members stood panting as they checked one another.
Aside from Bossie's completely destroyed detector, no one had been seriously wounded, and there had been no casualties.
Calista looked at the fatal wound Jenson's bullet had punched through the large Predator, then glanced down at the smaller creature's corpse below.
"Nice, bro!"
She walked over to Bossie and patted him on the shoulder, her gaze passing over the smoking remains of the detector.
"Leah's team may still have a working one. Once we regroup and connect it to our anti-interference equipment, theirs should work again."
Bossie nodded silently. He removed every salvageable component from the ruined device and carefully stored them away.
...
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