I hopped off Doofus when I neared the holographic sign for the Old Dutch Republic. I instructed Rufus and Doofus to wander aimlessly around the grounds, within 100 paces of the chain link gate behind the Shoemaker's building. While my arrival attracted more attention than I wanted, it was still busy enough that I could lose myself in the clustered groups of tourists that hadn't headed to restaurants yet for dinner.

  I peeled off from a group of Introverts visiting from the near-Earth asteroid Apophis. I knew this because they had a guide with a bright red shirt and a slender flag on a long stick they could raise to get the attention of the group. The shirt said Apophis Theatre Company, marking these as performers. They were probably here to do an anti-gravity theatre performance, with some down time to see the sites before returning to Apophis.

  I wanted to visit Apophis myself someday. They did a "Miss Earth Day" celebration every time the asteroid got close to Earth. Hundreds of years ago, people of Earth thought Apophis would collide with the planet. Didn't happen, but it was a great excuse for a festival. On Miss Earth Day, people display old Earth artifacts and send physical postcards and letters to their loved ones on Earth, kind of a we miss you, but also a thank goodness, we missed you again and didn't destroy your world in a massive collision.

  I could see they were a chatty group, so I tried to use them as a buffer and not get too close, but my sword drew the eyes of a few of them near the back. I pretended I was another performer, just looking for my group, and promptly peeled off from them.

  I hovered near the side of a green windmill, along a cobblestone path and one of the small streams that worked its way between cottages and tourist attractions. I was 224 paces from the Shoemaker's. I needed to strategize. I had been so focused on just getting here quickly that I wasn't sure what to do next.

  Stealth would be great. It was just me, and I had no idea how well fortified the Shoemaker's lair would be.

  But I also didn't think I could pull it off. There would be so much surveillance. Yes, I could try to enter with a group of tourists and then sneak off, but I would be identified right away. They had to have me on a watch list, and I didn't have time for a disguise or genetic alteration.

  I also reminded myself that I wasn't an Infiltrator, with an awesome nanosuit to modify my appearance or "disappear." I was a Vanquisher. Vanquishers aren't really known for stealth. We are mostly called in for high damage destruction.

  That left me with charging in, a direct combat approach. I couldn't sit idly by or I would likely be overrun, so I would need to focus on speed. Fight the people in front of you and keep on moving. Always have at least two escape routes so you can't be cornered easily. Stay aggressive. Once the opposing force got you on the defensive, you could kiss yourself goodbye.

  Concern for @zerogstar kept rising in my thoughts.

  Once alerted, they might do something to @zerogstar, kill her, move her, use her as bait. The Shoemaker probably kept her just because he could, as a finder's fee or something like that. I had to place my hopes on her just being one more prisoner, someone he would gladly leave behind if he needed to escape.

  I ran a simulation of the risk to @zerogstar against my chances of success and detection for both scenarios: stealth or direct confrontation. Neither result was good, but charging in gave me the better odds.

  My ARM included three rounds of projectile missiles (15 total shots), the electrifiable grappling hook, a gas emitter (but I didn't have any canisters to connect), and an energy shield. The shield would fully protect me against energy weapons and lasers, and it would stop most ballistics, causing them to explode upon impact. I would still have to manage the little explosions, so I expected some bruises and burns, but it would be better than taking a direct bullet.

  I needed to be careful with the energy shield because its battery would drain. I wasn't in a combat suit with the benefit of extra power or weaponry. But with the ARM and my sword, as long as I kept moving, I had to hope it would be enough.

  "Speed and courage," I whispered again, "even if I have zero chance of making it out alive. Speed and courage."

  I sprinted forward.

  The chain link fence and gate were really just to deter wandering tourists. They were no match for angry Vanquisher. So, okay, maybe the lock was made of some kind of sword resistant material, but I could still climb over the gate without falling more than once, and I didn't even need to use the grappling hook.

  I ran through the tunnel, noticing a door ahead of me as I climbed the short stairway. I felt power surge inside me. No door was going to get in my way.

  I slammed into it with a thud and rebounded off of it, falling back down the stairs. Everything was so damp in this stupid place that it was hard to get good footing.

  I rolled up my sleeves and launched my grappling hook at the door. I wasn't sure if how much force it could produce, but I didn't have to open the claw. I could use it as a battering ram.

  This was really unfortunate for the man who opened the door after my very loud knock to see if anyone was home.

  The grappling hook hit him in the chest, crushing his sternum and sending him backwards. I heard him hit the far wall beyond the door. I retracted my battering ram and ran up the stairs.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  The room was occupied by three guests on stools, just like we were, and good old @finamina, talking them through the shoemaking speech.

  The people on the stools shrieked as I drew my sword and shot myself forward.

  "Ahh!" @finamina screamed. She recognized me right away and ran for the switch that would raise the glass barrier, to try to lock herself on the other side of the railing. I hurdled the railing without giving it a thought.

  And tripped.

  She flipped the switch, glancing at me frightfully as I picked myself up off the sawdust laden floor.

  "Fucking damp shit everywhere," I cursed.

  She opened the door, but I scrambled after her before she could close it. She was quick, but I had a grappling hook.

  I fired it after her, catching her by the waist. I hauled her in while she flailed and pulled at the grapple, trying to get free. As the hook drew her close, I drew my sword back. I timed my strike perfectly, cleaving off her pretty little head easily and dropping her body to the floor.

  I was in!

  Now I just had to battle my way forward.

  Alarms rang out. Red lights flashed in the corners and over doorways. If this was a stealth mission, I would have been upset, but the flashing lights just made it easier for me to find doors and passages through the building.

  I decided to follow the noises, enhancing my senses to pick the path forward, pinging my radar to map out the dark tunnels and surrounding rooms. Onward I ran.

  Two soldiers popped out in front of me, armed with guns. I raised my energy shield and crouched to protect as much of my head and upper body as I could. The mini blasts of the ammunition hitting the shield looked like little sparks, lighting the space around me. One of the shattered bullets hit me in the cheek just above my scar, and I felt a quick burn.

  I ignored it and sprinted at them. I was on them before they could think of targeting my legs. In the back of my mind, I registered the pounding of broken bullets against my torso, future welts that I hoped @bitchfrog would be around to treat.

  I aimed high, for their heads, to force them to lower themselves. I missed on purpose, focusing on speed to transition into my second motion, a fluid spin of my body away from the man on my left, so that I could hack down on the man to my right. I caught him between the neck and the shoulder.

  I spun again to use my momentum to free my blade from his body and whipped my sword around, catching the other solder in the side. He had a protective vest, but the force of the blow still hurt him.

  As he raised his gun again, I stabbed him through the neck. I didn't stop to see if they were still alive. I gripped the handle of my sword firmly and ran past them, letting my speed bend the man backwards so that he crumbled in a backwards somersault, releasing the sword from his upside down neck.

  I took a right down another corridor and entered a well-lit room filled with stores of poplar wood. These would be used to make the clogs that tourists bought but never wore, instead putting them on display to treasure their memory of cheese and windmills.

  Three people were in the room, but ran down an empty aisle and was through the room before they could react to my presence.

  I cruised through another hallway. A woman there was running toward me, but when she saw me, she simply dropped to the ground and out of the way.

  The next room was a large dining area with three rows of tables. Five more soldiers awaited me there.

  I stopped momentarily, violating my rule of focusing on speed. The room had four exits. It would be hard for them to corner me, but I needed to pick the right one.

  I pinged my sonar capabilities and rotated through the settings on my ocular lens. Where was the Shoemaker?

  To buy myself time, I electrified my grappling hook to make a spectacle, and I fired it one of the light fixtures above the tables. The light shattered in a lovely spark, sending a shower of glass clinking down to the floor.

  Then I turned the grappling hook into a whip, hurling it out toward three who had their weapons drawn, forcing them to look for cover instead of firing at me. Satisfied, I let the whipping motion fly higher.

  I took out the two remaining flood lights, leaving us in the dark, with only my glorious electric grappling hook casting an eerie and fantastic fiery blue light around the room.

  I turned it off and pulled it back into my ARM. I toggled my ocular lens.

  It landed on Puppy Eyes instead of Night Vision. I had forgotten about the Puppy Eyes setting.

  I was surprised to see that two of the five soldiers found my exotic and electric entrance attractive. Amidst the birds and butterflies, and the charming music now singing into my ears, a thick red heart appeared around each of them, distorting their silhouettes to enlarge the shadow where their faces would be.

  I would kill them last.

  Who knew Puppy Eyes would be useful in battle?

  I switched to Night Vision, their shadows suddenly turning green in the darkness.

  Did they also have Night Vision? I didn't care too much. I had to focus on speed again, while I analyzed the sonar and radar inputs, searching for the Shoemaker.

  One of them trained his gun on me right away. I had to risk my position by invoking my energy shield. Dull aches hit my chest as I ran at him, slicing him across the neck.

  I ducked, disengaging the shield in an attempt to disappear again, and I rolled to the side. The shadow on my left didn't have a protective vest. He fired toward where I had been, but I wasn't there anymore. I was two steps away.

  I lunged at him, stabbing him through the gut.

  As I did, the others started firing that direction.

  But I never stopped again. I kept my pace, ducking under tables, leaping over tables, taking them out one-by-one.

  I used my grappling hook to choke the third soldier, while I slashed wildly at the fourth with my rose-colored blade, its sharp edge flowing with me, sending blood drops splattering through the thick air.

  The fifth soldier was the most in love with me, based on Puppy Eyes. I considered stopping the battle using my charm to convince him to join me.

  Instead, as he opened fire at the spot where I had just been, I ducked and ran at him. I lowered myself below his range of fire as I sped toward him from off to his left.

  At the last instant, I lit up my energy shield so he knew where I was.

  I was crouched low to the ground, shield raised before me, right in front of him.

  He screamed.

  I turned off the shield, grabbing the hilt of my sword with my left hand to add its strength to my blow, and I surged forward with a thrust up into his belly, driving the sword upward to the back of his neck. I drove with my arms and legs, raising myself to my feet and lifting him high off the ground.

  I yelled like Apophis would yell, with the power of the god of chaos and darkness.

  I held the soldier high and stepped forward three paces until I had him pinned against the wall, suspended in the air only by my sword.

  His screaming faded as his body started to drop, my sword working its way through his hanging body, rolling off his rib cage, until he flopped to the ground.

  I watched the warm blood pool up by his body, a bright red and orange display amid the darkness of my Night Vision.

  It was beautiful.

  "Zero G!" I yelled.

  And then I found what I was looking for in all the scans and sensory information. It was a shape of the appropriate size, with a long object in his hand. The Shoemaker with his iron pole.

  "Shoemaker!" I screamed. Apophis would be proud. Bring on the chaos.