Chapter 210: Sierra Madre Grand Opening! Part 2

"Just so you know, this is all your fault, Twig!"

Rebecca bluntly shouts as she, Six, and the crew sprint through the ruined maintenance tunnel of the Sierra Madre Casino & Resort, lasers slicing through the air behind them. Sparks rained from the ceiling where hologram sentries fired relentlessly, their glowing red outlines giving an eerie, predatory look in the dim light.

Twig, ducking low and narrowly avoiding another laser blast, shot back.

"Tell me something I don’t know, Becca! Yelling at me ain’t gonna stop those things from turning us into swiss cheese!"

"Maybe it won’t, Mijo."

Raul grunted, shoving over a busted slot machine to block a corridor behind them.

"But it sure as hell looks like it’s making her feel better."

"Yeah, yelling at you does!"

Rebecca snapped back, ducking under a low-hanging archway as a laser scorched the stone just inches above her head.

"Less arguing, more running!"

Boone barked, keeping pace as he fired a few potshots—not that they did anything to the holograms, but it made him feel better.

"Move, move!"

Six took the lead, guiding the team out of the maintenance tunnel using the map provided by Kiwi. The map flickered on the visor screen of his Terminator Knightmare Armor, struggling against interference from the Sierra Madre’s security systems, which attempted to jam their signals.

He navigated the crumbling halls with the practiced ease of someone who had narrowly escaped death more times than he could count. ED-E beeped anxiously as a laser from a hologram clipped the wall just inches from its floating frame.

"Next left!"

He shouted.

"Maintenance tunnels should get us out of their patrol radius!"

"Should?!"

Falco barked from the rear, narrowly dodging a sweeping laser beam.

"It’s a strong maybe!"

Six called back with a grin underneath his helmet.

"What’s the plan, babe?!"

Rebecca yelled, squeezing off a shot at one of the emitters, causing the hologram it projected to distort and glitch.

"Same as always!"

Six called back without missing a step.

"Survive first, blame Twig later!"

"You act like it’s my hobby to wake up ancient death traps!"

Twig argued, sliding under a half-collapsed doorway.

"I’m just naturally lucky! Lucky people get into these situations!"

"You keep confusing ’lucky’ with ’dumbass,’ Twig!"

Cassidy snapped, firing a quick burst from her shotgun at another emitter.

Roger, breathing hard but determined, carried Kiwi in one arm like a football, the small woman kicking her legs and yelling directions that mostly boiled down to "Faster! Faster!"

Meanwhile, Raul muttered under his breath in Spanish, something about "crazy kids and their death resorts," while Cassidy just laughed between gasping breaths.

Veronica, energetic as ever, shouted.

"This is just like that one time I accidentally triggered the auto-turrets back at Helios One! Only with more screaming!"

ED-E and Rex beeped and barked wildly, weaving between legs and dodging laser fire, acting like they thought this was some kind of demented race.

As they pressed forward, the team barely kept ahead of the onslaught, the deafening hum of the holograms growing louder. Rex barked urgently, and Roger and Kiwi covered the rear, blasting apart more emitters to buy precious seconds.

Six glanced back, meeting Rebecca’s fierce, determined gaze. Despite everything, she was smiling — adrenaline and sheer stubbornness lighting her up from within.

"Remind me to lock you outside the next time we find some ancient cursed casino, Twig!"

She added, jumping over a toppled cart.

Twig just laughed breathlessly.

"You know you’d miss me!"

Six shook his head with a grunt.

"Save the bickering for when we aren’t about to get vaporized!"

The group skidded around the corner, the holograms hesitated at the doorway—programming struggling to decide whether to follow or reset their patrol patterns. The momentary delay was all Six needed.

He slammed his shoulder into a rusty maintenance door, forcing it open.

"Inside! Now!"

One by one, they piled through the door just as the holograms flickered red again. Six slammed the door shut, Boone and Raul wedging a metal pipe through the handles to jam it closed.

Panting and laughing nervously, Rebecca jabbed a finger at Twig.

"When we get out of here—"

"If we get out."

Roger corrected.

"—you owe me so many drinks it’s not even funny."

Rebecca finished.

Twig groaned dramatically.

"Fuck it, fine! Drinks on me! Assuming we’re not all dead first!"

Six just chuckled, slapping Twig on the back hard enough to nearly knock him over.

"Welcome to the Sierra Madre, Twig. Where every step’s a free deathtrap... and the drinks cost more than your life."

The group caught their breath in the dim, dusty maintenance room. The echo of holographic lasers slicing through the air outside grew faint, leaving behind an oppressive silence. They were safe—for now.

Six quickly scanned the room, his helmet’s visor flickering as the interference from the security system in the Sierra Madre wreaked havoc on their communication devices. The dim lights of the broken maintenance room cast long shadows on the walls, making the place feel even more claustrophobic.

"Alright, let’s take a moment."

Six said, his voice echoing through the comms.

"We’ve got a bit of a breather, but we can’t stay here long. The door will keep the holos at bay for now, since they have lost sight of us; however, they will deduce our location if someone attempts to pass through."

Rebecca turned to face him, her eyes sharp, still adrenaline-fueled but a little less fiery.

"You don’t have to tell me twice. I think we’ve all had enough of playing tag with holographic death traps for one lifetime."

She shot a glance at Twig, who was panting but clearly enjoying himself, grinning despite the close call.

Boone, ever the pragmatist, cleared his throat.

"No time for bickering, you two. We’ve got a job to do."

Six nodded, his mind already back in tactical mode.

"Boone’s right. We’re not out of this yet. Kiwi, can you get us any more map data? We need to know where the exits are."

Kiwi, who’d been shaking off the stress of being carried like a football, gave a sharp nod.

"I’ve got a few more coordinates—most of them are still under the surface, though. The Sierra Madre’s been under lockdown for decades, so the ventilation systems are tricky. We’ll need to go deeper to reach the back exits."

"Great."

Six muttered, glancing at the group.

"More corridors, more deathtraps. But we’ll take what we can get."

Veronica, still in high spirits despite everything, clapped her hands together.

"At least we’re not all dead yet. And hey, if we find some loot down there, I call dibs on whatever’s shiny and hopefully I’ll find a dress or two!"

Cassidy snorted, a sly smile creeping onto her face.

"As if you’re the only one looking for treasure."

"Focus."

Six commanded, giving them all a quick, steely glance.

"Let’s get moving before the security system figures out we’re here. We stick together, stay sharp, and we get the hell out of this place."

With that, the team moved out again, heading toward the deeper corridors that Kiwi had pinpointed on the map. The air grew colder the further they ventured, and the distant hum of the hologram sentries remained as a constant reminder of how dangerous this place truly was.

Every step felt like a countdown.

Rebecca kept her eyes on the group, making sure no one fell behind.

"If we make it out of here, I’m personally making sure Twig never lives this down."

Twig, once again grinning like a fool, shot her a wink.

"You’re just mad I’m the one leading you out of this mess."

Rebecca smirked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Yeah, you’re definitely the one leading us out. Don’t know how we’d do it without you."

Six turned back to the group, pushing open a set of rusted maintenance doors.

"Let’s go. Time’s wasting."

The Sierra Madre might be a place of death, but it wasn’t going to claim them—at least not yet.