Chapter 389: The Boss Fight Became a Packed Lunch

The cage opened onto the workers’ escape lane, and the creature inside lowered its plated head toward the people Rex had ordered to keep working beneath it.

I couldn’t see either eye from the near corner. Armor covered the sides of its skull, and the viewing slit faced away from me, leaving a very specific problem between an excellent skill and an extremely unpleasant lunch break.

"Lukas, keep the frame braked and get everyone behind the fixed wall. I needed it looking at me before anybody tried running past its mouth."

He shouted the warning while I moved along the lower rail. The beast struck the cage floor with a grafted limb, tearing the edge loose and sending a sheet of metal across the platform.

One worker ducked behind a drum. Another fell beside the broken walkway, where two others grabbed his arms before he slid into the gap.

Rex stepped clear of the lifting door and watched the confusion with the pleased expression of a man who thought he had improved the lighting.

[System: Eyes first, mate. Don’t give it your whole bloody face just because you wanted a better angle.]

I was considering a polite introduction, but its mouth appeared to be handling recruitment.

I rose beside the cage, keeping the damaged wing away from its jagged upper edge. The short hover pulled at my side, and I felt exactly how much of the fight I had already spent pretending not to hurt.

The creature followed the nearest moving worker instead of me. I struck the cage roof with my tail, then flashed my controlled light along the opening until its head turned toward the glare.

It snapped at me before it looked properly. I dropped behind the steel corner, letting its teeth close on a rail thick enough to make the impact ring across the yard.

Old Mate leaned forward in his private chair with his drink forgotten beside him.

[System: That’s it, you winged pepperoni. Annoy the bastard professionally, then get out of the way before it files the complaint in your spine.]

I moved past the corner as the beast pulled back. Its armored lid lifted around one eye, and for a clear instant it looked directly at me.

Aggressive Bio-Recall found the grafted tissue. The impossible pressure folded the enormous altered body inward, and the monster that had filled half the platform became a sealed block small enough to fit beside my head.

The packet hit the cage floor with a soft slap. HICKORY SMOKED looked offensively cheerful against everything that had just happened.

For one stunned second, the whole loading crew stared at it.

"Nobody put that in the staff fridge unless you planned to explain it properly."

Then the damaged cage roof fell, because the creature had broken its support before becoming something that required a best-before date.

I dropped clear as the upper frame tilted. It struck the transport rail, tore one anchor loose and swung across the walkway where the last workers were trying to escape.

Lukas held the fixed brake while the transport lurched against its wheel blocks. The brake didn’t repair the cage, but it kept the entire load from rolling after the falling section and turning the yard into a much bigger problem.

Two workers reached the solid wall. The injured man and the helper beside him remained trapped on the short platform beyond the new gap, with loose cage bars hanging above their heads.

I could see clear ground beside Lukas and an open patch beside the pair. The endpoints were within twenty meters, and both sat in the same dry air rather than opposite sides of a pressure lock.

Backdoor Bludger opened between them. I told the helper to move first with the injured man’s weight against him, then watched both clear the opening before its eight seconds ended.

The cage section struck the empty platform a breath later. Metal folded into the gap, taking the route we had used with it.

Three minutes appeared on my portal timer. Bio-Recall had nearly fifteen minutes left, and Devour wouldn’t help against an active natural enemy who was very much still enjoying himself.

[System: Monster sorted, staff shifted, and you still owed me one showman with his business permanently closed. No early payout for the packed lunch, mate.]

I hadn’t planned to submit the packet as evidence, although it did fit more easily in a folder.

My EXP stayed at one hundred fifteen thousand and my IP at eight hundred twenty-five. The main objective remained unfinished while Rex stood free beside the wreckage and the other cargo still needed securing.

Lukas handed the injured worker to two others behind the wall. He checked the brake indicator again before moving away, making sure the fixed lock had taken the load instead of depending on his grip forever.

One of the rescued workers kept staring at the sealed packet. Lukas steered him away from it and asked him to help the injured man, giving shock a useful job before it turned into another problem.

A guard raised his weapon near the departure gate, then looked from the ruined cage to the packed meat and lowered it without being asked. Another backed toward the public entrance, deciding that loyalty had reached its sensible limit.

Rex didn’t follow them. He stepped through a gap in the fallen cage structure with a heavy yard pistol in one hand, his suit dirty at last and his expression empty of the smile he used for customers.

A mark spread across the pistol’s metal frame where his fingers rested. He could retrieve it if somebody knocked it away, and I was too far from it for Mine Now to provide an immediate answer.

Lukas stood below the service gantry, exposed between the brake housing and the equipment wall. Rex raised the weapon toward him while my fresh portal cooldown counted down with insulting patience.

I had clear air above me and enough room to flee. Instead, I turned toward my friend as Rex’s finger settled against the trigger.