Cybersix followed Cypus obediently, knowing that he had the most command seniority present, and thus qualified to make policy for the family.  "What's left of it," she thought.

His office doubled as a study and a library, for the walls were lined, floor to ceiling, with shelves of books.  A large mahogany desk dominated the center of the room.  He went around to the padded chair, sat down, opened some drawers, and started pulling out papers, "Here." he said, scribbling an address down on a sheet of paper, "This is a company warehouse with a safe.  Should have about 150000 in it.  Here's the combination.  Split it equally among the normals and yourself.  That should help them get away and hide from these bastards.  The quiet blonde one, Vittorio, will know where to get forged passports.  Get one yourself.  There are crates of sustenance there too."

Cybersix nodded, glancing at the paper before folding it up and putting it into a pocket.

Cyprus was scribbling four very long numbers onto another sheet of paper, "These are the account numbers and passcodes to various Swiss bank accounts. You should be able to figure out the banks from the initials.  The total is around five million American dollars, which should be enough to..."

"You've been planning this all along, haven't you?"  Cybersix asked suddenly.

Cyprus looked up at her, hand holding the paper out to her, "We had a few close calls," he said slowly, "We were very, very lucky that the first normals we told were able to vouch for us to the others.  Hannah -" he paused for a long moment, "-wasn't the first one, but was our firmest and most persuasive supporter.  She had lost family in the concentration camps-" He paused for a long moment, "Come to think of it, about a fourth of our Normals were from her Synagogue and also had lost loved ones in the Holocost.  But the reactions of the others-" he shook his head, "Fear can make people do strange things." he finished, bobbing his head toward the door, and by implication, to the small army at the walls of his mansion.

Cybersix took the paper from him and looked at it, quickly memorizing the numbers, "Anything else?" she asked, putting it away too.

Cyprus was looking off to the side, frowning, obviously deep in thought.

"What is it?" She asked, prodding.

"Mouser.  I'm worried about that kid.  What did he mean by three?"

"A code perhaps?" she asked.

Cyprus suddenly brightened, "Yes!  You're right!" he pulled his drawer open again and went through it, pulling papers out and onto the desk, "Here!" he said excitedly, laying a sheet on the desk in front of Cybersix.  It had five addresses on it, "The poor boy had a hell of a life.  His dad was shot in a bar, and his mom is high on drugs all the time.  He crashes with his friends, and left me a list of five of them, in case I needed him after hours.  The reference to 'three' must mean the third address!" Cyprus circled it with the pencil, "Could you check on him?"

"No problem." she replied, taking the sheet, "All I'll need is a city map.  But don't you think you should-"

A loud thump banged against the wall behind her.  She and Cyprus rushed out the door to see everyone flat on the floor, "Sniper!" Vittorio called as he crouched next to the window, carefully peeking out the lower corner cautiously.

"Son of a-" Cybersix scowled, going to the window.  Glancing out, she saw that there indeed was a clear line of sight to the window from the sniper nest.  She glanced down at Vittorio, "Who's the best shot?" she asked him.

"I am." he replied.

"I'll need your gun." she said, reaching behind and pulling out her Magnum.

"What the HELL is that?" another normal guard croaked.

"Magnum with custom extended barrel for extra accuracy." she replied.

Vittorio chuckled: "Magnum" and "Accuracy" didn't usually belong in the same sentence.

Cybersix glanced at the window on the other side of the main door, "Someone step in front of that window."

Initially, no one moved.  Then Cyprus sighed and walked to it.

"BOSS!" Johnny cried out.

Suddenly, Cybersix shoved the muzzle of the magnum through the window and shot three times, the huge report of the gun shaking the walls and making everyone's ears ring.
---------------
"HOLY SHIT!"

"WHAT IS IT?" Jakes yelled.  He jerked his head at the clatter of something falling on the sidewalk, and saw the sniper rifle, "Get somebody up there!"

"I don't believe it!" one of the men gasped, "He'd just fired, and was getting ready to shoot again, when a bullet hit his helment and lifted him off his knees!  Looks like another one took his arm off!"

"Sir!" the agent who had run up to check the sniper leaned out of the window, "He's been hit!"
---------------
"Dumbass." Cybersix muttered under her breath.
---------------
Jakes heard the loud gunshot behind him, and mentally identified it as a Magnum an instant before he saw the throat of the agent at the window explode in a red shower of blood and flesh.
---------------
Cybersix grabbed the AK from Vittorio, pulled the bolt, flipped the action to single shot, flipped the safety off, poked the barrel out the window, and began firing, shifting her aim wildly while doing so.  She fired two shots at a time.

Cyprus grinned, "What do you see, Mike?"

Mike, a Normal who had been crouching in the corner next to the window, was awestruck, "She--She hit that sniper with that bigass Magnum, it looks like!  Took out the guy who leaned out the window too!  I don't see any of the helmets those bastards are wearing poking over the wall now!"

"Real dumbasses," Cybersix muttered, having stopped firing and was scanning instead.
---------------
"FORGET THE MEDIA!" Jakes yelled into the headset as he dashed to the platforms set against the Trodden mansion outer wall, "EVERYONE GET TO THE WALL!"

He scrambled up one platform and flopped down, back against the wall, "What's the status Ennis?" he demanded to a subordinate agent leader.

"We lost two up there," Ennis nodded toward the now-vacant sniper nest, "-and two down here."  At his boss's quizzical look, he continued, "They hadn't fastened their straps."

"What?"

"The straps to their helments.  Each man was hit twice: the first bullet hit the helmet and knocked it off, leaving his forehead exposed for the second bullet."

"What the hell?" Jakes frowned, "This morning, they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!"

Wordlessly, Ennis took Jakes' cap off his head, put it on a rifle barrel, and lifted it up.  There was a gunshot from the mansion the moment it cleared the top of the wall, and the cap went flying, "I'd say that, as of now, they couldn't miss the broad side of a mouse's butt." Ennis observed laconically.

"The jumper," Jakes said, his face going pale, "The only thing new is the jumper who got inside.  I've got to report this!"
---------------
"Why, I saw them while they were having target practice, of course," Cyprus said, grinning.  The technos present looked fit to bust with pride, while the normals were, quite frankly, awestruck.

"That's fine shooting there, Miss." Vittorio complimented Cybersix.

She smiled slightly, still scanning, "You've got this AK very well sighted, sir." she answered, "Only a hair to the right."

"Bad setscrew," Vittorio replied, even more impressed at the accurate diagnosis of his weapon.

The pounding of footsteps from the second floor was followed by a  techno stopping himself on the bannister.  "They're running in from the side streets!" He yelled down.

The mouths of all four normals dropped open as Cybersix leaped up to the second floor, rushed to a window,  broke the glass, shoved the AK through, and started firing.  Cheers erupted from the technos on the second floor.
---------------
"FOUR men in two minutes?" Jakes's boss demanded, awestruck.

"Correction! Seven in five!" Jakes yelled, glancing out the window and counting the bodies writhing on the street, "The freaks we've been killing all over the world were just the small fry.  They were the support network for whatever the hell got into that mansion, and which is now chewing up our agents!"

"Damn," Silence for a few moments, "I'm going to try something to buy you time."

"Make it snappy!" Jakes said, being able to see his men cowering around the corners of the buildings, and definitely not in any position to fire upon the house.  One cautiously peeked around a corner, only to jerk his head back when a bullet hit the wall, showering him with rock fragments.
---------------
Cyprus Trodden's cell phone beeped.  Everyone around him turned to watch as he pulled it out and answered, "Trodden."

"Hello freak."

"And a nice day to you too.  Who is this?"

"Johnson.  That's all you need to know.  Those are my men outside surrounding your mansion."

"Oh?  You mean the men who are getting shot while surrounding my mansion?"

"Okay, let's cut to the chase.  I'll make you a deal."

"You want to make me a deal." Cyprus said, relaying the message to the others.

Cybersix stopped shooting.

"I'll let you all go in exchange for the shooter."

"Let me get this straight.  Everyone in this house can go free if I hand my sister over to you."

There was a bit of silence as the speaker on the other end of the line processed that bit of information, "That's the deal," he said finally.

"Nope.  Not sweet enough," Cyprus said, hearing an unusual beeping tone from his cell phone.  He glanced at it, frowning, and noticed a message running along the bottom of his cellphone LCD.

"But-" 418 started to protest, but Johnny laid a hand on her shoulder and winked.

"So, what else do you want?"

"A total halt to hunting down my human employees."

"Okay."

"I'm not done."

"*sigh* What ELSE do you want?"

"Information."

"Hmmmm..."

"Just a couple of questions.  I was born curious."

There was a chuckle from Cybersix on the second floor at the double meaning of Cyprus' words.

"I may not be able to answer for obvious reasons."

"That's fine with me."

"Okay.  Shoot."

Cyprus grinned, "Are you the person who masterminded this whole operation?"

"*chuckle* Yes."

"You are.  I see."

"What's the other question?"

"Do you have asbestos longjohns?"

"What?  Asbestos longjohns?  What kind of question is that?"

"It's a very logical question, since your next stop is going to be hell, you bastard."

Cybersix jumped down, as Cyprus cut the connection, "He knew I'd stop shooting so I'd listen in!  It was a diversion to let all their men get into position!" she said accusingly, "You should have hung up!"

Cyprus grinned and held the cellphone out to Cybersix.  On the LCD, she read aloud, "Traced SOB to USA.  At 4.  M."  she looked at Cyprus, "Mouser?"

Cyprus nodded, "Like I said, the poor kid was aimless.  No purpose in life.  Didn't feel anything was worth living for, except the thrill of the next crack.  Turned out our computers became one of his targets.  They proved to be worthy adversaries, but he eventually broke in.  He rode all the way into the master computers on the compound on our telecomm circuits and found the master e-mail files.  After reading them, HE came to me, confessed what he had done, and begged for a chance to become part of something 'worth a damn'.  Those were his own words,"

"Poor kid indeed." Serena, Techno 54, spoke up,"His dad is dead and his mom strung out on drugs.  We told him he had to pull his grades up and behave.  He finished last quarter on the honors list, so Cyprus hired him to maintain our computers.  I think," she smiled sadly, "that he found us to be the family he wanted so desperately."

Cyprus nodded and handed the cell phone to Cybersix, "That's yours now.  Vittorio?"

"Yes boss?" Vittorio came over.

"What would you do to get five people out of here?"

He shook his head, "Not without killing everyone out there." he said, "If they decided to all pop up all at once and fire-"

"They'd lose about two before they got me." Cybersix finished, "Maybe three or four if they couldn't figure out which window I was firing from at first."

"Well, what if they were shooting at something else?"  Cyprus asked.

"Such as?"

"Hmmm, a sortie from the mansion?"

"53!" "BOSS!"

"They can't have the WHOLE place surrounded!  Not enough men!  I say we technos charge out the front door, drawing their fire and attention, while you sneak out over the back wall.  Would that work?"

"No!" Vittorio said quickly.

Cybersix didn't respond immediately.

"Six?" Techno 53 turned to her, "Will it work?"

She looked at him, eyes welling, "About 4 in 5, but only if you fight to the last techno." she said truthfully, unable to lie to him.

"Vittorio?"  Cyprus asked him again.

He was looking at the floor, "I think she's right.  I just don't-"

"Our choice, Vittorio.  Or at least mine.  Anyone with me?" he called out to the other technos.

"No..." Cybersix shook her head in disbelief as she saw the remaining technos quietly gathering around 53, hefting their weapons and looking grim, "You'll be slaughtered!  No!"

"We wait here, we'll be dead soon anyhow," a techno said, "The diesels are running low on fuel, which means our security system will be out of action.  We know they'll kill the normals.  But YOU-" He chambered the shotgun he held, "-you, they want alive."

"Over our glowing vials!" 418 said fiercely, hefting a sack that Serena had given to her.  She stepped up to Cybersix and kissed her cheek gently, "Get the bastard and make us proud, sister."

Tears streamed down Cybersix's cheeks, and she couldn't make out the faces of her family as each techno came up, kissed her, and bade her farewell before joining the line at the door.

"Follow-her-orders." Cyprus said to his human employees, "It was a pleasure having you work for me." he added, shaking their hands.  Johnny however, just grabbed Cyprus in a huge bearhug, lifting him off his feet

After being released by Johnny, Cyprus went to the door.  Serena stood by it, holding a sack, "What's that, honey?" he asked, looking at the sack.

Serena grinned, opened the sack, pulled out a makeshift Molotov cocktail, and showed him the label.

"My Jack Daniells?" Cyprus asked, eyebrows going up.

"Just giving the damned yankees their overpriced whisky back."

He grinned and nodded. He glanced back at the group, "Ready?  Two fire from each side window to start, then we dash out, spread out, and start moving to the wall.  Now!"

"Damned fools!" Cybersix's voice wavered as she turned and ran up the stairs.  Vittorio jerked his head, and the normals charged up the stairs after her.  They found her standing beside a window, Magnum drawn.  At Vittorio's hand signal, they took up positions on either side of her.

"You can leave if you want!" She said, glancing at them.

"Boss' orders.  We stick with you." Johnny said, wiping at his cheeks.

"LET'S GO!" Techno 53's voice came from downstairs.

"Oh crap.  Wait on my mark, then start picking them off!" Cybersix said.
---------------
"SIR!  THEY'RE COMING OUT!"

"WHAT!?!"  Jakes paled and glanced at the reporters crouching behind abandoned cars.  Their cover would be blown if-

Gunshots sounded from within the grounds of the mansion.
---------------
Serena and the young techno from the shipping dock, number 2672, ran from shrub to tree to bush, "Where are we headed?" 2672 hissed

"Right up to the wall, under their noses!" Serena replied.
---------------
"Hold your fire!" Jakes yelled, "But shoot if they try to rush the gate!"
---------------
"They're not shooting," Robert, the fourth of Cyprus' guards muttered.

"Why should they?" Vittorio said laconically, They've got a nice, safe wall to hide behind."

"Not for long." Johnny said, grinning, "The ladies, they be ready to do some cookin!"

"Johnny-" Mike said, rolling his eyes, "THAT was in bad taste!"
---------------
Techno 54 made it to the wall, 2672 right behind her, "So wh-" she started.

54 shook her head violently, holding a finger to her lips.  She unloaded the bag and lined up the bottles.  She then handed a lighter to 2672, lit hers, and nodded.

They grabbed bottles, lit the rags stuffed into them, and lobbed them over the wall.
---------------
"Something's on the grill, boys." Cybersix observed, nodding in grudging approval at Serena's unconventional method for returning unsuitable merchandise, "When they pop up, fire!"

No sooner had she said that when she started firing herself.
---------------
"LET'S GO!" 54 shouted when they had tossed all their bottles, taking off after 2672 and heading for the mansion.

They didn't get far: 54 saw bullets tear into 2672's back and she fell.  She ran up to her, grabbed her by the shoulders, lifted her, and started to drag her, only to be hit in the leg herself.

"Well, this is it." she thought, wincing at the pain and waiting for the end.

She heard footsteps, then heard machine gun fire immediately above her head.  She glanced up and saw her husband, 53, standing over them and firing at the wall.

Her surge of pride was the last thing she felt on this earth when the grenade that landed less than a meter to their left exploded.
---------------
"Boss is gone." Johnny said, voice shaking, watching as the other technos fell from the volley of lobbed grenades.

The normals turned to Cybersix, only to see her leaning back against the wall, sobbing, tears streaming down her face.

"He's gone." Vittorio reminded her.

"I saw.  Let's go."  Cybersix said, "Lead the way to the back door.  I'll take it from there."

They went through the back door and went to the back wall.  Cybersix reloaded her gun as the men moved ladders against the wall and climbed up.  She waved for them to stop, paused as if listening, inhaled, and leaped up high over the wall.  She spun in mid-air, and shot two bullets to their right.  The recoil altered her course in mid-air just as Vittorio heard the burp of an automatic weapon to his left.  He poked his head up in time to see a gunman in SWAT gear diving between two cars.  He glanced to the right and saw a similarly dressed gunman lying on the sidewalk.

Cybersix had landed in the street and had also scrambled between two parked cars.  She popped up and fired once, then ducked as the other gunman also popped up and fired a long burst, shattering the windshields of the cars between them.

"She's going to run out of bullets quick!" Vittorio thought, quickly formulating a plan to divert the gunman long enough for her to get him.

He glanced down and frowned when he saw Cybersix wedging herself in the narrow gap between the two parked cars that shielded her.

She grunted and straightened her body violently, shoving the parked cars apart.  Like dominoes, the two cars struck the cars next to which they were parked, sending them flying into the cars parked next to THEM.

The loud, long scream made Vittorio jerk his head: It was the fake SWAT cop, caught and pinched between the two cars he had used as a shield!  He had dropped his machine gun and was vainly trying to push the cars apart, writhing and screaming in agony.

"Let's go!" Cybersix shouted, scrambling to her feet.

The men scrambled over the wall, "This way!" Vittorio yelled, heading for an alley.
---------------
"Although the police said that the Trodden body guards turned on their employer, reporters at the scene give a conflicting report of Cyprus and Serena Trodden, with their employees, storming-"

The young man sitting on the couch glared at the television set, eyes red.  His friend, sitting next to him, looked quite uncomfortable and helpless, "Gawd, Mouser.  I'm sorry.  I know they meant the world to you."

"They were my family, Eric!" he said morosely, "A real one!  They were good people.  Why would those bastards do that to them?" he put his head in his hands, "Man, I'm going to miss them!"

Eric didn't know what to say, and somehow felt that saying something wasn't the right thing to do.  Instead, he put his arm around his fellow hacker's shoulders and leaned against him in sympathy, trying to picture life without his own family, and thus try to share the pain.

After a few minutes, there was a light tapping at the window.  The two teens rose and stared, terrified, at the window, "Got a gun?" Mouser asked.

Eric glanced around, "No!  My mom hates them!"

The person at the window tapped again.

"Open it." Mouser said suddenly, sounding confident.

"But it could be-" Eric squeaked.

"They'd come in shooting and not bother to knock!"

"Oh." Eric saw the reason in that, went to the window, unlatched it, and lifted it up.  He stepped back as a young teenage girl dressed in camoflage pants and green shirt, stepped inside.

"Mouser?" she asked, straightening up.

Mouser was staring intently at the visitor, "You're a cyber, aren't you?"

She bowed her head, "I'm Cybersix.  Cyprus sent me to see if you were okay."

"He did?"

"Yes.  He and Serena were very worried about you."

"T-They were worried about me?  They were getting shot at and they were worried about me?" Mouser sank back onto the couch, put his face in his hands again and began to cry.  Cybersix immediately was by his side, put her arms around him, and pulled him into a hug.  She felt like shedding a few tears herself, but even a Cyber had limits, and she had run out during the mad run through the back alleys to the warehouse.

Mouser finally stopped and pulled away, "Well, I guess I'm okay, for now."  He said.

She smiled at him, "You've got information about who's the leader of the attack?"

He nodded, "Traced it back to a phone exchange in Washington D.C."

"Any further?"

He shook his head, "No.  Its a special exchange used by the CIA and other yankee intelligence agencies to block traces.  Low volume.  Big bucks.  Awesome security."

She nodded and smiled, pulling out the cell phone, "That was an impressive bit of hacking you did with this phone."

Mouser paled, "Is that Cyprus's phone!?!"

"Why, yes."

"OH SHIT!  They can use the cell phone towers to trace it!"

The cellphone shattered into splinters as Cybersix crushed it.  She arose, went to the window, and looked out.  She bit her lip, "Sorry!  We've got visitors!"
--------------
The agent on the motorcycle got off as the other two got out of the car, "You sure the kid's up there?" he asked them, pulling out his Glock and checking the clip.

"Yeah.  The cell phone is around here, and the address is of one of the members of the local computer club." one said.

The other nodded, "The traceback from the secure exchange fingered this block too.  Kid shouldn't have tried to screw with the White House workstations in revenge, since we were able to trace it back here too."

"Shit.  What did he do?"

"Don't know.  'That's classified', they told me."

The three agents went up the stairs and surrounded the door.  The leader nodded, and one stood back and kicked the door open.  The three rushed inside, crouching and holding their guns out, ready to shoot.

The apartment was dark except for the television set, which was still announcing the news.  The agents went through the rooms, checking everything.

"Not here." The leader finally concluded, holstering his pistol.

"So where-"

The sound of a motorcycle revving made the agent curse and run to the window.  He saw a girl driving his motorcycle away, a boy hanging onto her with his arms around her chest,

"DAMN!  They grabbed my cycle!" he shouted, "And the girl the boss wanted is driving it!"
---------------
"WHERE ARE WE HEADED NOW?" Mouser shouted.

"I'M GOING TO THE AIRPORT!  I'VE GOT A FLIGHT TO GERMANY TO CATCH!"  Cybersix shouted back.

"I'M COMING WITH YOU!"

"NO YOU'RE NOT!"

"YES, I AM!  THOSE GUYS WOULD HAVE KILLED ME LIKE THE OTHERS!  BESIDES, YOU CAN USE A HACKER LIKE ME!"

"IT'LL BE DANGEROUS!"

"YOU GONNA GET THOSE BASTARDS?"

"YES!"

"I WANT TO HELP!"

Cybersix bit her lip, then jerked the cycle down a different alley.

"HEY! THE AIRPORT IS THAT WAY!" Mouser shouted.

"I KNOW!  I'M GETTING YOU A FAKE PASSPORT!" She shouted back, trying to remember the address of the forger.

"SO, WHAT'S IN GERMANY?" Mouser shouted, happy for the first time in several days.

"ANSWERS!"

"TO WHAT?"

"Secrets," She murmured to herself, "Family secrets."
 

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