"Simulacra God my ass. If you want to join ScapeHead junkies in their Metalives, be my guest, but I am not letting you bring me and the world down with you. I need to know two things: where's the Mainframe, and where's the controller for the nano-plague. I'm bringing you down, and I'm doing it now."

The smiling one just nods again. He looks like he must be five hundred--skin hanging off of him in huge drooping bags, eyes sunken deep into his misshapen skull.

"My son, the Awakening is--"

I put a bullet right in that gross mango skull of his, and purplish chunks dribble out of the quarter-sized hole in the bone.

"Who the hell is next," I say.

And they all just smile. Glancing around, I see that all their monitors have changed to countdown timers.

Oh hell oh hell, what do I do, killing them won't stop anything, I need--

There's the sharp click of steel stilettos across the ground, and the sound of something dragging behind them. I leap out of the ring of man-things with my gun raised.

Tess steps in, tosses Drake's body to the ground. He's been ripped in half at the waist, trailing organs and silver wires. Jesus.

"Game over, Jack," she says.

Better think fast as hell.

"Ah, Tess, how nice of you to join us. Your friends just got done telling me where the nano-bot control device is, and I'm sure you'll enjoy witnessing me blow it in half."

"Welcome, Tess. Just in time to see me blast the TRUScape Mainframe in half."

"Um. Fuck."