Lenny searched the corpse of the soldiers and took everything useful.

He took the armors, weapons, tools, everything he could from them.

While he was curious to see what was inside their PIPS, he found out that he couldn't access them without a password and the owner's fingerprint.

Of course, it was possible to break the security by contracting a hacker to do so, but cracking open PIPS's security system was something very costly and time-consuming.

It takes days to break such security, and even if the hacker break through the security measures, the PIPS would send an alarm to somewhere, probably the organization the soldiers belong.

From what Lenny heard they speaking, these people would never allow information about their attack to be publicized, they would undoubtedly track and kill anyone with a PIPS from these soldiers.

Looking at the appearance of the invaders after stripping them, Lenny was certain that he was probably in big trouble.

The soldiers were all Apexes, and coupling with the expensive equipment and armory, they were probably from the Miniknog.

"Fuck..." Lenny cursed, "Why had to be Miniknog?"

Although it is well known that Miniknog and ISU were at odds with each other, no one would ever thought they would go as far as to send troops at the ISU's stations.

After he was done with the corpses, Lenny lifted them and hid them in one of the rooms on the floor he was.

[My spaceship in the station's hangar has probably fallen in their hands. To escape from this place I need to hijack one their ships.] Lenny started to think about a way to leave, [This station also had emergency escape pods, but it would certainly be one of the invader's primary objective if their intentions are also to lock everybody that was already here.] Lenny frowned. He couldn't come up with a good plan.

[I could call for help...but they probably also had some kind of jammer around this place. To bypass the jammer, I need a better communication device.]

Lenny glanced at the map of the space station that was by the wall just beside the emergency stairs.

[Probably in some laboratory or workshop, I can find a prototype of such a device, but my best bet is, of course, the communication center that is just one floor beneath the control room. The problem, of course, is how to get there. From the looks of it, the supposed Miniknog won't let anyone get out of here alive. No clues or survivors will be left behind. There will certainly have lots of guards by the communication center.]

Lenny looked at the necklace with the blue crystal. He took and placed it back behind his scarf again.

[I can only restore myself 4 more times...I need to be careful and use my power wisely.]

After thinking it through, Lenny reached a conclusion and started to follow his plan.

He opened the door of the emergency stairs and fastly disappeared as he ran upstairs.

...

Forge couldn't hold it anymore and vomited on the ground as soon as she heard the invaders in black tactical armor leave the room.

Her dinner mixed with liquid gastric fell with a loud splash sound on the ground that was filled with a thick, sticky, crimson liquid.

All around her were scientist bodies of the facility still with their white lab coats, the difference was that now they were covered in holes by bullets, and their coats drenched in blood.

With trembling legs, she tried to stand up but immediately fell on the ground.

Even though her physical strength was higher than an average human, now she could barely keep her back straight.

She tried to look around in search of some platform to help her stand up since she was currently unable to do it by herself.

Unfortunately, she couldn't see anything with her dirtied glasses.

Through the lenses, Forge only saw red whenever she turned her head.

There was blood all over her body, face, and glasses.

When the invaders, the people clad in black armor, forcibly entered the room, Forge immediately dropped in the ground after the first barrage of bullets were sent towards the scientists that were occupied working.

Forge feigned dead and escaped from the clutches of death, but she also had to watch her partners, co-workers, die in front of her.

Although they weren't blood-related, their ties were even stronger than that.

As she watched the lifeless bodies fall on the ground while spraying blood everywhere, she had to keep herself together and not throw up or make any noise as the invaders were still looking for survivors.

The room was at complete silence, and the only sound that could be heard was Forge's faint breathing and sobbing.

Tears streamed down her eyes.

She was heartbroken, completely heartbroken at the moment.

After the intense fear vanished, a little, guilty, and sadness came with full strength to take over her heart and mind.

While she knew that she couldn't have done anything to save everyone, in her mind, there was only "what if" scenarios playing.

The guilt was way too strong for her bear.

She immediately took a towel that was on top of a table and silently sobbed at it.

Forge couldn't make a lot of noise, or else they might still be able to hear her.

After calming her emotions a little, Forge finally stood up by taking the table as a support.

She looked at her side and went for the wardrobe that was on the corner of the laboratory.

Sometimes when dealing with experiments, they could explode and dirty the scientist coats. While some doesn't care about it, others disliked being dirty, so the higher-ups built a wardrobe filled with spare white lab coats, and other clothing, in some labs for these type of people.

She opened it and fastly exchanged her clothes while also being careful a making the less noise as possible.

While at it, she walked up to the bathroom that was on the corner of the room and cleaned her glasses.

As soon as she finished, the lights in the ceiling started to flicker before turning off.

The normal lights were turned off, but the red emergency ones were turned on just at the same time.

[They probably have the power room in their control now as well...] Forge's expression immediately changed as she heard some of the machinery being turned off all around her.