The fight began not with a bang, but with a blur.
Leon launched himself at Thorne, his movements no longer human. He was tapping into the "Subject Zero" protocols, his reflexes overclocked to a dangerous degree. He slid under Thorne's massive metallic claw, delivering a three-hit combination to the monster's midsection that sounded like a sledgehammer hitting an anvil.
"Lily, now!" Adrien shouted.
Lily didn't use a gun. She pulled a customized tablet from her bag—the one covered in neon cat stickers—and slammed a physical override into the room's gravity stabilizers.
"Gravity's a suggestion!" she yelled.
Suddenly, the world tilted. Bits of heavy server equipment and shards of glass began to float. Leon used a floating monitor as a stepping stone, launching himself into a mid-air roundhouse kick that sent Thorne reeling back toward the core.
Ashley capitalized on the weightlessness. She drifted upward, using the ceiling as a springboard to rain down precision fire. Every shot hit a glowing green joint in Thorne's armor.
"You think... physics... can stop me?" Thorne roared, his voice distorting. He slammed his fist into the floor, sending a shockwave of raw data through the room. The gravity snapped back into place with a bone-crushing force.
Ashley slammed into the ground, a cry of pain escaping her lips. Leon was thrown against a pillar, the wind knocked out of him.
"Ashley!" Leon scrambled toward her, shielding her body with his own as Thorne raised a jagged arm for a killing blow.