By now Bugz had hacked into their communication system and was eavesdropping.

“Do you copy?” Alpha’s voice asked.

Silence.

“Divers, do you copy?”

Static.

“Copy?”

In the depths, emerald light caught the lead diver’s lifeless ’Versona, trapped in Mishi-pizhiw’s jaws. The saber-toothed snake played with it like a cat with a mouse.

“That’s enough!” Bugz yelled, struggling to hold on. “He’s finished!”

The thirty-four remaining divers, now swimming furiously to the surface, pointed their guns back down into the depths and fired toward Mishi-pizhiw’s head.

Mishi-pizhiw unclenched his jaw and virtual blood clouded the waters. He and Bugz chased the divers to the surface, picking off three more along the way, before turning away.

CHAPTER 20

Feng helped two divers board his boat as the other surviving SEALS scrambled onto watercraft around them.

“Should we head for shore?” The question came over the Clan:LESS voice-com.

“No!” Alpha shouted back. “We stay and fight!”

Feng looked around. Clan:LESS’s chances of winning this showdown seemed to be slipping further away by the second. The last beatdown they’d received from Bugz had made it difficult to recruit more soldiers. With that livestreamed thrashing viewed by every serious gamer alive, and by tons of noobs too, Clan:LESS’s reputation had taken a nosedive. If they needed to rebuild their army a second time, they’d either have to leave many spots empty or accept much-lower-caliber recruits. But the boss had said what he’d said. Feng sighed.

Mishi-pizhiw jumped up from the water like an orca catching a seal and tore through a speedboat on the opposite side of the armada from Feng. Bugz, now straddling the beast’s back like a mounted warrior, fired her machine gun into the waters around the shattered vessel; a cloud of gamertags rose to the heavens in response. She showed no mercy.

Feng fired listlessly at Mishi-pizhiw, who bounced from boat to boat like a wakeboarder slaloming from wave to wave, leaving destruction in his path. Bugz picked off any clanmates who’d survived the initial onslaught. Fifty more gamertags rushed skyward.

From the sky, the Thunderbird descended like a screaming eagle and rained lightning bolts down on the remaining Clan:LESS watercraft.

“C’mon, this is getting ridiculous,” Feng said to the centurion beside him. He reloaded his weapon and fired several blasts at the Thunderbird above. “Let me guess, this one’s bulletproof too?”

Bulletproof, perhaps, but the physics of the blasts forced the bird to change her flight path.

As the Thunderbird arced along her new course, she caught sight of Mishi-pizhiw. Without seeing Bugz on board, the bird fired several lightning bolts at the underwater beast, striking him.

“Watch out! I’m right here!” Bugz yelled skyward.