She slid between a Brute’s legs, wrapped the energy whip around its ankle, and yanked. The Brute toppled into a second Brute. She kicked off the third Brute’s chest, flying backward, and fired a charged shot from her cannon into the tangled pile. The explosion sent them all spinning in different directions. “Domino Effect! +500!”

Nakamura saw it. Kael’s only vulnerability was the power conduit behind his left ear, but it was protected by a rotating shield of scrap metal. She couldn’t shoot through it. She couldn’t punch it.

“Welcome to the Party,” a voice slurred from her comm. It belonged to a grizzled man in a duster, hanging upside down from a tangle of cables. He was eating a protein bar. “Name’s Meridian. You’ve got a Leash. Don’t point it at anything you don’t want to explode.”

Nakamura didn’t shoot. She flicked . The Leash lashed out, snagging a Screamer mid-lunge. She yanked it into the air, then slide-kicked a floating barrel of fuel. The barrel exploded, engulfing the pulled enemy in a fireball. Lola cheered: “Fire in the Hole! +50 Skillshot!”

Nakamura didn’t have standard rounds. She had the Leash.