RATATATATA- PTING! PTING! PTING!
The Pelican continued to its target with constant rounds from its rotary cannon, long, yellow strings of ammunition curving through the air from the mouth of the Vulcan to kiss the tail-end of the Jetstream.
Luckily for the Summoner and his involuntary passenger, the Jetstream's hull was comprised of thick, Zaunite-produced steel of the highest quality (which was a steal, considering the whole ARV was only purchased for fifteen thousand Valoranite gold).
The Summoner winced, his eardrums throbbing at the white-knuckled businessman's shrills screams assaulting his hearing. A high-pitched oscillating hum resounded through the cabin, the sound originating from the twin rune-encrusted jet propulsion propellers encased within two cylinders on the side of the Jetstream. Along with this constant hum, the Summoner could hear the shrill scream of the Pelican's rotary engine, its large propellers thrusting the agile aircraft dangerously close to his tail.
The Summoner tried his best to ignore the resonating typewriter-like screams of the Vulcan rotary cannon.
In the meanwhile, the businessman seated beside the Summoner begins an endless string of profanities thrown at his direction as a result of his precarious maneuvering of the man's precious ARV.
"Shit! Fuck you and your self-defense committee, you bullshitting son of a bi-WHAAAAAAA!"
The Summoner shuts him up unintentionally as they both feel their innards swirl, the Jetstream revolving through the air in a full circle. Streaks of bullets flash past the front windshield as the ARV flips and revolves around the fiery rounds of ammunition. Gritting his teeth, the Summoner suddenly pulls back on the control wheel, propelling the entire ship to skyrocket upwards through a small, predicted opening within the mangled webs of Zaunite metalwork.
WHOOOSH, VMMM- RATATATA!
Darkness encompasses the ARV, steel walls closing in on all sides. The echo of the twin jet propulsion propellers echoed with an increased potency within the cramped quarters to join the pursuing Pelican in a chorus of mechanical screams, the sound almost overwhelmed by the unremitting whooshing of passing steelworks.
Unbeknownst to both parties, they were currently zooming through a large ventilation tower for a Zaunite drug producer, just in time for the hourly steam vent.
VHOOOSH!
Intricate pipework and openings within the web-like steel cave around them proceeded to vomit plumes of white steam and smoke, vapor immediately enclosing the dashing ships in a thick veil, reducing visibility to nil. The aforementioned gasses rushed into the cabin of the Jetstream, encompassing the two men in a hot, choking cloud. Both of them instinctively begin to cough, but the Summoner somehow still kept control of the ship, increasing the Jetstream to its maximum speed in order to escape the steamy trap.
All sound becomes more muffled, the Summoner's eyes forced to squint through the white as he struggled g to catch sight of the tower's exit. He couldn't use clairvoyance, not with his already-low mana supply; catching sight of the circular opening into Zaun's open air would be enough.
The rattling of the rotary canon continued to follow the Jetstream, though now the speeding bullets make less contact with its battered steel hull. Suddenly red lights began to flash in the Jetstream's cockpit, their muffled glow filling the cabin. Accompanying these flashes of red, a shrill alarm begins to sound, supplemented with a feminine electronic voice.
BING! BING!BING! CAUTION, ENGINE STALL IMMINENT. CEASE VERTICAL FLIGHT IMMEDIATELY. BING! BING! BING! CAUTION, ENGINE STALL IMMINENT…
Sure enough, the Summoner could feel the Jetstream's propellers beginning to sputter, their blue arcane glow spewing in a faltering fashion.
"Dammit," the Summoner muttered, still unmindful of the businessman's loud yelling.
Pressing the pedal controlling the ship's speed to its maximum capability, the Summoner's mind raced to find a solution to their current predicament. The light of the outside world crept closer and closer as the two ships began to finally exit the titanic ventilation tower, their sight still shrouded by the thick conjoined columns of hot steam.
Desperate for a lifesaver, the Summoner activated the ship's defense mechanisms, his finger pushing the red button beneath the fuel gauge. Instantaneously, a screen that had remained black suddenly lit up with a blue hue, displaying a large single-burst autolock arcane burst cannon. Simultaneously, the Summoner could feel a small jolt underneath his seat as the burst cannon rose out of its burrow within the hull of the ship.
The Summoner grinned at this new development. He was familiar with the arcane burst cannon and its specifications. Of course, he had to be; the Institute developed the technology for extra revenue. The arcane burst cannon was designed with an internal scheme that was not dissimilar to the sentry turrets situated on the Fields of Justice. Shooting out large, concentrated balls ofarcane energy, the burst cannon autolocks with the nearest hostile ship to disable and short-circuit its electronic components for a short period of time. Though the burst canon wasn't terminal in its performance, it could grant its user the perfect amount of time to escape, or dispatch its hostile target with a finishing blow.
The Summoner's eyes suddenly widened as a plan finally formulated within his brain, one that required yet another fall, but would ensure the termination of his target and the acquirement of the intel.
Yelling above the loud din, the Summoner dropped his act to the businessman, his voice barely heard over the incessant sirens and the loud hum of the engines.
"WHERE IS YOUR SHIP'S TOWING CABLE?"
The businessman takes a moment to respond, still frightened at the current situation. Finally he yelled back somewhat scathingly,
"OUTSIDE, UNDERNEATH THE WINDOW THAT YOU BROKE."
At that, the Summoner unbuckled his seat belt, allowing the Jetstream to continue its vertical progress on autopilot. Jumping out of his seat, quickly threw his hands onto the headrest of the passenger seat, his body dangling behind him. The businessman looked back into the Summoner's eyes with fear, disbelief tracing the corners of his pupils.
The Summoner grinned. At the close proximity between their two heads, the Summoner's voice needed not to be raised as he quickly enlightened his plan to the seated Zaunite before him.
"Alright old chap, the ship's all yours. Now listen carefully. When I jump out of the Jetstream, keep her steady. I've set your ship's defensive turret on autolock. Once our pursuer is visible, immediately press the firing button. Finally, the engines will stall, and it'll be a long way down before they come back online, but you have got to keep her steady. Once they come back online pull up with all you can, got it?"
"But, wait what do you-"
"There's no time damn it," the Summoner spat, the light of the outside world looming closer and closer through the gloom. "Just follow my instructions if you want to survive. Those men are coming to kill us. Understand? Now do what I've told you to do before I kill you myself."
The last comment sprung the Zaunite into action, his body clumsily repositioning itself into the driver's seat, his fingers buckling the seatbelt with nervousness. He heard a thud as the Summoner let go of his grip, landing in the back of the vertical cockpit. Then the businessman could hear a grunt and a slight ruffle of fabric. Taking a quick look back, the Zaunite's eyes widened at the absence of the man that had been driving his ARV mere seconds before. Returning his gaze to the windshield in front of him, the businessman gulped.
"Wait…did he say jump?"
The ventilation towered continued to spew steam and smoke from its mouth, tall columns of the white plumes spreading out to conjoin with the thick layer of pollutants hanging idly in the air above Zaun. Even with the hindrance of vision, the blue of the sky still somehow manages to make itself visible through the gloom.
VWOO-SPUT, SPUT, SPUT- VWOOOM!
Shooting out of the ventilation tower's opening, sunlight gleams off of the Jetstream's battered metal hull as its propellers begin to sputter and stall. The Zaunite behind the wheel gritted his teeth as his ARV does a complete rotation in the air, its vertical progress beginning to slow. He could feel his ship's twin propellers sputter, the constant speed that had been graced upon the Jetstream quickly beginning to ebb away. The alarm in the cockpit continues to scream, the ship's digital voice continuing to warn the Zaunite of the forthcoming engine stall. Then all at once, the ship's engines finally stopped completely, the propellers ceasing their rotations. The Jetstream stops in midair for the briefest second, the Zaunite's insides doing cartwheels. Then, the nose of the ARV looks towards the ground as it begins its rapid freefall towards the ground.
Gripping onto the steering wheel with all the strength he could muster, the businessman held his finger steady over the button that would shoot out a blue burst of arcane energy from his ship's burst cannon. All he had to do now was trust that the Summoner's plan would go through.
The Summoner hoped just as much, his clothes flapping in the wind as he held onto the side of the ship for dear life. In his right hand he held the clip for the ship's towing cable, a long steel wire capable of dragging along a ship just as big as the Jetstream once the clip was harnessed onto the desired aircraft.
The Summoner kept his eyes glued onto the steaming gloom of the ventilation tower, his feet inching closer and closer to the front of the ship.
He had to have perfect timing, or else this plan would fail.
And both he and the businessman knew that death would be eagerly waiting for them if the plan didn't go through.
VHMMMM-WHOOSH!
The Pelican shot out of the ventilation tower, its passengers' eyes squinting at the sudden onslaught of daylight. Unlike the Jetstream, the Pelican had no threat to have its engines stall; its twin propellers were large in their circumference and were capable of swiveling in 360 degrees, enabling the ship to remain vertical progress at a steady rate dissimilar to a helicopter.
Finger pressing against the trigger of the Pelican's Vulcan rotary cannon, the pilot of the agile aircraft was more than ready to let loose more rounds of ammunition once their target made his appearance.
But suddenly, once the steam of the ventilation tower had cleared out, a blue churning ball of light flew at their faces. Before the pilot could dodge the sphere of arcane energy, it made contact with the ship, a static electric crackle resounding through the cockpit. All at once, sirens and alarms begin to shrilly scream, every available piece of machinery ceasing their ministrations. The pilot frantically flips switches, pushes buttons, pulls levers, trying anything he could to get the ship's engines back online.
It was no use.
The men's eyes are suddenly diverted to the left of the ship, where they catch sight of the Jetstream plummeting past them to the ground below. Though their ship's engines had been disabled, their propellers still desperately spun on reserve energy, keeping them afloat above the ventilation tower with their ship paralyzed from doing anything other than hover.
Amidst the confusion, the men didn't see the figure jump off the side of the Jetstream, landing atop the Pelican.
The Summoner went to work hastily, crouching cautiously as his hands latched the Jetstream's towing cable to the closest steel loophole.
ZZZIIIIIIIIIP!
The steel cable continued to grind against the side of the Pelican, galvanizing the Summoner hasten his movements; the towing cable was running out of length.
KA-CHACK!
The Summoner let loose a sigh of relief as he removed his hands from the fastened towing cable. But just as soon as the relief flooded his system, it quickly fled as a new concern made itself clear to him; where was he going to hang on to? In his mind's eye he could see the Jetstream plummeting several yards below the Pelican, its towing line beginning to stretch to its maximum length…
P-TWANG!
Instantly the line went taut, the Summoner now frantic; the roof of the Pelican was surprisingly scarce of bars or any other means for his hands to find a firm grip. Seeing no other option, the Summoner gripped onto the towing line itself, doing so a millisecond before the Pelican suddenly fell out of its position, its metal body dragged through the air by the plummeting Jetstream.
The men inside the Pelican look at each other helplessly as their disabled ship is violently tugged out of its comfortable hovering position above the ventilation tower. They hold onto their seats tightly, the Jetstream's mighty weight pulling them down through the air as an anchor would tow along a corpse thrown into the ocean.
Outside the comfort of the ship, the Summoner's body flails about in the air, his hair whipping in the intense wind of the freefall.
WHOOOM.
The ventilation tower whooshes past the two plummeting airships, its steel webwork nothing but a long splotch of brown and grey as the Jetstream continues to fall towards the ground, its engines still offline.
Tears begin to roll out of the Summoner's eyes as the rushing air dries out his eyes in a matter of seconds. His grip on the steel cable remains steady; a difficult task considering his entire weight is being dragged along behind him with only his fingers' grip to keep him attached to his target's ship.
Still the Summoner strained his vision to keep track of the Jetstream's progress, its propellers beginning to sputter to life, short trails of blue spluttering out from their cylinders erratically.
Come on, old chap…pull up….there isn't much air left.
A high-pitched wheezing rings in the Summoner's ears as the two ships in front of his body continue to plummet towards the ground, gravity pulling them to increase their velocity. Taking a cursory glance at his watch, the Summoner takes note of his mana supply, a crucial element of his plan that he didn't check before. Much to his relief, the blue bar fortunately had just enough for his intentions.
The two ships continued to rush towards the ground at a dangerous pace, the tall spires of short skyscrapers already threatening to impale the aircraft into a fiery doom. If the Jetstream didn't pull up soon, this fate would soon come into fruition.
Suddenly the Summoner's eyes are met with two constant blue streams trailing behind the Jetstream.
The engines were online.
Just as soon as this occurs, the ARV gives off a high-pitched hum as it smoothly curves upward, its nose slowly reverting its course to a horizontal line. Eyes widening at this development, the Summoner braced himself for the inevitable, the taut towing cable continuing to drag along the disabled Pelican through the air.
Consuming the remainder of his mana supply, with a bright yellow flash of arcane light, the Summoner erects a globular barrier of energy around his body just as the Pelican violently crashes through layers of rusty steelwork. Sparks fly through the air as the ship continued to plummet until finally stopping at an abandoned factory floor.
The Jetstream continued to drag the lightweight aircraft through steel pillars and architecture, battering the hull of the craft with each and every contact. A trail of sparks flew behind the dragged ship as it proceeded to burst through tangled steelwork and masonry. The Summoner clung tightly onto a nearby rung atop the Pelican, struggling to unclip the Jetstream's towing cable from the Pelican's roof. If he didn't do so soon, he knew that he would perish alongside the passengers of the ship. The golden, translucent barrier continued to shield the Summoner from the onslaught of rusty steel that the Pelican was being dragged through, but soon the shield began to weaken, the Summoner's mana supply diminishing by the second.
Unhook dammit. Unhook!
His right hand desperately tried to unclasp the towing line from the Pelican, but to no avail; it was impossible to accomplish with only one hand. Seeing no other alternative, the Summoner released his grasp from the Pelican's roof and with one deft motion unclipped the steel clip from the aircraft's roof.
TWANG!
Instantaneously the steel cable flew away to join the Jetstream's flight. Because of his released grasp, the Summoner flew off the roof of the Pelican, his body rolling on the steel ground as the barrier around him spluttered out to nothing but air.
VSSHHHHHHHH!
The Pelican screeched to a halt a few meters away. By now the airship is a battered chunk of steel, its twin propellers ripped off its hull as wings to a bird. Its shape is unrecognizable; the only evidence that it was a pilotable ship is the two-passenger cockpit, which still remained intact. The dark green paint that had covered its body during its initial flight is completely scathed off, the silver steel skin of its frame reflecting dimly in the sunlight. Smoke begins to drift through the ship's miniscule crevices as the Pelican sighed its last breath.
Emulating the Pelican's progress, the Summoner rolled to a stop, his body lying on the ground to face the sky. His chest heaves for air as the physical punishment finally ceased. He lay in this manner for several minutes, the smoking remains of the Pelican continuing to smolder a few feet to his right.
Slowly getting to his feet, he groaned at the various bruises and small cuts his body had received during the length of his chase. Despite all of the physical pain, the Summoner grinned as his eyes are met with the Pelican and its cockpit.
His mission was almost complete. All that he needed now was the intel.
Limping toward the Pelican, the Summoner drew his Walther PPK; he didn't want to take any chances.
The cockpit of the Pelican consisted of two seats, with one reserved for the pilot. A hard, sturdy bullet-proof and airtight windshield was the only barrier that protected the passengers from the elements. Luckily for the Summoner, the large sheet of indestructible glass swiveled open for him with a strong tug of his arms.
As the cockpit swiveled open, he pocketed his handgun at the sight of the two men within the Pelican limp and unconscious, a trickle of blood drizzling out of the pilot's mouth onto his shirt. Light caught on the silver suitcase still grasped in one of the men's hands, much to the Summoner's relief. Seeing that the pilot sat directly in his way, the Summoner dragged the corpse out of its seat and tossed it to the steel ground. The body fell on its face with a loud whump. Before he could enter the felled ship, the Summoner's gaze suddenly turned skyward to the top of the ventilation tower.
The tower reached at least forty stories. Not taking into account the height the two ships had reached above the structure, the Summoner had just survived a four hundred foot plummet to one of Zaun's many levels.
He shook his head slightly before glancing at the body lying at his feet.
"Zaun is just gorgeous in the fall, isn't it?"
At a repair shop, the Zaunite businessman sat on a stool, watching his ARV being hoisted up by hydraulics. Luckily for him, the repair shop was famed for its same-day repairs, a result of its advanced robotic technology.
Shaking his head, the businessman sighed.
"Thank gods the insurance covers hijackings."
*phew* The chase scene is finally over. Well, I don't want to spoil anything, but something you guys are going to enjoy is coming after the next chapter.
:3
I'll give you three guesses what.
