FMP Fan Fiction
Wo Futari De
by Esoteria
Chapter 3
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When he actually got to thinking about it, this was one of the most opportune moments for Amalgam to make another move on Kaname Chidori. Sousuke recalled musing not half an hour ago that Wraith would be unable to see or hear them in this kind of weather. And without that remote surveillance or the backup of another SRT, he thought anxiously, there was only one man left to protect the Whispered code name "Angel".
And so... he thought, wo futari de. "Just the two of us."
The thoughts of a few moments ago slowly shrunk into irrelevancy in Sagara's mind. Staying late at school doing chores for the student council... that was pretty much public information: Easy to get a hold of. And the storm tonight... the weather reports had warned of tropical storms possibly coming through at this time of the week, as it was about that season. The enemy had picked the right time, and most certainly the right place, to make another attempt. Sousuke surveyed his surroundings; well aware that time was not on their side. Desolate. No one else would be at the train station at this hour except perhaps an operator or a particularly unlucky janitor. Those that weren't moles for Amalgam were already dead, Sagara was sure.
All the strange thoughts about "her…," having dried her off despite it being pretty much unnecessary, and the small but nagging desire to prove his worth to that person... everything he'd done in the past few moments had left them wide open. Complacency was his downfall.
But it was time to stop imprecating himself, and start finding a way out of this predicament. His failures would not be acceptable to Chidori. They wouldn't be acceptable to Mithril. And they weren't acceptable to him. But if he could get Kaname out alive and relatively safe...
Speaking of whom, Chidori's eyes turned to Sousuke's concentrating and concerned face. He rubbed his eyebrows and turned to her, failing to look comforting.
She spoke softly at last. "It's bad, isn't it? Our situation..."
He spoke--or mouthed, as sound barely came out--only three words after several moments' hesitation and a disgusted look. "Worst possible scenario."
Tactical observations finally began to come to him. The first instinct in this situation would be to go back out the way they came. Jump ship. Get out quick. But he wasn't dealing with a petty little ambush. This was Amalgam. They'd studied not only Chidori, but Sagara as well; they knew their moves before they made them. Those doors were unlocked to get them inside. Out of the rain and into the trap. But there were already a group of enemies in behind the doors they had just come through. There had to be.
There was no turning back now. The way they were cut off left them little choice but to either pass by or actually go down the hall into which a shadow had disappeared moments ago. Sousuke looked around for possible distractions, or maybe something they could move behind as a shield if they were to brave that route. A bench, bolted to the floor, but not attached so strongly it was immobile. Still, the way it was designed offered little protection, especially from machine and sub-machine gun rounds. A couple of layers of five-millimeter-thick aluminum weren't going to last long. There were garbage cans that looked somewhat sturdy, but they weren't large enough... The simple fact was, a mobile shield wasn't plausible. Sarcastically, Sousuke reminded himself that even a brick wall on wheels wouldn't be enough for the kind of armor-piercing ammunition that was surely being used.
In fact, lately Mithril had begun carrying new assault rifles loaded with targeting computers and a revolutionary firing mechanism on the front of the gun which allowed it to "break" at roughly the halfway point and turn at a 90 degree angle in either direction. The end result was the ability to look around corners using the firearm, and if possible, fire one or a three round burst to eliminate targets waiting at the other side. It was a difficult weapon to use because of the strange recoil and stress on the joints when firing, but it came in handy. Unfortunately, these kinds of weapons were simply not practical for carrying in one's school bag. Sousuke had no such weapon. But this train of thought led him to remember the other weaponry he carried, and its uses for these types of battlegrounds. In his assortment of grenades were two flash bangs: smaller types, but certainly not lacking in effectiveness. He could blind and deafen anyone in line-of-sight if he lobbed one into that hallway. But was Amalgam really going to be just looking in their direction? And certainly they'd have been trained well enough to turn away immediately upon something like that coming into view.
Toying with the idea of simply giving up, turning himself in, and making a diversion long enough for Chidori to escape, he heard a noise from down the hall. A metal clang followed shortly by a loud clatter resounded. A knife of one form or another had been dropped. He heard hushing noises and angry grunts, surely from comrades of the clumsy soldier, irritated at his revealing their location.
Sousuke scrutinized the new information. From what he could tell they were hiding around a second corner, not far from their current position. If the wall they were pressed against were part of one giant square, they'd be on the opposite wall, backs faced in the opposite direction. Two corners meant Sousuke couldn't blind them all so easily. But it also meant they'd take less fire upon emerging. Thinking through it one more time, he formulated a plan. A new look swept across his face. He quickly but quietly began removing the lid from the garbage can nearby, and the bag containing a few discarded articles he set against the wall.
"Sousuke!" Chidori whispered, "What on earth...?"
Sagara turned to Chidori and simply placed his finger over his lips to silence her.
Chidori couldn't help but feel relieved that Sousuke had a plan now. For her, it was just a matter of waiting for the Sergeant to get her out of another one alive. She was beginning to wonder, though, about what he'd just said...
Tension at the silence from both parties rose. Blood pressures raised slightly all around.
Perspiration collected at Sousuke's temple. He gently and silently tipped the can over and rested it on the ground. He removed the flash bang on the back side of his belt and the one in his bag. He placed the first inside the can at the very bottom, and after adjusting a few things on the grenade he changed the settings on the one he was holding. So far it looked like they were in the clear. He hadn't made any sounds and it'd be foolish for the enemy to come closer without knowing where they were.
Sousuke motioned for Chidori to crouch down with him where he drew an invisible map of the area on the floor. He drew out an incomplete square, and pointed to a position, then to him and her. Kaname nodded approval. Okay, that's us.
He dotted points along the opposing wall. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Sagara drew his gun and looked down the sights. He then glanced to Chidori, who nodded again. Four enemies.
He pointed one more dot further from the others, down the second hall. He held an invisible box to his lips and mouthed a few words. Kaname looked at him, slightly confused, but Sagara just nodded back. A fifth on the radio? How does he know that? Chidori sat dazed, but quickly realized this was no time to question a specialist's strategy. She shrugged it off and waited for the next command.
Sousuke stiffly held up one finger. First action... She walked herself through it. He pointed to Chidori, and then touched the ground next to him. I stay here. He pointed to himself, then to the corner. Getting up from his crouched position, he walked silently over and pressed up against the wall, then threw out his right arm, with the flash bang. Sousuke tosses the grenade. Um... okay. She hesitated, and then nodded slightly.
Two fingers. Second action. Sousuke drew the incomplete square again, pointed to the corner in the drawing, then pointed to the corner Kaname could see in reality. She nodded. Sousuke pointed to the trash can, drawing a line down the hall leading to the enemy. He poked the floor several times where the second corner would be, and then pointed to the trash can again. When the can gets here...
Three fingers. Third action. He pointed to her, then pointed to himself, held up two fingers, and pushed them in-line together. Using both fingers he drew the same line. Sousuke stood up and motioned for Chidori to do the same. When she rose, Sagara took her by the shoulders and placed her in a specific point on the floor. Kaname stood motionless, eyes following him in his military explanation. He stood right of her, and raised his arms and legs as though he were running in place. He pointed to himself, pointed to Chidori, then pointed to his right and waved his gun around, faking recoil like he was shooting.
I stay behind him while we run past... okay, I get it. She nodded a final time. Anxiety was beginning to grow. Her palms began to sweat. She felt her own heart pound against her chest: an unusual calm-before-the-storm feeling. When they made the run down the hall, they would be about as close as she'd ever been to an enemy firing on them. Sousuke hadn't been kidding when he said worst possible scenario. But he seemed confident, and somehow that trash can was going to help.
She didn't expect the four fingers to show up. Apparently there was more to the plan. Fourth action? Sousuke drew past the enemy-containing hallway on the floor with both fingers, and drew another corner to mark the other side. Sousuke forcefully separated his two fingers, and then pointed to Chidori and the opposite corner. She looked for a minute then understood I'm going to stay here and he... huh! Sousuke pointed to himself and drew a line... directly into the enemy-ridden hallway. Kaname shook her head furiously, but Sagara simply closed his eyes and nodded once, slowly. He made held the invisible box and mouthed some words again, then pretended to strangle someone and held his pistol to where this person's head would be. Chidori nearly collapsed, but she understood. Sousuke had to cut off transmissions or they'd be ambushed right then and there. Her shoulders dropped, and she nodded, looking at the invisible map.
Sousuke made a few last-minute checks of equipment. To Chidori's confusion he removed her vanity mirror from her bag and flipped it open, then back closed and pocketed it. He held the slide of his weapon back, checked the chamber for the bullet, and then slowly let it back into position. Returning it to its position at his belt, he looked at the grenades once more and then hunkered down next to the trash can to pick it up.
Kaname stopped him with a touch of the shoulder. She gave a concerned look, appearing to want to say something. But Sagara's eyes had a look of determination bordering on fury. It reminded her of that day he stood atop the RK-92. She closed her eyes and nodded, then took a step back towards the wall, pressing against it again. Sagara leaned to pick up the garbage can, and then stopped. He suddenly sat down and began taking off his shoes. Socks came off as well and they were placed with the discarded trash bag. Barefoot, he returned to the trash can.
First action... Chidori thought. Her stomach was in several knots. One way or another they always made it through these things, but something about today seemed different.
Sousuke's mind leapt forward a few steps. The possibility existed that the knife dropping was meant to trick them. To fake their location so they could move into a better one. After all, wouldn't even an amateur know to move after something like that? Sagara would have to rely on one of two possibilities: Either Amalgam assumed he would think this way and stayed in their current position as a double-feint, or they simply did not have time to find a suitable relocation, and hadn't coordinated the move yet. If those two possibilities added up to a probability, this was the best way to take advantage of it. Sousuke was risking more than his own life here, but the way he had set it up, he would at least take the first few shots if something went wrong. With Chidori's running speed, perhaps she could make it.
His feet were sweating a bit, and he felt the floor was strikingly cold as he slowly moved to the corner in his crouched position. He avoided looking back at Kaname, who had dropped down to sit on her ankles while pressed against the wall, shivering from cold and fright. She would be able to move once the time came. She always could.
The corner drew near. Sousuke got right next to it, and put the garbage can down, a centimeter at a time. It tapped the ground inaudibly. Sagara pressed hard against the wall, standing up. He drew his pistol to his off hand, holding the flash bang in his right, pin already removed. That grenade arm crept up to the corner, his wet uniform sleeve nearly visible from the other side. He took a long, deep breath, his heart racing.
He slowly breathed out, and at the middle of his exhale, his elbow straightened. The grenade flew several yards straight down the middle of the hall. Using his off-handed pistol he bent down and slammed the base of the grip into the trash can. A monstrous, hollow metal sound echoed through the halls, followed by the clack of the flash bang touching down. Sousuke covered his eyes and one ear with his right arm and his other ear with his left hand.
Second action. Kaname's heart felt like it was two or three sizes too large in her chest.
The grenade detonated, and brilliant white light blasted into the walls. A very loud, very painful "POP!" followed, and the somewhat familiar ringing in his ears brought Sagara back to his senses. He hopped over the trash can at his feet, pulled the pin on the second concussion grenade and chucked it down to the base. He slid the can out past the corner and, after a split second of calculation, shoved it rolling down the hallway. He swiftly removed Chidori's compact from his uniform pocket and tried to open it.
It was being stubborn, and the plastic latch seemed stuck. Sagara forced it, and the mirror half split diagonally while the rest of the item ended up on the floor. He held it out to the corner, looking in the mirror, turning and angling it for just a moment before finding the trash can.
"Come on!" He yelled, watching intently. The can was slowing down too much. The hall was longer than he'd thought. Would it make it?
The loud metal-on-ceramic sound continued as the trash can rolled, but "loud" was no longer a relevant term now. If the first flash bang had worked properly, the enemy would still be pretty disoriented right now, at least from the sound. Even Sousuke could barely hear the can over the ringing, and he'd been further away from the first grenade than they.
The can took one last desperate roll, clearing the corner, open end pointing directly down the hallway. Tossing the mirror aside and switching his weapon to his right hand, he motioned to Chidori. She reacted and began to rise right about when several yells of confusion or anger or surprise or all of those came from down the hall. He grabbed her arm as she got close enough. He looked straight into her eyes with that same furious indomitability as the second flash bang detonated inside the metal garbage can. It wasn't a pop they heard this time, though, it was an outright explosion. The can had served as a massive megaphone-type amplifier, and if Sousuke's plan had worked, it would have directed the most sound right down that hallway. The second, third and fourth echo of the explosion were heard as Sousuke tore down the hallway, Chidori tailing.
Third action. The way he looked at her, Chidori knew everything was going okay so far.
Sousuke pulled hard on her wrist, bringing her up to his speed next to him. It felt to her like they were going forty kilometers per hour, and yet still in slow motion. Sousuke's grimacing face led her forward. She looked ahead at the trashcan, now slightly blackened and with a prominent split in the metal. It got closer as they neared the corner.
Sousuke held his right arm straight out, consciously keeping his elbow bent just slightly for recoil stability. He planned to empty seven rounds on their first pass, get Chidori to the next corner, and have eight rounds left over for his return. The sights on his gun bounced and swayed with his strides. He quickly gave up on using them and lowered the weapon a bit to eyeball the shots.
The corner was there. He ran to the right of the garbage can, releasing Kaname's wrist. Adding the off hand to his pistol aim, he pulled the trigger to half. As soon as a shoulder was in view he fired.
A white uniform. Flesh tore as the bullet sailed through. Air displacement sprayed blood from the large arteries in the enemy's upper arm to the soldier behind him, who narrowly missed the bullet himself. His face covered with hot blood and sinew, his hand went to his face while the soldier Sagara had shot spun into the wall from the impact to his limb and his weapon began to fall to the ground.
Seconds later, Kaname was at the next corner--cringing, waiting for the sound of some high-power weapon to be discharged. She heard several more gunshots, but to her immense relief they all sounded like they were from Sousuke's pistol. As she clung to her side of the wall that marked her destination, she felt Sousuke meet up and press against it. She looked to see his pistol raised up near his face, both hands gripping it tightly.
Time froze momentarily as she stared at that face. Sousuke was inches from her, clearly conscious of her presence, but entirely focused on his next objective. His wet uniform reflected fluorescent light into her eyes. She blinked.
Just then the enemy's gun hit the ground. As soon as it did Sagara knew something was wrong.
Clack! Chin-Clack!
The sound of a wooden stock resonated beyond the ringing of his ears. His entire expression, body, and face were immediately focused on the weapon still bouncing on the tile.
An AK-47. Terrorist assault rifle of choice, around even after the AK-74 came about. The problem was just that. This was NOT a weapon Amalgam would be using. Sousuke's mind flew back a few seconds to the white janitor's uniform, to the lineup of people he'd seen while strafing past the hallway. None of them were dressed for combat. Not even so much as a Kevlar jacket graced their torsos. The soft thud of bullets proved that, in retrospect.
From what he'd gathered, the three soldiers that were completely debilitated from the flash bangs had moved to the back, and the remaining two had prepared for him at the corner. He was too fast for them and incapacitated both temporarily with a single shot, which he had chalked up to luck until just now. He'd had time for his other six shots afterward, but what damage those had done he was unsure... and he needed to find out.
Risking it, he assertively looked out past the corner. Before him was a bloody spectacle. He'd hit more limbs than vital areas, but one of these men from an unknown organization had the misfortune of being shot in the head. A streak of what appeared to be almost a liter of blood and gore spattered the white wall next to the body where the displaced tissue had blown to. Sousuke flashed a glance to Chidori, who was back in her crouched position against the wall, just waiting for the end.
Fourth action. Just get it over with, Sousuke.
Sagara stepped out, with the intention of finding kill shots and executing them if any of the enemies showed further resistance. What he found was a pile of bodies, dead or alive, on the floor and one man sprinting for his life down the hall. Sousuke spotted a radio in his hand. It would be just his luck if it had been transmitting when the flash bangs went off. The enemy would be on their way. He reached to his belt again.
"Chidori!" A rectangular fragmentation grenade landed at her side. "Throw this down that hall if you hear ANYTHING! Pin left hand, grenade right hand, five seconds!"
And with that he sprinted barefoot down the hall after the escapee. The smell of the flash bang's magnesium and ammonium perchlorate washed over Sousuke as he vaulted a body and rounded the corner, prepared for an ambush.
The way that soldier was running, he probably didn't intend to counterattack, though, Sousuke thought.
Another corner swiftly rounded and there stood the radioman, hands up, one with the radio, against a dead-end wall.
But Sousuke wasn't taking any chances. Seeing anything in an enemy's hand meant action had to be taken. Before he knew it, both the radioman's shins had been fractured by 9mm ammunition, and misshapen bullets were imbedded in both his lower legs. Seconds later the man's armaments and radio were scattered across the floor, out of reach. Sousuke clipped some handcuffs on him, picked up equipped on his belt the foreign pistol and radio, and ran back to find Chidori, leaving the man bleeding.
It seemed like an eternity just getting back those two corners and past the bodies again. Sagara quickly yelled "it's me!" and rounded the corner expecting to see Kaname's drenched figure.
All he found was a rectangular fragmentation grenade lying exactly where he'd left it on the tile.
(to be continued...)
