Koko's theme: Die in a fire, by Living Tombstone.
Roanapur was burning.
Though the last of the sun's rays had vanished, there was a new orange glow lighting up the horizon. Fires were starting, begun by the panicked civilians or the uncaring monsters. The city on a good day was a chaotic mess, now it ensured to make the situation exponentially worse. A few that kept their heads down in the face of the evolving war zone found themselves faced with the grim choice of chancing the fearful gangs and the inhuman girls that preyed upon all or stay by the billowing flames. Indecision claimed as many lives as haste.
Only three major land routes connected Roanapur to the outside world, two bridges and a small road. Both of the bridges were blown and the road was buried by a planned landslide within minutes of the helicopter's arrival, done by uncaring HCLI contractors. This left one viable alternative: the ocean. Those who were underarmed or too far away from the harbor had to risk everything, knowing that there was no other option. Not all chose to flee however.
"C'mon you goddamn bitches!" roared a powerfully built minor mafia lieutenant by the name of Tommy Velsitti as he and his exceedingly reluctant team of four lackeys burst from their gambling parlor with automatic weapons, a surplus AA-12 shotgun in his own hands. He was a man that was short on tact but great on both charm and bravery, though he had a minor cocaine habit (uncommented by his lackeys was a thin line of white powder on his nose).
One lackey tried to raise a quiet protest, but his words were drowned out by the mighty roar of the gun's twelve gauge buckshot shells spewing out. A few of the monsters that were busy killing people paused to react to the new threat. Tommy laughed as the girls ran at inhuman speeds, swifter than anything in his experience. The torrent of lead forced the three that broke off to keep down to run from cover to cover, while a few fleeing civilians were torn apart by the gunfire, dying screaming.
"Fuck yeah! Little bitch-" the shotgun clicked empty. He took his suddenly furious bloodshot eyes off of the crowded street for several seconds. Long enough for one to leap out from behind a now ruined car to deftly land on his shoulders, making Tommy jerk and drop his beloved gun.
She leaped off again, barely avoiding a spray of blood from his neck where Tommy's head was moments earlier. The closest lackey screamed and dropped his gun, turning to run while he collapsed. Seeing an opening the two others joined the fray, one blasting a stunned thug with a beam of red light that clumsily tore a hole through his chest, the other throwing a long chain with a blade on the end through the temple of the one beside him, yanking him off his feet as she closed the gap. The last one, frozen in place at the sight, was neatly sliced on the waist by twin short swords belonging to the former.
The pair looked over the four bodies for just a moment before a fresh scream announced the presence of new victims, and they darted off in the direction. Along the way one took an unlucky bullet to the spine and collapsed, her companion pausing long enough to put a blade through the back of her neck before moving on. She could've lived, but it would've taken her awhile to get back on her feet.
A fleeing thief was cut down by a spray of unearthly bullets. A shop owner died with a shotgun in his hands against a monster with an ornate hammer for a weapon. Blazing flames trapped a family in their home with no escape. A lucky shot hit a monster between the eyes, while a claymore mine crippled several more. A pack of three ran down a street as fast as their legs could carry them, slashing their swords at anything moving. Many died, many more were left crippled and screaming until the flames or a monster finished them.
Two individuals regarded the unfolding chaos differently. One watched from a perch on the top of the hotel (though it's overall quality was laughable), watching the burning streets and rivers of terrified and dead from on high. Earlier, when her boss was busy taunting his sister in hopes that she'd come at them now and get overrun by the hell he'd created, she had her headphones in and was listening to music on her tablet. Now, her ears were filled with the sound of screams and death, audible even a dozen stories above the ground. The other walked away from her impromptu home to join the fray, an unhinged grin on her face.
On board the Atlas, the twelve had gathered together by the railing closest to the burning city, watching in utter shock. They were close enough to hear faint explosions but far enough away that the screams didn't reach them.
"My god" Valmet murmured, unable to take her eye off of the sight.
"I can't believe it" R said similarly.
"Did-did Kaspar lose his mind?" Tojo stuttered.
"Why would he do this?" Mao whispered.
"Gather up thousands of my kind and let them lose into a city. Why didn't I think of that?" Dead Master commented enviously. Lutz, Ugo, and Black Rock Shooter immediately sent a hateful glare at her, making the horned girl shrink back.
Instead of speaking Lehm tore his eyes off the sight. Koko stared dispassionately in Roanapur's direction, unsmiling.
"Koko?" he asked quietly.
"Lehm. How many of them do you think there are?" she questioned, her voice as flat as her expression.
"I have no idea Koko. I saw about twenty helicopters, if there was fifty or so per chopper there's easily over a thousand. And I'd be willing to bet there's a lot more than that" he answered grimly. His boss nodded once.
"And where do you think Kaspar is?" she asked in the same tone. Valmet finally looked away from the sight to look at her incredulously.
"Koko, you're not thinking off...?" she trailed off nervously.
Again she nodded once "This cannot be ignored. He has to die" she pronounced heavily.
"But surely..." the Finn tried to protest.
"It's too dangerous for any of you to head in there, I'll go in by myself" she answered. At that all but one of the party jerked their heads her way, alarm written all over their features.
"Koko, what the hell is wrong with you?" Lutz protested. She turned and began to walk away, making it five paces before Valmet stomped up to her and grabbed her arm.
"You're not going anywhere" she snapped. Koko sent a sullen look her way, on the verge of a scowl.
"I'm not ordering any of you to go in that hell. This is my business" she said coldly.
"And you're not going in alone" Valmet replied in kind.
"I'll go" said the boy. This time everyone present glanced at Jonah. He continued to stare at the city, knuckles nearly white from clenching the rail so hard.
"Like hell!" Koko suddenly snapped.
"Kaspar has to pay for this. I can get in there and take him out without anyone else noticing me" he answered coldly.
A hand was laid on his arm. When he turned his head to it, Black Rock Shooter let go and held up her phone's screen to him.
Im coming too, it said.
"None of you are going in there, you hear me!?" Koko snarled. She attempted to break free from the tight grip, but she ended up in a headlock by a determined Valmet instead.
"Sorry boss, we can't let you go in by your lonesome. What do you pay us for anyway?" Tojo cracked a thin smile. As he glanced around to the others, a sick grin spread to them all.
"You. Are. Not. Leaving. This. Ship" Koko ordered. Lehm pulled out a cigarette as he and R exchanged smirks .
"Insubordination is a pain isn't it?" the latter commented as he lit it. Lutz and Mao grinned, nodding in agreement.
"If this was a real military unit we'd be in trouble. Makes me glad we aren't" Ugo added.
"You're fired. All of you!" she spat furiously.
"Great. Means we don't have to listen to you anyway" Lutz shrugged.
Koko continued to struggle, helpless in the face of mutiny from her closest companions.
"Okay, here's the plan" Lehm announced loudly "R, Jonah, Rock, and myself are going in there personally. Ugo, Tojo, Lutz, your job is to guard the boat from anyone that wants it. I'm guessing a lot of people are going to want on our express ticket out" he reassured their glum expressions at being left out.
"Wiley, Mao, Valmet, I'm counting on you three to hold this ship. Once the local army moves in they'll flatten the place rather than take it, it's what I'd do. We need to be on our merry way well before that. Now, any questions? Not you Koko" he interrupted her before she could speak "And please make it an intelligent question" he clarified. A few of them exchanged glances, but only Mao spoke up.
"Do we even know where he is?" he asked carefully.
"Already took care of that" Tojo spoke "I traced his signal earlier. He's in the large hotel in the middle of the city. It seems like he didn't even try to hide his location" he shook his head.
"Because he knows we'll come after him for this. Better now, since the playing field is his" Wiley noted.
"Anywhere after this we can just sic a bomber on him. Clever bastard" Valmet shook her head angrily. A metal hand rose up.
"What do I do?" Dead Master quipped.
"Good question. Tojo, Wiley, flip a coin" he commanded.
"As much as I hate to say it, we could use her help once we're ashore. Especially if one of them looks our way and sees a juicy target" the former explained, frowning at the very thought.
"Either she helps hold them off, people or Witches, and pays back on all the food and wifi she's used up, or she dies and we don't have to worry about her anymore. Win-win" Ugo said. A few questioning looks came his way, along with one irritated look.
"Witch?" asked several at once.
"I'm standing right here" Dead Master said sullenly.
"Yeah. It's easier to say than 'her kind' or something. Won't mix that up either" he explained. Several agreeing nods circled around, though Black Rock Shooter didn't look enthused with the new term.
Koko finally freed herself from Valmet's headlock to glare angrily at all of them.
"Did any of you brain dead idiots hear me? You're fired! All of you are getting off at the nearest port city when my ship gets there" she snarled frustratedly. Her words went unheeded as they all darted off to get ready, not even Jonah stuck around.
"Sorry Koko. We have to end this tonight, and there's no way in hell any of us are going to risk you" Valmet explained sorrowfully. Koko dropped her head to mutter every one of the many curses she knew, clenching her eyes shut to block her tears. She could only watch helplessly while they scrambled to retrieve weapons and ammunition, as well as getting the lifeboat operational once again.
For all my power I can't do a damn thing about this, she thought bitterly.
Compared to a scant week and a half earlier, the boat was in the water in less than five minutes. It's passengers scrambled down as fast as they could climb, incidentally accomplishing a new miracle: Black Rock Shooter didn't react to Dead Master for the first time they've ever seen. The latter still sent a glare at her (especially when they were crowded into being within five feet from each other) but she didn't respond, much less return it. She helped down the others, gingerly finding places for the numerous guns and even more numerous ammunition boxes. By the time Ugo fired up the engine the water line was dangerously close to the edge. The bullets especially weighed them down, but they weren't planning on returning with even a fraction of it.
Before they were off Koko sprinted up to the railing to shout down "All of you come back!"
Jonah looked up with a small smile, raising a thumb skyward. The lurch of sudden acceleration knocked him down, but he got the message across; it was enough for her.
No one spoke for the five minute ride to Roanapur's docks. Partly because of the roaring engine drowning out any words, partly so they could ready weapons. Magpul Masadas all around, though each of them had several additional loaded magazines in extra pouches. Ugo had the FN Minimi locked and loaded, Tojo had a grenade launcher, and R had an extra submachine gun. Only the two girls were ready at first, cheating via the distracting lights. The closer they got, the more smoke was carried by the wind to them.
Black Rock Shooter took a salt laden breath to steady her nerves, placing the cannon between her legs to make room. Out of concern she checked Jonah beside her, finding him staring dead ahead to the burning city. She didn't need to look in his eyes to know what he was thinking. That man, like Koko in too many respects for her to like, was behind this. He was going to be killed tonight, Jonah would either make it happen or die trying. She didn't understand why she was inwardly recoiling from that thought.
Ugo let off the throttle as they approached the nearest pier. It was abandoned, if there was any seagoing craft earlier there they were gone by now. Each of the humans checked their weapons one last time, flicking safeties off. Lutz and R had their guns up already, sweeping them around for movement. Finding none, they peeked behind them and nodded. The large man nodded back and eased the boat up the last few feet to it. R stood up on weak legs to hop ashore, making sure one more time before accepting a tossed rope to tie them to a post.
Lehm and Black Rock Shooter came up next, taking over his job of scanning the pier. Jonah followed her up, while Dead Master hopped up without so much as an ounce of concern. After her Ugo and Tojo crawled onto the deck, leaving Lutz by his lonesome. The horned girl planted the base of her large and glaringly obvious scythe (if it wasn't black it would've been much worse) onto the wood, watching as they proceeded to toss up ammunition for them.
"Good luck" Lutz wished quietly.
"Thanks. We're gonna need it" R agreed. Black Rock Shooter moved to take point, but Lehm put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.
"Given the situation, I think it's better that I go first" he politely countered. She stared at him dispassionately for a moment, but she did allow him to go in front of her before raising her cannon, making sure to not point it at his back.
They went into a slow jog to cover ground quickly, Lehm leading while Jonah and Black Rock Shooter stayed behind him. R, Tojo, and Ugo kept behind them with two of the big guns, while Lutz did his best to cover them from the boat. A sullen Dead Master walked as she normally would, irritated at being left to the back and curious as to why they hunched over their guns and swept the barrels around repeatedly.
Halfway to the shore Lehm paused, making the short convoy stop behind him and give him a guarded look. In front of him was a body, sprawled over the pier face down. Gingerly he bent over to put a pair of fingers on his throat, finding no pulse yet a lot of heat. He took a breath before gently rolling the body over. The moment he saw the front of the dead man he sighed in relief. "Gunshot" he answered the unspoken question question before standing back up to move on. Each of them gave the poor man a look, ranging from pity at his state to determination to avenge him. Except for Dead Master, who had only contempt.
Once they reached the concrete sidewalk Lehm motioned for all of them to get down, searching for movement on the apparently empty (though far from silent) street. R came up next to him to finally bring up the gaping hole in his plan.
"Lehm? You really want to walk the whole way there?" he asked quietly. As if to underscore his concerns an explosion rang out nearby.
"I was kinda hoping there'd be a car here we could steal" the man agreed glumly.
No sooner did the words leave his mouth did Jonah and Black Rock Shooter suddenly come to attention with weapons raised. A second later a roaring engine of a car sounded out, complete with the squeal of burning tires. Everyone with a gun trained it on it's direction, stiffening when a red Nova convertible roared into view. The classic car drifted the corner while it roared their way. Something large and moving was hunched over the passenger side, making the car continually weave back and forth before the driver slammed on the brakes. Another was hanging onto the thin roof with what looked like a billowing coat.
The group of mercenaries wisely decided to tactically fall back to avoid being run over. It turned out to be unnecessary however; the car slid sideways until it came to a lurching stop, hitting the curb itself. Whatever was on the passenger side stayed in place, but the one on the roof slid off. The bundle of clothes rolled for a second before it untangled itself and maneuvered onto its feet, skidding a few more feet on the heels of her boots.
She wore a dress, design wise not dissimilar to what Dead Master wore. Instead of being pure black however it was striped with plenty of dark blue. Sensing movement, she turned her pale yet pretty face to the group, features blank with a silver spear in her hands. She grinned when they raised their weapons her way.
A loud blast from what was most certainly a shotgun sent the other one flying off the car in a spray of blood. Jonah didn't wait any longer; the first burst of gunfire she darted around easily, moving inhumanly fast. When R, Lehm, and Ugo opened up however that changed quickly. She jerked when the first hit, knocking her off balance enough for a few well placed shots to tear the girl apart. Briefly she actually left the ground before hitting the pavement again, still this time.
A loud curse reminded them of the other issue, making the mixed group turn their attention to the car. Both doors were flung open, revealing two locals: a chinese woman in jeans with a tee shirt, and a japanese man in a bartender outfit.
"Don't move" R ordered. Both of them jerked his way, the woman starting to raise the shotgun until she saw the half dozen rifles trained her way.
"Please, we're just trying to get out of here" the bartender pleaded. After a couple of seconds Lehm raised an eyebrow.
"Hold on, have I seen you before?" he asked. The man frowned before his eyes lit up.
"I remember you. You were with that really pale woman that wanted to meet with that stranger" he recalled. Lehm nodded and stood up, though he kept his weapon on them.
"If you're going to shoot than shoot us already damnit" the woman snapped, keeping her pump action shotgun close to her chest. Lehm and R exchanged a knowing glance.
"Tell you what, let us take your car and we'll give you a ride out of here" Lehm offered. The woman snorted.
"It's yours. But if you're looking for someone back there" she jerked a thumb to the glowing city center "Then forget him. He's dead meat by now" she claimed.
"She's right. Those things are killing everyone in sight" the bartender added. Dead Master, tired of being left out, trotted out from around the humans to see what the commotion was about.
The man's eyes went wide and he hurriedly backed away, while the woman ignored the gunmen to raise her shotgun to the girl with a snarl. Dead Master paid no attention to them, she was too busy looking over the car.
"There's one right behind you!" the man exclaimed fearfully.
"Back off, this one's friendly" Tojo called out, before giving her another apprehensive look "Mostly."
"Fuck that" the woman snarled, pointing the gun at the horned girl with her finger on the trigger.
"Nice car" the target in question said appreciably, ignoring the gun pointed at her.
"This one's with us. Don't like it, then find another way outta here" Lehm offered flatly. Both of the people exchanged worried looks, wary of accepting after what they had witnessed. Finally the woman lowered her gun, grumbling obscenities. He grinned.
"Perfect. We'll be back in around an hour. If we aren't here, push off" he commanded to Tojo and Ugo.
"You sure?" the latter asked.
"Hundred percent. Don't get shot up yourselves, we do need a ride out" he joked.
"Alright. Careful guys" Tojo bade as the four jogged to the car, loaded down with ammunition. The woman glared at Black Rock Shooter when she swept by to the side of the car.
The two men fumbled for a moment before something popped, allowing Jonah and Rock to flip it off to clash against the ground. No sooner did they hop in (literally for the girl) did the engine again roar to life. With R behind the wheel, Lehm in the passenger seat, the kids in the back, and numerous spare magazines in reach, they were as ready as could be. Despite the pressing circumstances he couldn't help making the tires squeal in place before it shot off at high speed. Ugo especially watched them go with envy, frustrated at being the best one to steer their tiny craft.
"Alright, get back here. That means you too" Tojo directed to Dead Master, who turned to glare at him while the two locals jogged to them.
"What makes this one different?" the woman asked irritably, taking a place beside Tojo and Ugo rather than retreating to the boat as the man did. In contrast the horned girl sedately walked back to the new post.
"Um, perspective I guess. When I said friendly, I meant she won't kill us on sight" Tojo clarified.
"I would if I could. But now, thanks to that game, I now know many of your tricks. I now have the advantage of knowledge" Dead Master said loftily, twirling her scythe in the air with a smirk while she walked. The woman merely looked at the two men blankly, making Ugo sigh. Behind them the man returned, carrying a few dark green square objects.
"I knew showing her Battlefield was a bad idea" he murmured.
R skillfully weaved the car through the streets, coming up on the first bunch of newly christened refugees within a minute. A few waving guns made him step harder on the pedal that we would've preferred, given the quantity of debris lying in the road along with the occasional body. Now that they were in the thick of it the smoke from fires innumerable swept by them, making the four passengers grimace. Every couple of seconds there was either a gunshot or a scream, each one all too close.
Right as they passed an intersection filled with wrecked cars Jonah called out "Contact!" a heartbeat before pulling the trigger.
Lehm and R cursed. A group of three Witches broke off from hounding refugees to sprint after the Nova, running faster than any human. In an open field the Nova would've left them far behind with ease, but with the street's current condition he didn't dare go fast lest the car end up joining the debris scattered everywhere. Black Rock Shooter joined in, firing off blue bolts indiscriminately at their pursuers. If anything that made them run even faster at them, leaping over anything in the way with an ease that would leave an olympic gymnast crying in jealousy.
Jonah got lucky with one, striking her in the shoulder to allow Black Rock Shooter to blast her in the chest. Her two companions didn't so much as glance her way, they merely kept up the pace. Lehm groaned before switching around, putting his sights down on the two remaining hostiles. Unlike Jonah, his quick squeeze of the trigger hit the second of them in the chest, and she collapsed in a heap. The last Witch met her end by another shot from Jonah that hit her leg, again allowing Rock to blast her.
"Problem" R called out, and all three swiveled around. The moment they did Lehm swore tiredly. A large hunk of flaming metal, possibly a bus when there was daylight, blocked the straight road to the city center. In the distance, growing ever closer, was the hotel Tojo claimed Kaspar was in. It was a straight shot to the building, but thanks to the wreck R had to veer to the side for a detour. Jonah in particular scowled.
The four realized that was a mistake at the same time bullets began to whistle past them. Lehm bellowed "Get down!" though none of them listened. Black Rock Shooter and Jonah pointed their respective guns to the sides where the ambush was coming from and opened fire. In a few seconds they could hear screams, a number of them. Nevertheless several loud pings bounced off the car; without armor each one was potentially devastating. Black Rock Shooter realized they were shooting humans, ones that were likely just scared out of their wits. For a brief moment she hesitated, unwilling to kill those who were attacking them out of fear instead of malice. Jonah had no such qualms.
"Damnit" R swore, making the car lurch once again as he took another detour to get out of the killing field. It worked, soon the conventional gunfire tapered off to the omnipresent background noise. Just in case Lehm and Jonah sent a few more shots back at them.
In the next second something dropped onto the hood if the car. R had no warning; he slammed on the brakes in surprise. The thing slid several inches but stayed on, lifting it's head to show the Witch's grinning face to the humans. After laying on the gas he resorted to swerving back and forth to get the Witch off, to no avail. Her grip on the metal was too tight to be so easily dislodged. Lehm idly wondered where she came from, though he supposed she dropped from one of the buildings.
It didn't matter, in the next second he withdrew his SIG and pointed it over the windshield to pull the trigger. When the first shot missed he asked himself if he was losing his touch, the next shot that blew away a large portion of her head made him decide on a 'no' to that question.
Another Witch tried the same maneuver, this time jumping off of the hood after she landed and before Lehm could shoot her. By an odd quirk of fate her foot was caught by the windshield, making her gracelessly cartwheel to land right between Jonah and Black Rock Shooter in the backseat. Both looked at the girl in a white and pink frilly dress with astonishment, and she to them at the strange happenstance.
Things went back to the usual when the Witch lunged at Jonah first. The boy put his gun between them to block her, feeling the raw strength behind her as she tried to claw at him. Idly he wondered why she didn't summon a weapon, thinking that there wasn't room or time for one (that or she didn't have a CQC weapon). She was enough trouble on her own, almost ripping the gun out of his hands. Suddenly she jerked, and blood flecked against his struggling expression. He was confused until Black Rock Shooter shoved the warm body over the side of the car, her black sword sliding out with some blood stuck on.
"Thanks" he got out before bringing the Magpul back up. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her nod. He didn't see the small smile that came with it.
R took another corner, discovering to his considerable surprise not just a long straightaway to the hotel but a mostly empty one at that. He marveled at the normally banal sight.
"Punch it" Lehm encouraged. He paused just long enough to make sure both of the kids were relatively secure before mashing the accelerator. For two seconds he contemplated making the tires squeal again, but given the awful situation he thought it best to not push his luck.
"Next stop, Kaspar!" he called out when they were sunk back into the seats, finally able to hit a decent speed to avoid the footslogging Witches.
A small building not far behind them exploded. Shattered bricks and twisted metal flew out in a cloud of debris, all of it flying in one way. R couldn't help looking into the rearview mirror, watching with morbid fascination as the remains of the building flew. To his experienced eye, there was something distinctively off about that explosion. For one, there was no fire. Two, while there was certainly a boom it was far too small to accomplish the task behind them.
The solution to the odd situation came first in the form of a concussive low pitched clicking noise, one that quickly picked up speed. The second form was the massive shape finally clearing the cloud of dust, getting back on a straight line after drifting through the 'obstacle', i.e. the building. A shape that was easily two stories tall, with six enormous insect like legs that pounded into the ground, with what was most likely two wheels held off on a small suspension, was mostly black and gold metal, and had a large grey orb with with a bonnet for a head. Again R couldn't keep his eyes off it, watching the bizarre vehicle accelerate after the Nova.
Out of all people, one of the last they expected to say "Shit" in a tight voice was Jonah. Despite the destroyed building and the roaring engine, it came across clearly.
"This is bullshit" R muttered. Several blocks away Tojo sneezed, inadvertently attracting some unwanted attention.
Black Rock Shooter was the one to knock them out of their shock, via pointing her cannon at the thing's 'face' and pulling her trigger as her finger could move. Blue bolt after blue bolt streaked out, only to splash harmlessly against the front. Lehm and Jonah emptied their magazines in seconds; normally full auto did nothing but suppression. With the size of their target however far fewer shots missed than what would traditionally happen. Unfortunately the bullets had even less effect on the crawler than the bolts.
"Hope someone has a plan!" R said loudly, switching between the road and the mirror. Chunks of asphalt went airborne when the thing's legs pounded into the road, bearing down on it's prey. Another time and R might have thought it was fascinating, a time when he wasn't in imminent danger of being shredded by the thing after them.
"Screw this" Lehm muttered. He stashed his Magpul on the floorboard by his feet to grab one of the contingency measures: a large sack of grenades, M67s to be specific, brought with them under the guiding principle of "Why not?"
Jonah ceased firing. To his chagrin, the two magazines he emptied into the crawler did nothing to slow it down. Black Rock Shooter was the only one having a visible effect on the accursed thing, the black scoring beginning to burn through to some moving parts underneath the plating. Being unable to help at all tore at him, making him growl in frustration. All the while it closed in, slowly but surely gaining on them. At least until something tiny and round flew over his head in the same direction as the machine.
An explosion boomed, a tiny one that was too far away from the crawler to do anything. Lehm cursed imaginatively.
"R! Can't you get away from this damn thing!?" he shouted.
"That thing's too fast! If I take a corner we'll flip the car, and if I slow down it'll catch us!" he shouted back. Again Lehm cursed.
Black Rock Shooter abandoned shooting at the crawler, suddenly dismissing her cannon to dive to the front. The man was startled for a second, until he realized she was going for the grenades. Against his better judgement he handed the bag over, grabbing a couple before they left his hands entirely. Seeing his opportunity Jonah dug in as well, fumbling past her hands for the tiny explosives.
"You better not be-ah hell" Lehm's eyes went wide when she proceeded to pull the pin and release the handle without throwing it, 'cooking' is what it was known as. The thing he and Wiley went out of their way to tell her never to do under any circumstances. Only a couple of heart stopping seconds passed before she finally threw it, putting more force into it them ever before.
Whatever she was calculating for time, she was just short. The grenade exploded in front of the crawler, blackening the armored head. However, it accomplished the first visible damage done to the machine. Whoever was behind the wheel of the thing veered to the side, the thus far straight line it had traced up until now was finally broken as it tried to right itself.
If her actions were foolish, then what Jonah was doing was madness. He grabbed two and popped their pins at the same time, lightly tossing both grenades off of the speeding car at the same time. Both explosives went off under the insect legs, damaging one on each side. At last the crawler slowed down a noticeable degree. Emboldened by his success, he had two more tossed out before any of them realized what was happening.
No sooner did they explode did the body of the crawler go up in a monumental fireball, the wave of heat buffeting the comparatively tiny car. The thing briefly tumbled, the back carriage visible to the car for the first time as it rose into the air, flying apart and consumed by fire as they watched. Bits of metal sailed through the air, from shrapnel sized to large chunks, every piece aflame. The already oppressive smoke was reinforced massively by the newest wreckage. Jonah gave the fresh grenade in his hand an astounded look.
Every bit that cascaded to the ground was streaming fire, except one. What looked like the crawler's wheel sailed through the air, clearing the smoke after a few seconds. Then it tilted, showing a small figure behind it. Black Rock Shooter was the first to go back on the offensive, summoning her cannon while Jonah brought his rifle up. The driver of the machine learned her lesson from the attackers, and she slid down another street, moving faster and more smoothly than anything on foot. They watched her go as she vanished from sight.
Another gunshot, a loud boom from a 50. Cal, made them refocus their attentions. The car jerked, a crumpled hole the size of a fist tearing into the hood. The engine began to falter, squeaking in ways that even the vehicle ignorant Black Rock Shooter thought was bad. After a few seconds the engine cut out completely, leaving the red Nova unpowered. They went further than they thought they would thanks to their speed, but in the end the once proud vehicle slid to a lazy coast, puttering along at a pathetic speed until it stopped.
Only then did R slam his head against the wheel, groaning in frustration while the boy and the girl watched in concern. Lehm was a step away from copying him when he looked around, discovering where they were.
"Hey, we're almost there" he commented. All three glanced around, discovering within seconds of each other the appointed building. R cracked a thin smile and rubbed his aching forehead.
"Getting back is going to be a problem" Jonah said as he jumped over the side, scanning with his Magpul for movement. Black Rock Shooter did the same with far more grace. At the moment, the street was deserted.
"We'll burn that bridge when we get to it. Alright, mag count" Lehm ordered.
The end result wasn't good. R had five spare magazines, Lehm three, and Jonah two. The spare bag of bullets they carried along had four more fortunately, Lehm and Jonah splitting it between them. Each one was still good on SIG ammo, but those didn't have the power or the rate of fire for anything greater than an emergency. To finish, there was five grenades remaining in the satchel. Each of them took one while Lehm took two, but he had to get a matter off his chest before they proceeded.
"Rock?" he said. The girl stopped herself from depositing the explosive in her pocket to look at him.
"Back there, cooking a grenade like that? That took guts" he complimented.
Black Rock Shooter grinned.
"For the love of god though, don't do that again. Losing a hand isn't fun" he admonished.
Black Rock Shooter frowned.
"So please, don't do it" he finished before hefting his rifle. She nodded, continuing to frown as she took up a position behind him.
Without a vehicle and with little ammo remaining, the four had to be careful. Lehm led the way, eyes and ears open for any threat. He ran fast and stopped frequently, keeping to the shadows whenever possible. Jonah kept his eyes on the buildings around him; there could be a sniper in every window as far as he knew. He wasn't going to let himself get struck down now, not when they were so close. The hotel was almost in reach.
He was focused on his surroundings, so much so that the pair of unnaturally blue eyes that watched him with growing concern went unnoticed. Black Rock Shooter mentally drew a parallel with Valmet when she was after Chen; she didn't expect to walk away from that quest alive, and without their help it was unlikely she would have. Jonah had the same vibe as her back then. She consoled herself that with them with him the same result would occur. He would be hurt and laid up for a while, but he would be fine. If she didn't sprain her ankle then everything would be perfect.
"Hold" Lehm softly announced, getting down before an intersection. His three companions dropped as well, sweeping around before looking ahead.
A burst of gunfire made three quarters of them inadvertently tense, with the following shots keeping them on their toes. It grew louder until it came into sight; a half dozen men running down the street, half turning back to fire while the others ran forward a distance, only to stop to return the favor. These men were different than the locals, they all wore the same outfit: dark green camouflage with dark vests. Each one moved with purpose instead of fear.
"Thai army" the older man turned to whisper. A witch darted into sight, moving swiftly with a ornamental black mace in one hand. She almost reached one of the running men before the covering soldiers cut her down in a brief hail of bullets. Several of them cursed, one of them grabbing a radio to angrily shout into it.
The four watched them for a moment before an APC rumbled into sight, the rear hatch dropping for the half dozen troops to pile in. A machine gun turret on the top fired at a target out of sight while the hatch closed, the small tank in motion before it was fully shut. The leader of the ad hoc kill team waited until the tank was fully out of sight before he waved them on to proceed. Beyond the ever present worry, crossing the street turned out to be fairly easy.
"Almost there" R said quietly. What few musings that were in their heads vanished, replaced with iron determination.
Lehm hugged a wall, inching closer to the edge and the street beyond. Infinite care went into his peek around the corner, to the three way intersection that announced the building's entrance. Remarkably, the place looked untouched. The lights were still on and unbroken as far as he could see. Even better, there were no guards in sight. The same could not be said about the front; he could see spent shell casings covering the ground, and a few derelict cars were left in the middle of the street. Again he grinned.
"Alright. We'll sweep around, check for traps. We've come this far, no reason to get sloppy now" he ordered. He glanced back, getting an understanding nod from each one. He nodded back and turned back ahead, sucking in a quick breath before darting around the corner, R after him, with Jonah and Black Rock Shooter behind him.
Something small and cylindrical flew through the air, too small for them to identify before it hit the ground. Three rifles and one cannon snapped to it, tense fingers on every trigger. While they looked at the small object, three more landed around them. Jonah wondered what they were until something clicked when the new ones landed, and they began to spill out white smoke. A whiff of one close to him reached out, immediately making him cringe. All around them the smoke enveloped them.
Tear gas, he realized.
Through his ragged coughing and burning eyes, he saw something black barreling at him seconds before what felt like a dump truck slammed into him. What little air in his lungs was violently forced out, and he went flying to land in a heap, mercifully out of the burning mist. The being wasted no time turning to Black Rock Shooter. She was in no better condition than he was, but nevertheless she let loose a bolt at the attacker. She dodged it easily.
She barely got her cannon up to block the vicious downward strike of the large masterly crafted sword in time, feeling the power of the blow nearly knock the weapon out of her hands. A metal fist slammed into her side, making her buckle. She realized that the blade was a distraction at the same time her attackers foot kicked her in the midsection and knocked her off her feet.
"Jonah!" R yelled, bringing his rifle up in spite of his watery vision. Before he could shoot the attacker fresh gunfire raked where he was standing. He abandoned the task to dive to cover, screaming a curse.
Lehm fired one round before he sensed an attacker closing in. His extensive experience was the only thing that let him parry the knife, grabbing his foe to force them both out of the gas. It worked; a brief struggle got them out of the immediate area to one of the buildings, where the attacker, a woman in combat gear and a gas mask, gained the upper hand. During the struggle he ended up with a knife to his throat, while he managed to put his sidearm under her chin. Neither moved for a moment until the woman paused to peel off the protective mask.
"Hey Lehm" she greeted. The man grunted unhappily.
"Chiquita" he answered tightly. R was huddled behind one of the cars while submachine bullets pounded his cover, cursing and scowling.
"How you doing?" she asked easily.
Lehm kicked his knee at her, something he knew she wouldn't fall for. It did imbalance her enough to break off to allow him to dart behind the wrecked car, a few pistol shots trailing uncomfortably close.
"I'm fine, yourself?" he yelled back, breathing hard and checking his sides. He watched the ongoing fight between Black Rock Shooter and her attacker helplessly.
"Good. Tad busy. Say, I've been meaning to ask. You still quit smoking?" Chiquita asked, very close by.
"Picked it back up. Stress" he answered.
"Really? Too bad" she shrugged.
"Living forever is overrated anyway" he replied before jumping up to empty his gun at where he was certain she was.
Jonah coughed, struggling to either get back on his feet or to aim his rifle. Black Rock Shooter summoned her sword as the attacker unclipped something behind her head with an oversized set of claws, letting her own gas mask to fall to the ground.
"Hi there" greeted a grinning Black Gold Saw.
Black Rock Shooter charged, firing off a bolt before closing in with the black blade. Black Gold Saw dodged out of the way of the shot but raised her own large sword to meet the smaller girl's. The two blades met with a resounding clash, both of them in a two handed grip and staring each other in the eyes. Rock's left eye burst into an ethereal blue flame while she bared her teeth at Gold Saw, who merely chuckled.
Jonah had his Magpul's sights lined up on her. His finger hand just curled around the rifle's trigger when he heard a loud whistle over the gunfire. Against his better judgement, he glanced over, and his pained breath caught in his throat. Standing right by the entrance with a bodyguard beside him and giving a small wave his way was the man responsible for the chaos around them, the man that destroyed his life. Fifty feet away, he grinned.
"Kaspar!" Jonah bellowed. Black Rock Shooter's composure fractured for a second.
A second that Black Good Saw exploited by swiping one of her hands to her waist, where a new belt rested. In one deft movement she unclipped the strap to bring her new possession up to point at the smaller girl's shoulder. It was a S&W 44. revolver, a close copy of a prop out of a movie she watched, though customized to suit her large hands via an expanded grip and missing a trigger guard. She realized what was going on too late to do anything about it. With a smirk she pulled the trigger.
Jonah heard the gunshot, but it didn't register. Neither did the sight of Black Rock Shooter falling back, mouth open but nothing but a silent exhale in place of a cry coming out. R was pinned down and shouting at him to get down, and Lehm was engaged with Chiquita. None of that reached him. All that mattered in that moment was Kaspar, standing back and watching everything with a smile.
He charged ahead, raining down abuse. But he didn't get far before something swept at him again. This time he met it, snapping the barrel of his weapon to her before she could slash at him. He was too late, she brushed it aside to uppercut him in the gut. Jonah faltered but didn't stop, though the rifle couldn't be used he still had his Browning. Her sword vanished, though the gun was still in her hand. That, more than anything else, hampered her.
Black Rock Shooter gritted her teeth, forcing back the pain. Her arm refused to function, the sword falling from her limp fingers to disintegrate against the ground. The damage was severe, even her own remarkable healing abilities would be pushed to the limits to deal with the injury. At the moment, none of that mattered. Jonah struggled against Black Gold Saw with all his strength, while she tried to grip his neck with her one free hand.
It was obvious she was playing with him. Whether from orders of Kaspar or for her own amusement, she wanted to take him alive. Black Rock Shooter was going to let that happen, not as long as she still drew breath. She raised her cannon, silently pleading for him to get away from her for just a second, enough to line up a shot. Pushing her weakening body back up, she set all of her focus on the struggle. A line of blood escaped the corner of her mouth. She didn't notice.
Jonah kicked her away at last. He went for his Magpul, something she knew she couldn't deal with easily. Seeing as she failed her objective, she fell back on her contingency. The revolver was brought around for one more task. Thanks to her reflexes, she beat the boy to the punch. He was too late to stop her. All of them, Lehm, R, Rock, they were all too late.
She pointed the weapon at his chest and pulled the trigger.
Jonah pitched backwards. The Magpul Masada tumbled from his limp fingers. Blood, his blood, flew out as the bullet tore into his stomach.
Black Rock Shooter stopped breathing. She stopped moving. She stopped charging the cannon. No longer did the gunfire or the explosions or the screams reach her ears. In that instant, everything in her entire world narrowed down to the sight before her. Nothing else existed but the sight of Jonah, falling in reverse from the gunshot to his torso. On his face was an expression of the purest surprise. He hit the ground and twitched for a second, then he was still.
On the edge of her attention Black Gold Saw heard something and darted off back to Kaspar. Chiquita, Edgar, Allan, Poe, they all fell back silently to her, firing in her direction. Lehm ran from his cover to grab R, dragging the struggling man away while he screamed the boy's name.
Black Rock Shooter dropped her cannon. Unable to think, she limped to Jonah's side. The bullets that zoomed by inches from her went unnoticed. Her knees gave out, and she collapsed by the fallen boy. All the while, she feverishly hoped what was in front of her was an illusion.
She knew. She'd seen enough dead humans to know the truth. The hole in his stomach that freely leaked blood was fatal. His face looked dazed, the spark of life in his eyes vanished.
Ragged gasps escaped Black Rock Shooter's throat. In front of her was Jonah. Dead. His life was gone, like so many others. He was her comrade. Not once did he resent her presence. Never did he insult her. He was her friend, one she knew she could count on when there was no one else. If she had a question, he would answer as best as he could. If she needed help, he would do as much as he could.
Slowly, her shaking hands stretched out to gently lay against his chest. In that moment she asked herself, why am I feeling this? She didn't know. Only, she did know. She knew the truth long ago, and like a fool she didn't even realize it.
Because she loved him.
All the doubt and fear was swept away. The pure unvarnished truth was in front of her. It was like a dam breaking; all of the emotion she kept repressed gushed out in a wave that threatened to down her. Tears flowed from her eyes, falling to dabble against his dirty shirt. She loved him, she loved him with all of her hear and she was too afraid to admit it to herself. Fear that her feelings would be rejected, that he would betray her love.
That wasn't going to happen now. Jonah was dead. Black Rock Shooter sobbed, her voice silent. Unable to tell him how she felt. Her hands fell away from his body. As she squeezed her features shut, pebbles and small debris around her began to quiver and move on their own accord, by the power that was beginning to flow.
She threw her head back and screamed.