A/N: This is going to be a big action chapter! I hope you all enjoy!
edboy: thanks man!
technodude: You'll see...
deathking: You'll see
Arthur: yeah, Booker did kind of have it coming
Bearybeary: That will be revealed later in the story
KadDawn: Hells yeah!
ElusiveEnigma: Yeah, if you ship Booker and Elizabeth, it has to be done carefully and right
BigBoss: Here ya go!
Chapter Fourteen: Throw down in Sodom
When Booker had explained his whole plan to James, the Commander thought that he had finally lost it. Booker had to agree with him, it was a pretty insane plan. The chances that it would work were below slim. If the Lutece twins were there, they would have laughed straight in his face for how stupid of a plan it was. Eleanor would have chastised him, explaining the mathematical improbabilities of victory. Elizabeth would have given him a sarcastic look and said something along the lines of, "Really?"
It was the only plan they had though, now that the 'trial' of all their family and friends would most surely condemn them to death. So Booker was willing to bet on a miracle if it was their only chance.
The people of Sodom gathered in broad daylight around the oak tree once more, just as Booker had predicted. They brought their pitchforks and torches, eager to lynch one of the most influential people in the United Nations of Columbia, Elizabeth.
Booker and James watched as they first paraded their four prisoners down the streets, screaming angry jeers and throwing trash at them. James' knuckles turned white as he gripped the barrel of his shotgun in anger after seeing a ball of mud being hurled at his son. Booker watched angrily as the horse Elizabeth was tied to passed by. People were especially cruel to her, but being the angel she was, she closed her eyes and took the punishment. Booker could see the house they had used engulfed in a blazing inferno.
"How far away are they," Booker asked, watching the crowd carefully, making sure no one made any rash moves.
"They should be here on time," James answered as he loaded his shotgun, his trigger finger itchy for action.
"Good."
The crowd began to hum as they approached the large oak tree. Men climbed up it and tied four nooses onto the larges branch. The four horses were led out to the clearing and lined up under the tree.
Booker kept checking the skies nervously, waiting and expecting all hell to break loose soon.
Sodomite airships hovered around the tree and over the buildings, holding soldiers who watched the prisoners vigilantly.
The leader of the group who had hung Mr. Thompson last night walked out in front of everyone, smiling and waving. Meanwhile, Elizabeth, Eleanor, Helen, and Cameron were all forced to stand on their horses as the trial began.
Booker picked up his sniper rifle and aimed down the scope. He watched the proceeding through the zoomed lens, setting up a perfect shot. The crosshairs lined up with the leader's head and stuck there steadily, not wavering a centimeter. Hopefully, their company wouldn't be coming in too early. That would further complicate matters. They only had one shot.
Booker took a deep breath, keeping his aim steady and clear as the ringleader began their trial.
"Lamb of Columbia!" he yelled out to the sodomites, "You have tried to evade us, but at last we have you in our grasp! For too long has your nation reigned over us! With your death, the end of the occupation will be at hand! The United Nations of Columbia will fall!"
The crowd cheered loudly, pumping their fists in the air barbarically and thumping their chests.
"The court of the people suggests sentancing you and your compatriots to death! How do you plead?"
Elizabeth and the others stayed silent, except for Eleanor, who began to chuckle.
The man leading the lynch mob looked at her angrily and asked, "Is something about this funny?"
"You poor delusional fools. Do you really think Columbia will pull out if you kill their lamb?" Eleanor sneered at him, almost scaring a couple in the crowd.
The leader smiled cheekily and responded, "Maybe not, but I'd very much like to try."
Booker took a deep breath as he prepared to squeeze the trigger. One shot, he had one shot. But as his finger inched closer to that satisfying kill, he heard James yell, "Booker! Booker look out!"
Suddenly, what looked like the visor of a diving helmet obstructed his view of the crowd on the grassy knoll. Booker immediately dropped the gun and looked up just in time to see Subject Delta jumping towards him, drill spinning at the ready. It was too soon!
How had Subject Delta found them? Damnit, he most have been sent ahead! This was not good, Booker thought to himself, this was not good. Delta could singlehandedly wreck the operation. They had come too far to lose now!
Booker dropped the gun and rolled out of the way as fast as he could, barely dodging certain death. His mind raced to think of different ways to save his comrades from the angry mob. Before another thought crossed his mind though, Delta swung his drill again.
"James, hijack one of the ships and circle around for us!" Booker ordered as he jumped away from the raging behemoth
James nodded and quickly escaped the scene, moving off to find something he could take.
Without even thinking, Booker dived off the roof and used the magnetic pull of his skyhook to latch on to one of the close by airships. He felt the hook magnetize and tug his arm towards the floating ship, clicking satisfyingly on one of the cargo hooks. Booker jumped from hook to hook, letting his mind go on autopilot as he passed by shocked sodomites. He had to move quickly if he wanted to save them.
As he got closer to the mob, which had not yet noticed him, he heard the leader chant, "In the name of the people of Sodom, and in the name of Europe, and the rest of the world, I sentence you four to-!"
Booker interrupted the leader when he lunged from the final airship and drove his skyhook straight into his face, grinding it up in a bloody, gory manner. The warm red liquid sprayed up onto his face as the rotors of the hook spun deeper, kicking up bits of skull and grey matter.
The crowd gasped in horror as Booker pulled the hook from their leader's head. The horses became startled by the turn of events and bucked upward, flinging the four off their backs. Booker quickly used Bucking Bronco to lift them all out of the nooses before they could be hung. When he saw they had landed safely, he sighed in relief.
Booker ran over to Elizabeth and helped her up off the ground. As she rose, her eyes widened and she yelled, "Booker, look out!"
Booker whirled around and saw three men charging him with pitchforks and machetes, letting loose feral screams. He quickly ducked under the first machete and grabbed it by the handle, kicking off its wielder. Flipping the machete in his hand to hold it by the blade, Booker then threw it straight into the second man's chest. The third was killed with a swift shot to the head from Booker's hand cannon.
The rest of the crowd began to pull out guns and back up from the five, not wanting to take any more risks.
The executioner pulled a shotgun out and yelled to the crowd, "Kill them, Kill them!"
"Great, now we are all going to die," Eleanor said sarcastically, not even bothering to think about the young boy next to her.
"Not quite," Booker responded as he held his pistol at the ready, "I called in some backup before the fight started."
"Backup?"
Suddenly, hundreds of Columbian airships descended down and began to float over Sodom, outnumbering their airships by the thousands.
"Sodomites," a voice called from the sky, "We know you have our lamb! We will give you one chance to hand her over to us before we rain fire upon your sinful land!"
Columbian soldiers began repelling from the sky and Subject Delta knocked members of the crowd as if they were ragdolls.
An utter silence fell upon the whole town for a moment. Booker knew the sodomites were calculating their losses and trying to decide whether to fight them, or fight the Columbians. He also knew that they realized which one was the bigger threat.
The executioner turned to the nearest Columbian soldier and shot him down, crying out, "Kill the bastards, kill 'em all!"
Just as Booker predicted, all hell broke loose. Eleanor quickly teleported the group behind cover as the town square broke out into a straight up battlefield. Bullets flew over their heads as they all hunkered down behind the cinderblock wall. Booker would occasionally peek his head out and fire at the crowd of people, killing indiscriminately.
"What's the plan from here?" Elizabeth yelled over the gunfire
"To be honest, I didn't think we'd get this far," Booker yelled back as he pulled a bulky radio out and turned it on.
Once a static noise confirmed that the device was active, Booker yelled into it, "Commander Roland, do you hear me?"
After a couple seconds, they heard James' voice over the radio link. "I hear you Dewitt. Are you all okay? It's like a fucking war down there!"
"We're all fine, but we need evac immediately!" Booker yelled, looking from out of cover nervously as more and more Columbians began to arrive.
"Sorry, but it's too hot down there! You all need to move over to me, or you need to clear up that brawl!"
Booker growled in frustration as he threw the radio down. Their cover was starting to deteriorate as bullets tore its edges apart. No matter what they did, that fight was not clearing up. If they stepped out of cover, they would be shot and killed immediately. Also, it was only a matter of time before Delta found them, and then they'd be finished for sure.
Just when things couldn't get worse, turrets started to suddenly appear around the town square. Booker couldn't believe it; this kind of thing wasn't possible without tears!
He looked over to Elizabeth, who seemed equally shocked as he did. "I didn't do it," she quickly told the group, "and I have no idea how they did it either!"
A rocket suddenly flew by them and exploded nearby, causing bits of rock and brick to fly over and cut them. Eleanor strapped a needle, which seemed to be full of blood, onto her arm and yelled over to Booker, "Use the vigor!"
It took him a second to process what she meant, but he got what she was asking for. "I thought I was supposed to only use that in case of an emergency!"
Eleanor glared at him and screamed, "Doesn't this look like a bloody emergency?!"
Before Booker could respond, Subject Delta broke through their wall and roared at them angrily. The five of them quickly tried to back up, but Delta was too close. The big daddy raised his drill up and kept it there, as if he was trying to fight it with all his might.
Booker heard Eleanor scream again, "Use it!"
With no time to argue, Booker held out his hand and three golden pipes burst from his knuckles. The pipes whistled a loud tune, causing a sudden silence among the battlefield. When he heard the tune again, he suddenly began to recognize it. Booker looked over to Elizabeth, whose eyes were wide in fear. Even Delta seemed to be distracted, as the behemoth looked around, trying to figure out what was happening.
Elizabeth ran over to Eleanor and grabbed her by the collar, shaking her violently. "Do you know what you've done!?" she yelled frantically.
Suddenly, a high pitch screech filled the air, causing everyone to bend their knees and clutch their ears in pain. The sound was amplified ten folds for Booker, who was writhing in agony on the ground. He gripped his head in agony as the screech grew louder and more high pitched, pushing his ears to their physical limit. The screech then stopped almost as soon as it had begun, leaving everyone completely disoriented.
Helen stood up with her son and told Booker, "If you want evacuation, we might need something more then a screech Mr. Dewitt."
"No," Elizabeth muttered to herself, as she held her hand over her mouth in shock, "No no no no no no…"
The crowd then began to scream suddenly as one of the Columbian airships suddenly was torn apart by a fiery explosion, the debris taking out Sodomite ships around it. Three more huge zeppelins beside it suddenly went up in flames, falling from the sky and crashing into the now ruined town of Sodom. From the smoke, burst a large creature, who landed with a loud thud on top of the oak tree.
When the dust cleared and the figure was revealed, Booker's heart almost stopped. Eleanor smiled to herself, proud that her greatest invention had worked. Elizabeth continued to breath heavily, her pupils now tiny dots.
Both Sodomites and Columbians backed away slowly as the creature spread its wings and let out another mighty screech. Its golden claws glimmered in the sunlight and its armored beak looked as if it was brand new. As it looked around at the people before it, its green eyes slid back and were replaced with a fearsome red light. It was one of the only creatures everyone feared, that was practically untouchable by man.
"You!" Booker yelled angrily at Eleanor, "You rebuilt the Songbird?!"
A/N: And Songbird returns! I hope you all enjoyed it!