Chapter 22: Secret war (Part 1)
Krrrgh.
The sound of the hand brake being pulled snaps Yang out of her thoughts. They've arrived at the parking lot of…Pit Stop, a dinky motel; in an old, grey Koyoka Colorra, Mors's 'unofficial' car (no registration, fake plate, black market parts, because of course he has such a thing, sure, why the hell not). Their rides were hidden away at Junior's. The blonde reminds herself again to mod Bumblebee's engine and suspension to be able to carry Mors after this, if they make it out alive.
According to her driver, they're here to make some prep for the night, change their appearances, create some alibis for themselves, make some semblance of a plan and probably the hardest part: tell the others they're not coming back on the weekends. She glances at the clock on the dash. 9:30, thirty minutes till curfew. Everyone must be starting to wonder by now. She's still not sure what to tell them yet, damn. Can't be like Mors and be vague, not with Rubes, the girl would never take it, especially when she knows what the two of them were out in town for.
"You can still go back now, if you want." She hears Mors say, without much care in it. He knows well that it was pretty much a pointless thing to say.
She glances over to him, and couldn't help but snicker again a bit, despite the somber mood, at the sight of a massive dude hunching down, squeezing within the seat a few sizes too small for him like an inflated airbag. His completely serious face only tickles her bones even more. She can feel the tension in her shoulders letting up.
"I'm fine. Just…thinking." She breathes out and leans into her seat. "Jeez, you really don't look too comfortable there, do you? Why didn't you get something bigger?"
"60 percent, I think, of vehicles in Vale are the Colorra. With this car,..." He knocks on the steering wheel "we get less attention, and it's almost infeasible to trace it back to us. Very convenient for private businesses, really private businesses."
"...Makes sense. Although, it can't be too hard narrowing it down to someone of your size anyway, right?"
He indicates towards the building and they step out of the car. Mors pops the trunk and takes out two huge sport bags. He hands one to her and then grabs another one.
"Unfortunately, no. Not hard, I mean. That's why I'll need to put on some armor later." The trunk closes with a thunk, and they make their way towards reception.
"Wait, how does that work?"
"Uh…Well it's not really 'armor', per se, something closer to cosplaying, I'd say…What you'd have are thin composite plates that look thick…You'll understand when you see it, prolly."
That got a giggle out of her. Cosplay? They might as well be walking into their doom here and this guy is saying he's gonna do it while cosplaying? It sounds absolutely ridiculous! But, she has a feeling it'll somehow make perfect sense when she sees it, given how Mors is apparently really big on practicality. Nevertheless, a bit of levity she thought was all out for the night, despite the situation, is slowly resurfacing back up, Yang realizes; and with that, comes a stab of guilt for feeling that way. Should she be having fun right now?
"Never take you for a weaboo." Still, the blonde spurted out the friendly jab before her brain could drag herself down again.
"I dunno. Actual cosplay seems kinda fun. Costume, props, pop cultures, sounds like a good time." Seeing her making jokes seemed to take some edges off Mors, too, as he grins back. "Might try it out after this is over. Always thought Gigaman was a cool cat."
"Woah there, don't go raising any flags now, big boy." She laughs "And Gigaman, seriously? That's like, my Mom's superhero or something. He's so…1980s!"
"Well I'm sorry for not having seen them new Revengers movies to be all caught up with the trend. From what I saw, tho, the Bulk is like, totally 100% the lamest superhero in my opinion." Motherfu-That was totally aimed! How did he-ah, the poster in her room, probs. "His strength is so ridonculous for his size in some of the trailers. I know I sure as hell can't scale fifteen fucking stories in one jump, it's goddamn unrealistic!"
"That's not it! His power is the angrier he is the stronger he- you know what? We're sitting through the whole 22 movies when this is over!"
"Holy shit, twenty two?"
"Damn straight! And you're watching every single one of them….Actually, I think I'll get you acquainted with the comics and the TC capes, too."
"...Aren't you raising quite some flags here too?"
"...Ass."
What a weird night, she shakes her head. Just an hour ago, her mind had gone to some pretty dark places, slipping down a slippery slope she thought was gonna take a while to get back up. But now it's already starting to feel like the usual morning meetups again. Might be an illusion, might be her turning away from reality a lil' bit, but that's fine. Gotta keep her spirit up, Yang tells herself, for Mors's sake as much as for hers. She opens the door and holds it for the oaf.
"You know…I think I saw Gigaman in Deadly Kombat 11 before. Bet you I can kick your and his butt with the Bulk, while keeping full health."
"...Well that is just petty as hell, but you're on."
.
.
.
"Ah, so that's how it is. You're right, it really looks like some sort of exo power armor." Mors hears Yang whistles as she steps out of the bathroom. He almost did not recognize her. What has been a lush, bright, golden mane is now jet black.
It's temporary, he knows. But the looks she had when he suggested the idea, as if he had asked her to kill her firstborn child and she had no other choice, still makes him feel plenty guilty when he sees the darken hair. It's more than vanity, he has an inkling, but it doesn't seem like a thing the girl's willing to share. Besides keeping on touching her hair every few seconds, Yang acts like there is absolutely nothing wrong. Well, if she doesn't want to bring attention to it, he'll oblige. Thank the Brothers he didn't tell her to cut her hair. She'd prolly do it, but who knows how deep that was gonna cut. Ah dammit that was a good pun…shame it was really inappropriate.
"Guess you can say, this'll sure keep your identity under wraps. Seems you got yourself covered." Mors sputters out a laugh. Wait so she's punning, that's a good sign, right?
The girl has changed out into the clothes they have bought from a small shop earlier. Simple black high neck and form fitting long sleeves; beige cargo pants; tucked into a pair of brown worn boots. She'll put on the muted green bomber to complete the set later when they leave, but for now there are a few more thing the blonde- brunette now, has to do: holster the pump shotgun, strap on the ammo bandoliers, wrap her hands and put on the reinforced knuckles gloves, attach the medikit to her thigh, and…well, talk to Ruby.
"Heh heh. I uhhh…I got nothing."
"Can't all be masters of the art, young Padawan." Padawhat? "Come on, lemme help with the arms."
"Thanks." He hands her one of the 'armor' plates. They are thin metal plates with very thick edges, painted matte gray to look way more voluminous than they actually are. The idea is trying to look as if someone normal size is wearing a heavy power suit. "They wouldn't hold against heavy gunfire. Handgun shots will prolly make a dent, rifle bullets will just punch straight through." Speak nothing of Aura user's attacks, which even the usual actual armors have a hard time against. Oh well, not like he can normally afford taking too much damage anyway. "Should be fine with normal the sticks and stones, knives and swords from the plebs, tho." The suit is gonna weigh him down a bit.
"And lucky for us that most of the guards for the most important people in Vale are gonna be plebs with stone age weapons." Yang rolls her eyes as she locks the left vambrace into place and gives it a test tug. She pauses and stares at the piece. "...Would be real convenient if there's some special padding under this. You know, the supernatural kind, like Beacon students normally have?" The girl sighs "Why you gotta be the special kid, man?" Right, he guesses it seems much scarier now that she knows he's Aura-less. The blon- brunette gets to work on the right arm.
"Hey come on, I'm sure you're special in your own way too." She punches him. "Heh, it'll be fine, I had a long, long experience using my body as it is. Trust me, guns and weapons are definitely not something new."
Flashes of curiosity pass by her eyes, but the girl simply shrugs. With the pieces locked into place, she looks at Mors, brows slightly furrowed in thoughts. Lilac is definitely the prettier shade of purple, he thinks. He can feel her fingers tapping steadily on his vambrace. She's deliberating, on what he can kinda guess.
"...Alright. Do me a favor and close your eyes?" She clutches onto his wrists and flicks her head, waiting for him to comply. The girl is being all blasé and casual about it, but well, his experience with Mrs. Goodwitch has really hammered it home for Mors this is not something the brunette can offer lightly. You're basically handing people a backdoor to your personality, telling them what makes you ticks, what buttons they can push. It's not all inclusive, but still quite a lot. Come to think of it, maybe it's not completely due to compatibility that Jaune and Pyrrha are getting along much better than with anyone else in the group.
"It's alright, I-"
"Don't worry, it's not that big of a deal." She cuts him off with a grin. "I did it for Rubes before, and also for my first ex." Lilac eyes turned dull for a split second, maybe? Can eyes do that? "And they all worked out fine. My reserve is pretty big, fyi. You don't have to worry about me exhausting myself."
"No no no, I mean I can't have my Aura unlocked, apparently. As in, physically can't."
"What? W-why?"
"Something to do with my soul being…uh…broken?" He winces a bit at the admission. Somehow saying it aloud made it stung worse than usual. He's really hung up on this crap, huh? "I don't get what that supposed to mean either, but that was the doctor's diagnosis. Bottom line is, Aura and me are just…one big nyet."
She laughed lightly at his joke, but didn't seem to have too much heart in it. The girl gives Mors a long look, then sits down heavily onto the bed. The silence stretches on. He supposes there's no good response to what he has revealed. He doesn't mind being pitied, which were the usual responses to varying degrees so far, but he has a feeling Yang doesn't appreciate that particular branch of emotions too much.
"Are…are you okay? You seem fine but…I mean…I can't imagine this being an easy pill and all. It must've sucked to find out about this." Yang says as she strokes her hair. Glancing at it, she sighs, deft hands start to gather black locks into a high ponytail.
"Yeah…well I mean it's not like-"
OHH GIRL, JUST WANNA HAVE FUN…
Yang's scroll, it must be Ruby then. Here it is, he guesses. They never did figure out what to tell Red, but as it goes, hesitation rarely yields good outcomes. Finishing up on her hairdo, the blonde takes out her scroll, stares at it for a good three rings, then in an absolute stroke of genius, throws it over to Mors.
"Whatthefu-"
"Think of something! Anything! I…I'll follow up and make it believable!"
The night hasn't begun and he's already holding a goddamn grenade in his hand. And well, fuck him for pressing the answer button, too.
"Yang? Did you meet Mors? How did it go? Are you guys friends again now? I got everyone here on speaker by the way. Why is your cam off? Where are you? Why are you not back yet?" Immediately Ruby's voice shot through the scroll in volleys like machine gun fire. Gotta give it to the girl, she has a talent for making it very difficult for people she's close to to lie to her. Either she's ridiculously good at picking friends or it was outright her Semblance, which was not. Bless her heart for unknowingly asking the tough questions last.
Anyway, that was eight.
"Hey Ruby, it's Mors. Yes, we met, she's with me."
"Sup."
"The thing went well enough." That's three… "I suppose 'friends' is appropriate to describe our relationship now... Hey gang." A cacophony of greetings spills out of the speaker. That's four… Ah shit. He sends the most helpless look he can manage across the room, and receives an equally helpless look right back. This black hair bimbo…"The camera's off because we're…not presentable…Uh…We're at a motel right now. We….are having a few things we would like to work out over the weekends." That has to be the weakest excuse ever uttered since the dawn of humanity, damn… He desperately looks over to his companion, and is totally caught off guard by the sparks in her eyes like he's just said something good. There's a pregnant silence on the other side, and he hears something like Nora madly giggling in the background. What?
"You are…uh…not presentable?" Ruby speaks again in a weird pitch, somehow clearly way more awkward than before. "You guys are in a motel? Like…in a single room? And you guys are gonna use the weekends to work out some…stuffs?" It was exactly what he said, so why is she-
Ohhhh…Oh. Well now Mors can see what it sounded like. Well dang. His first instinct was to clear it up, he obviously didn't mean it like that. But on second thought…this misunderstanding might work out for them in this case. He decides to keep his mouth shut when he sees Yang imitate a pecking chicken nodding a dozen bobs per seconds and frantically beckons him over. He brings the scroll over to her.
"Hey sis. Yeah that's pretty much the story. Sorry for not calling you sooner."
"It's okay Yang." Ruby's voice suddenly gets a bit louder. "Speaker's off." Smart girl. Nora yells something in the background; "I can't just ask! This is awkward as heck!" followed by Jaune's voice; "Don't count your money so soon Vomit Boy, it's not for sure yet…Well why do I have to ask!?...Ugh, fine!" then apparently Blake also has something to say. "Oliver? They broke up last Wednesday, remember the three hours shower? Speaking of which, we hate that jerkward and the girl Nox from MDNT now, okay?"
"The one with the purple braid?" Mors can't help but ask.
"That's the one." Yang shrugs. "Nice girl, nice enough to forgive the bastard even after we found out he was double-timing on us. Poor thing was devastated, prolly her first relationship."
"Oh wow that's rough. What about you?"
"Punched the as-jerk in the face, cried my face off, burned a few things, yadda yadda, standard stuff. Not the first time it happened, you know? And I had kinda pegged him for the type from the start."
"Yeah! It's so ridiculous you always dated guys and gals with really horrible personalities for some really weird reasons!" The other side speaks up. "Which is why, it'll be great if you guys are dating right now. Mors, you're a nice guy, right?" Does…does he have to answer that? "You guys are dating right now, right?"
"Nothing's set in stone yet, sis." Yang giggles at Ruby's disappointed 'aww'. Clever, this way they'll have an out after the weekends, saying it didn't work out or something like that. Obviously, they're determined to take this little actual escapade to the graves, most likely. "Gonna have some fun, go on a few dates, get to know each other a little. We'll see how it pans out by Monday. Tell Jaune and Blake they can't have their money yet."
"Oh Oum she's serious about this…" Ruby mumbles to herself, into the phone. She then yells something to the others and has a bit of a back and forth. She got back to them shortly after. "Don't mess this up, Momo. My sister's a great girlfriend, you know. And have you ever noticed how hot she is?"
"I have." Mors chuckles. "Blazing." Yang makes a joke heart hands at him, to which he replies by mock swooning. They share a silent laugh.
"Right? So bring on your best game, okay? Sis? Go easy on the big guy, okay? This'll prolly be the nicest guy you've dated so far if it works out. Oh this is pretty exciting! I-Wha…" The other side goes quiet for a bit, then "Yang? Mors? You guys might wanna cancel your vacation and head back…"
"Wha-" A notification pops up on Yang's scroll. VPD's public notice. "The city's getting put on lockdown…" Mors reads out softly. He shares a look with the blonde girl, whose face has shifted into a grimace. Right, she doesn't know the usual song and dance. So Mr. Junior's done his part. Go time is fast approaching. The cheery air, false as it may have been, dies an ugly death. Mors waves a hand at Yang and shakes his head to indicate he has actually expected this, counted on it even. Can't exactly walk, or drive around looking like a metal golem with everybody out and about and expect no one to take notice. No point in trying to blend in. They'll have a better chance moving from place to place undetected during lockdown.
"Yeah…" Ruby says with uncertainty. "What's going on…? You think it's Torchwick or White Fang or something?"
"Who knows…" Yang replies noncommittally. "What's the details?"
"Residents have one hour, starting at 22:00, to return home or get indoors and remain inside until 6:00 am Saturday. All businesses and services except for essential services are to be closed down immediately. Public transportations will stop operating from 23:00 to 6:00 am, personnels will be gathered and escorted back to their homes. All routes to and from Vale are temporarily closed. Any who are seen traveling during curfew will be stopped, IDed and possibly arrested. Lockdown will remain in effect until further notice."
"Can you make it back to Beacon?" Worries start to seep into the young girl's voice. "Something big is happening in the city. Would be reassuring if everyone's staying close to each other…"
"...Doesn't look like we can Rubes." Mors moves to finish up on prepping. He takes out Lepestski and starts inspecting it. Yang follows his lead and unrolls the handwraps. "All highways are closed. I bet shuttle service is down too. Seems like we're stuck in the city for the night." He sheaths the knife into his left vambrace.
"Right… Be careful, okay?" They watch the guilt in each other's eyes. Somehow, he's not so confident Yang can keep this a secret from her sister anymore… Guess if it's inevitable, he'll face the music when it plays, but right now they have other things to focus on. "Go home as soon as you can, please?"
"We'll try, sis." Yang lies smoothly, which is a jarring contrast to the mighty frown she's wearing. Her hands drop onto her laps and she bites her bottom lips. He gives a light pat on her shoulder, and the girl smiles and nods her thanks. "Don't worry about us. We'll be careful."
"Kay… Enjoy your night, guys, I guess? Call me if something happens, alright." She's still uneasy, this girl's intuition is sharp. More and more he doesn't think they can hide this from Ruby. Gotta wrap up the call.
"We will, thanks Rubes. Say good night to everyone for me."
"Got it….Okay…I'm hanging up now…Bye bye."
"Bye Ruby."
"Talk to you soon sis."
And with that silence fills the room. He hears his roommate let out a heavy breath. After a minute the girl mumbles 'right' and continues wrapping her hand.
"That wasn't too bad." Yang chuckles dryly.
"...I feel terrible, though." He acknowledges, taking out a strap-on face mask and a pair of tinted ski goggles and setting them beside the girl. Superhuman as the Aura users are, flashbangs are still surprisingly effective against them. "Let's not make a habit out of it."
"Doesn't have to tell me twice…" She tugs on the wraps, then puts on the gloves. "...You know, I don't want to have any misunderstandings…I'm owing you a lot…and I believe you're a really good person now…but we're not gonna actually…well…"
"I know. Just a convenient cover. We'll say it didn't work out when this is over." He watches Yang nods slowly, not entirely pacifed.
"Sorry, dude. I…I would've loved to date you…" She stumbles on with her justification, clearly still afraid she would hurt his feelings. "But well, you're friends with Ruby, and I have a dating policy against that. It doesn't make sense, but…Yeah, no hard feelings?"
"None to begin with. Don't worry." He waves the issue away. The girl looks at him strangely for a moment, but then nods.
As he fastens a medkit to his arm and goes over his last item, the NRP4 gun (so many bad memories with this thing), Yang also finishes strapping on her shotgun and putting on the bomber jacket. She drops the goggles into the jacket pockets, moves to the window and opens it up. He picks up his helmet and walks over to her.
"You ready?" He's tempted to tell her she can still back out, again, but it was just too pointless.
"Hell no. But let's get it over with."
-REST-
"Report." Arthur Anderson, chief of VPD says tiredly as he leans back on his chair.
"Sir, a couple of non-compliant cases in sector 8 and 9 in Industrial District, sector 3 and 6 in Agricultural District." His assistant read out from a tablet " All were arrested, checked and separately detained, but they appeared to just be uncooperative residents and small-time street thugs. A few cases of vandalism and store burglaries, mostly idiots who thought an emptier street means a less secured city, all rounded up, sir."
"Still, keep a close eye on them. Might be a plan to infiltrate a facility and get into our system."
"Yes sir. Other than that the Districts and Sectors checkpoints are all quiet. Nothing of note came up with patrols, too. Our underground contacts said nothing unusual happened on the smuggling routes and the Doorway. But, with the city as it is, even with drones it's just not possible to monitor all passageways. So it's possible to move around unnoticed within a small area."
"What about the VIPs?"
"Still pissed, and safe, sir."
The head of VPD nods wearily. It's almost midnight, and he's supposed to be in bed hugging up his wife. Instead here he is, dealing with what might be a city level attack, his son and wife locked up in the safe room down in HQ's basement. He shakes his head irately, holding a personal grudge for whoever this suddenly pop up adversaries are. His second in command, probably noticing his irritation, decides to address it.
"Sir…We get threats like this all the time. Usually they were just overeager White Fang or overconfident Huntsman…Is all of this…necessary?"
He nods in acknowledgement of the question.
"Three things, Jim. One, this was the second attack on Junior's, and I bet my ass this is the same people from the last time. They're getting too bold. We gotta show them, and all the stupid ones that might get some inspirations from these stunts, that this shit absolutely does not fly here, and there will be hell to pay."
"Two, from what Junior told me of their plan, we're dealing with either some incompetent fools who has no idea what they're getting themselves into, or…" He lets the idea hang for a minute "these are the people who know exactly what they're doing, skilled enough to consider this insane operation and most importantly, crazy enough to actually go through with it."
"The most dangerous kind." His second in command sighs, running a hand down his face.
"Bingo. I'm not taking any chances seeing that they were able to raid The Cube. Not really a big achievement, sure, but it showed they're no common junkies or the likes."
"And three, well…" Anderson pauses to reign in the emotion in his voice. Rage has been simmering in him all night and some boiled over when his mind touches the subject. He couldn't stop his next words coming out almost a growl. "Nobodythreatens my family should expect to get away with only scraped elbows." These fuckers made it personal when they dragged Molly and Shepard into this mess.
"...We'll get them sir." Jimmy nods sympathetically.
"Damn straight we will." There's a ping on the assistant's scroll. The Chief waves to indicate his subordinate to get back to it, while he continues to try to think of another edge he can squeeze out over these unknown adversaries.
There's a nagging uneasiness that the man has. A gut feeling honed from years of experience telling him these are more likely than not the latter, unpleasant type. He's not sure if it was intentional, but there may be method to the madness of announcing so many high profile targets. Crime bosses, Small Council and the Vice Cap aside, the Greater Council members all rely on the VPD to protect them. Those nobles are all lines of Huntsman, yes, and some can probably even get some decent level Huntsman protection, but fact is they can't afford neither the price nor the short notice of the high level fighters. So his man will have to make up the bulk of the security. Not to say they are not a force on their own, but with so many targets, himself included, they are stretched a bit too thin for his liking.
If it is up to him, he'd gather them all to one place and consolidate his force into one easily defended location. But moving the VIPs is a problem in itself. Makes them vulnerable during transit. And there's also the matter of putting all the eggs…into…one basket…
"Say Jim…If you are a person so skilled that it doesn't make a different whether you're fighting a civ or the Vice Captain of the Valean Knights. Who would you attack first?"
"Sir?...I guess I would go for the VC. You know, while I'm at the top of my game, get the hard part out of the way first." There's understanding slowly dawning on the Senior Assistant's face. Anderson nods. This is a guess at best, but he can't help feeling that he's onto something.
"What about the numerous Greater Council members versus the VPD whose lockdown is restricting your movements and is mainly responsible for defending those nobles?"
There's their first target. Him. He can't help but chuckles at the sheer audacity of the notion. It's just so…surreal. But it makes so much sense he can't see it in any other way. It seems he wasn't thinking at the right scale this problem may actually be at.
"...I'll redirect more people back to HQ, sir."
"Yeah, thanks. And make sure the military will take over if we're compromised."
"Yes sir!"
Jimmy starts tapping away on his scroll, and the Chief leans back onto his seat. After a few minutes of silence, he notices the other man is frowning slightly. Before he can ask, though, the guy beats him to it.
"Sir…There's a report of a theft case."
"...? There are bound to still be a few of them? I'm guessing this one is special?"
"Peculiar, sir. It's from a sector 7 private hospital here in ID, they say an ambulance has not reported back since an emergency call. It has stayed in the same spot for over an hour. The driver was unresponsive and when they sent someone over to check the vehicle was nowhere to be found. They suspect foul play on the tracker…why would anyone want to steal…an…ambulance…?" The answer was clear as soon as the question was asked. Clever bastards.
The Head Assistant hurriedly taps his tablet, then speaks into the device with an urgent tone.
"All units please be advised of ambulance plate Romeo Alpha Mike Oh Seven Oh Seven. ROE…" The man looks over to him for advise, to which he replies by drawing an X over his chest. "Shoot on sight, double tap on downed suspects. Be advised suspects may be extremely danger-" Jimmy stops aruptly, his eyes widen a little before his face contorts into a grimace. He puts his scroll down and looks up.
"Contact."
-REST-
Seven kilometres (4.3 miles) away from the VPD Headquarters, Yang takes a deep breath as her truck fast approaches the barricades of the outer defensive line.
Another sniper round zips past the right size of her face and one more skids off her Aura on the left shoulder. She resists the urge to flinch, but does step harder onto the gas pedal. Luckily the street is currently empty right now, or at the speed they're driving right now even with Huntsman's reflex she's not confident she can avoid a crash. Can't slow down, or people will get a clear shot at the tires
Pretty soon they'll get into the range of the assault rifles. If this thing can survive the hail of bullets, it'll still have to get passed the spike chains, then deal with the barricades themselves. Those things are designed to stop a speeding full-trailer dead within five meters. This puny amb won't even make a dent. All that it means, is that these guys are not fucking around. The street is practically impenetrable with only two of them.
Good thing the street is not the only way forward.
As soon as she hear the barkings of gunfire Yang swerves the vehicle left so hard it tilts onto the two right wheels. She feels herself pushed tightly against the seatbelt as momentum attempts to throw her out of the truck. The ambulance crashes through a 11/7's glass entrance and continues to mow through the shelfs inside. She makes another hard right. Soon enough the building's wall comes into view and rushes toward her. Pedal to the metal.
KRUUUMPPP!
The wall explodes away. The windshield shatters and sharp glasses splatter against the thick fabric of her jacket. Yang feels the force of impact shoots through her arms from the steering wheels. The almost 8 tons steel beast keeps on rolling forward, its front reinforced with a whole sedan crudely attached horizontally with a dozen of ratchet straps. The makeshift rammer is almost flatten and is barely recognizable as a car anymore. Another wall quickly comes up.
KRUUUMPPP!
Then another.
KRUUUMPPP!
Then another.
KRUUUMPPP!
They went through probably 15 walls when the sedan was forcibly merged into the front of the truck. 2 more walls when the steering was shot. 1 more when the engine is squashed and the momentum carries the whole thing through an alley and 1 more brick wall, into a warehouse, deep behind the enemy line. Thank Oum's Wisdom that none of the buildings near VPD are residential housings, just mostly warehouses, or they would've run over someone and wreck their home for sure. Still the girl is acutely aware of how much property damage they've just caused, funny how she'd never paid attention to that before.
Yang slowly pries her fingers off the steering wheels and takes slow breath as she tries to control her adrenaline level. Fucking hell...She hears her partner in the back open the cabinet's door and then there's a sound of a pair of metal boots hitting the ground. She gets out of the car just in time to see Mors steps around to the driver side of the truck.
"Hey." She starts "You oka-" Only to be tackled and pulled to the front of the amb. Right after they've dove into position, a literal wall of bullets slams into their cover and the storm of gunfire doesn't relent from then. Sparks everywhere, mini explosions bloom all around them, debris chaotically zip across space. It's like they're caught in a torrential rain with never ending thunder and lightning. With all these firepower focused, even a big Aura reserve like hers will probably be ground down to half by the time she reaches the shooters.
She hears footsteps fast approaching to their right. The girl is vaguely aware that they are being pinned down and flanked.
Something drops onto the ground and before she can see what it is-
BANG!
Blinding white light bursts forth, accompanied by a deafening boom. Sickly mustard smoke starts to leak out of the flashbang and a horrible smell is slowly filtered through her mask. Never had she ever been so grateful for the pair of goggles and the mouth guard she's wearing. Mors pick up the nade and chuck it far to their right, while in the same motion snatch a frag out of the air and throw it back at the cops. There were drowned out shouts of "Grenade!" just before the sound of an explosion blasts through the air. Screams of names and agony makes her stomach twisted into several ugly knots.
"Charge at the breach." Mors speaks to her with an almost bored detachment, like he was talking about the fucking weather or something. He taps on her shotgun and then points to the roof of the truck. "You go top and draw their fires. I'll flank left." He points to their left.
Out of the frying pan into the fire. Violence immediately followed by more violence. This was different from Grimms hunting, or a school spar, or a bar fight. Those things have a start, a climax, and an end. But this…They went from running headlong into sniper shots to crashing through a dozen of walls to immediately coming under a barrage of bullets. No breathers, no in-betweens, it just kept on escalating.
Yang should feel overwhelmed, and she did, the whole minute of it. Her psyche, however, not completely unused to blood pumping rushes, could not lock up as a coping mechanism when pushed. So it did the next best thing: flood her system with dopamine. Stress turned into excitement, and she felt like shit for getting excited over hearing people getting injured. High in her head and sick in her stomach, she nods with a bit too much force, steps on the amb head a bit too hard to vault onto the truck's roof in a single jump, letting loose a random gunshot to grab attention.
Shots immediately whizz by her, some pings harmlessly off her Aura. They're not a fraction as dense as before, as the cops are still recovering from the frag. There're pools and trails of blood, but she didn't see any unmoving bodies, thank Oum's Mercy. Yang jumps off towards the crowd of black suited people crouching behind portable covers at the hole in the wall. Suddenly, the shots stop coming and she sees a hulking metal juggernaut barrels into the people at the hole. She makes note there are more behind the police cars on the outside. Her vision locks onto a SWAT, his face concealed by his helmet but his body radiates pure panic. With a cry she's not sure was fearless or feral, Yang descends onto her first victim with a palm smashing into his chest. The man flies back and collides roughly with his teammates. She only has a split second to hope that she's pulled back enough so she didn't kill the guy, because a barrel of a N5 is already pointed right at her face. She leans out of the line before the woman can pull the trigger and shove in a nasty body shot, which promptly drops the shooter to her knee. A kick to the head cracks the helmet and collision with the ground breaks it completely. The blonde whips up her shotgun and barks out a shot at the hood of a car outside, right in front of a policewoman and makes her hastily duck back into cover. Using the gun like a bat, the girl leaps over and whacks the rifle out of another cop's hands, then brings the metal rod down onto his head.
These people are, after all, normal people. Once a Huntsman, in training regardless, like her has gotten into range, they stand no chance. They can't shoot without risking hitting each other, and close combat isn't even a topic worth mentioning. It was a whirlwind of limbs and bodies. Her fists, feet, knees, elbows, shoulders all tingling from constant impacts. She didn't even register that she had fought her way outside. There seems to be no end to them, but she doesn't care, there's only the next target.
A hand falls onto her shoulder and she whirls around on said shoulder to throw out a right hook. Armored gauntlet catches her arm at the joint and steadily dampens her punch. Mors. Yang snaps out of her rush and looks up, seeing deep purple glints staring back through the eye sockets. He abruptly pulls her into a hug and bodily drags her away just as the ground behind them explodes. Snipers. She hears him tackle somebody and drop into a slide. When he stops and releases her, they're crouching behind a wrecked car. Next to them a policewoman lays on her back, her legs and arms are bloodied messes, frag's wound; her breathing is ragged and her face is twisted in pain, but her glare is burning. Yang wants to puke.
They've stopped sending in people and opted for setting up a barrier at the alley exit. There are only wailing sirens and pained groans surrounding them. Someone speaks into a megaphone, telling them they are surrounded, and it'll be better for everyone if they peacefully surrender. The police are stalling, prolly for someone from the Valean Knights, coming from the HQ.
"Watch the upper floors." Mors says simply. He then moves over to the wounded woman, who starts to hyperventilate, and apparently inspect her injuries. "Slow breath, you can still survive, I will get you proper medical care." Yang hears an attempt to spit, but it came out pathetically weak. Mors speaks again, louder, to the people out in the street, his tone doesn't change the slightest.
"Listen carefully, I will only say it once…You have a critically wounded person. We will bring her out for treatment. But we want to see a clear street and we want an unoccupied, working, full tank SUV." She thought the woman's breathing could not get any heavier, but it did. "Your people are all alive, and can recover back to full health with time, but they need medical care, quickly. You are not equipped to handle us. Let us go and take care of your injured. Do not follow us. I will count to 10, if you do not agree by then I will start ripping off people's all four limbs, and after that, I will start cutting off their tongues0. One." She whips her head to stare at her friend in shock. He's bluffing, he's gotta be, but even as she tells herself that, she somehow cannot believe it was just a bluff. Is she on the side of a monster? Horror grips her heart. What…what exactly has she pushed out of this boy?
"You fucking psychopath!" Rage fills the voice of the supposed negotiator. It seems even he can feel what Mors said isn't just empty threats.
"Two."
"Don't you dare do it! You will never get away with it, and I will fucking kill you even if I die doing so!"
"Threefourfivesixseveneight."
"Sonuva- w-wait!"
"Nine." Yang tenses herself, prepared to fight her partner if she has to. This is it. This is her limit. She will never be right in the head again if she is to be part of the incoming horror show. She grips Mors's hand like a vice and shakes her head so hard she might break her own neck. Cold metallic visage cooly looks back at her.
"OKAY! Okay…Fine, you'll get what you want! Just…don't do anything rash…" Yang lets out a breath she's been holding and she almost let her strength leave her body.
"I will not. Do not try to out-maneuver us. You will not be able to incapacitate us quickly enough. Do not force me to take extreme measures."
"We won't. A cruiser is being prepared and filled up right now. What is the status of your hostage?"
"You will see for yourself. Send in two, and only two, people with a stretcher. They will carry her out alongside us."
"You can't expect us to send in more hostages! Look, you sounded like you genuinely wanted to help us out, I get it. But our staff are genuinely scared of going in there unguarded. How ab-"
"Right arm." Mors declares as he plunges the tip of his knife into a gaping wound on the woman's right shoulder. Weaken as she is, somehow the cop can still find strength within her to scream her throat hoarse. Yang feels biles rise up her throat as she desperately grabs his wrist to pull it away. He's definitely as strong as her, but she felt no resistance from him. He let her stop him, probably even counted on it.
"WAIT! Oum's Mercy! Fucking wait!" The negotiator's voice is on the verge of breaking down.
Mors shows her his knife. On the tip of it is a grenade fragment. "Thank you." He whispers, for the first time some real warmth seeps back into his voice. "Just a bit longer, braveheart." He knows she's not coping well. This bastard…
"Two people and a stretcher, now."
"Okay! Okay… Two Emergency Responders are going in there right now."
There are sounds of shuffling feet. Mors sheaths his knife and pulls out his peculiar handgun. It's actually closer to a portable cannon than a gun. Its bore is the size of that of a grenade launcher, its barrel has an honest to god hydraulic recoil you usually see on artilleries attached. The thing has a rifle grip, and an arbalest's trigger, a diamond shaped chamber that holds only four rounds. Everything about it promises to break the shooter arm right off if he's not strong enough and implies it is used to shoot something much bigger, or stronger than a normal human. And two very normal-looking, very terrified humans have just rounded their cover and walked right in front of the gun.
One in his mid-twenties, and one closer to his fifties. They tense up immediately when they see what's pointing at them. The young one subtly puts himself between Mors and his colleague. She has a feeling it won't matter.
"Tend to her, please." Mors orders curtly. After some hesitation, the younger man nods resolutely and moves to kneel down beside the policewoman. 'Stay with me', 'You're going to be alright', Yang hears him murmur. The woman, maybe finally seeing the way out of her predicament, starts to sob quietly. Guilt once again threatens to consume Yang. She's the bad guy.
They get the woman onto the stretcher quickly enough, and the entourage slowly move out of the cover and towards the alley entrance, with the Vale people moving in the front, Mors and Yang follow closely behind, Mors's gun trained on their hostages. He quietly tells her to watch their back, and she complies.
Eventually the dim alleyway turns into an open street blazing with red and blue flashing lights. Right at the exit, Yang turns around to see they're practically swarmed by VPD, every single gun pointed straight at them. It's not exactly intimidating, but she has some mild anxiety that her face is not covered enough.
"Stop." Mors says as he reaches out and grabs onto the older man's shoulder. Everyone tenses up, and someone jumps the trigger and barks off a shot. Yang hands twitched towards her shotgun, but she held back when she saw Mors merely leaned to the side and literally dodged the bullet. He has no Aura, but it's clear this guy's reflex is somehow at Huntsman level.
"HOLD YOUR FIRE! HOLD YOUR FIRE!" A bald man with a disheveled suit yells out. He carefully approaches them and stops short at two meters. He points to a police SUV. "Sorry about that. There's your ride. Let us take our people and you get on that damn thing and go. We're done dealing with you tonight."
Mors makes no move. He turns his head slowly to look around, then locked onto an ambulance parked quite a distance away from their car. It must've been prep to receive the female cop.
"Bring that ambulance next to our car please."
"Wha-"
"Now." Mors pulls out his knife with zero hesitation. She sees several people strain against the trigger, but no one fires. Stress is palpable upon everyone, except for the iron statue that is the cause of it.
"Okay! Okay…" The bald man nods to somebody, and an officer speaks into his comms. The ambulance backs up, turns around and drives up next to their escape car, where it stops. Yang slowly starts to understand what her accomplice is trying to do. He turns his head slightly at her.
"No change, you drive." He confirms her theory. His instruction was vague, and could've been taken in any way, but he's trusted her to be smart enough to understand.
"Move to the ambulance please." Mors orders and their entourage step fully out of the alley, her covering their rear. Yang has half expected all hell to break loose. But there is only scorching glare from the bald guy and gun barrels following them keenly. As they reach the ambulance, the medic men put down the stretcher and the younger man opens the cabinet door. They are about to pick the woman up again when Mors put a hand on the young man's shoulder.
"Stop." The two men look at him, confused and terrified. Then, totally unannounced, Mors flicks his gun at a window of a building on the side of the street.
BANG!
Ding.
Holy shit that thing is loud! It was like a fucking bomb went off next to her. She knows for certain the medical men and the woman's ears are all bleeding right now. Mors has dropped a smoke nade he picked up from Oum knows where, moved around their 3 hostages and dived into the amb's cabinet. Yang had moved as soon as she saw Mors move his gun. She yanked out the driver's door and roughly pulled the driver out onto the ground, hopped into the seat, shifted gear and stepped on the pedal. By the time the smoke has gotten big enough they are already speeding away, or rather, deeper into the lion's den.
And it's just getting fucking started.
A/N: Holy shit this arc is way bigger than I thought. I would've gone further but this seems like a good stopping point. An opening act if you will. In some sense it's pretty liberating to go off the established plotlines, but at the same time I'm worried this'll make the future arcs seem lackluster in comparison. Well, at least Blake's and the stolen mech arcs, the other ones seem intense enough. But oh well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. And it's not certain how this arc will close out just yet.
The NRP4 stands for нарастающая ручная пушка, which prolly means Escalating Hand Cannon. More on this piece will be described later.
RnR.