The team had been sitting and chatting for no more than a few minutes when Vishtar skidded around the corner of the entrance tunnel into the rec-area.
"Hey! Noobies! Wanna earn some rep? CATCH!" with that, the mining radio held in his right hand was flung underarm towards the team where it was effortlessly caught by Aswon. "Get to the entrance – FAST, I'll brief you on the way." A set of keys were flung from the other hand, and caught just as unerringly by the tribesman.
The team pushed back from the table and hustled out of the cave into the large approach tunnel, breaking into a jog while they listened as Vishtar's voice burst from the speaker.
"We got a hot target inbound to the quarry. He's called in, saying he's in trouble – got active shooters on his tail. The rest of his team is down, and he's not sure if he can make it back on his own. He doesn't wanna bring trouble to the door – like I briefed you guys – but he's got a solid rep and he's calling in a marker. There's a vehicle just outside the entrance, get up to the gate ASAP, I'll have that open. The gate guard will NOT engage in combat unless they move to breach the perimeter."
The team hustled down the tunnel, Aswon holding the radio up at shoulder level and the rest of the team forming a blob around him as they ran through the tunnel, passing from pools of light into the patches of darkness and back.
"Engage the enemy, perform an extraction of the target, neutralise any threat to the quarry and then get back under cover. Try not to bring trouble back into the quarry – but beyond that, we don't really care what happens. Clear?"
"Received and understood," Aswon replied. They'd only got as far as the main tunnel, and the sounds of their feet slapping on the rough surface of the rock echoed up and down the chamber oddly. Already though, a couple of the team were breathing hard as they ran, and Aswon thought about the distances involved. A hand reached over towards Hunter to attract his attention.
"I make it about two hundred metres to the entrance from here, and a good seven hundred, maybe seven fifty to the truck – agree?" Hunter's eyes narrowed for a moment as he thought about it and probably ran some calculations on his cyberware, before he nodded in agreement. Aswon turned to look at Marius, but didn't get a chance to say anything.
"I know, I know. Here. Keys to the truck. Gimme the other keys. See you there. Don't scratch her." Marius spoke in short bursts, between deep breaths as he tried to keep up the pace. Aswon swapped keys with him, and then he peeled off to the left to cross the huge tunnel and head towards the distant pod six, at the far end of the tunnel network. He heard Hunter accelerate to keep pace with him, while the rest of the team kept going down towards the entrance, formed up around Marius.
Marius, Kai, Shimazu and Tads pushed on, running as fast as they could, fighting to control their breathing and make sure they didn't stumble on the undulating surface. At least they should have more than enough time to get their breath back on the drive up the quarry road in whatever vehicle they were going to find. They closed on the entrance, and burst out through the illusion covering the massive break in the cliff face, spotting the mining truck to the side of the entrance from the faint overspill of mercury lamps dotted high on the quarry superstructure.
As Marius climbed in he spotted the datajack port under a weathershield and smiled. Moments later he had pulled out the small jack and length of fibre cabling and had peeled back the jelly-like protective cover from the port. It wasn't like being jacked in properly – but it was still better than using the manual controls. A virtual dashboard displayed in front of his face and he mentally jabbed the starter button, feeling the big diesel engine roar into life underneath him.
Shimazu jumped into the other front seat, while Kai and Tads climbed into the back, and with a lurch and spray of loose rocks, the vehicle rocketed forwards as Marius hit the accelerator hard. He swiftly worked up through the gears and they skidded onto the concealed runway, the back end of the truck fishtailing as Marius slewed the vehicle round. The vehicle was open-topped, low and squat, with bare metal surfaces and minimal padding – clearly a very practical working vehicle, not something built for comfort, style or speed.
As Marius coaxed every bit of power and performance he could get out of the engine, the others checked their equipment and the vehicle. Shimazu had his sword and his huge pistol, Kai carried his taser and Tads had her staff with her – but very little else. Tads at least had her magic to use – if she could see a target, she could engage it. They took a moment to check on the vehicle, and fastened the rudimentary safety belts as they shot up the slope towards the ridge. The vehicle was sturdy, and had a number of eyebolts and fixing points scattered around the back of the load bed and the frame – at a guess it was designed for assisting with stuck vehicles or dragging heavy loads around the rough terrain of the quarry where a bit of mechanical assistance was needed. It had no roof, roll bars, doors or windows though, and they felt a little exposed as they sped through the night air.
Back in the tunnel, Aswon glanced over at Hunter.
"I'll go and get started, you grab the gear and unhitch the trailer when you get there, yeah?" Hunter was about to give a pithy response about not being slow – but then Aswon accelerated. It was the first time he'd seen the lanky African really going for it, and it was a surprising sight. Despite being a strapping and beefy Orc, Hunter knew he was in shape and pretty quick. Indeed, he often got the drop on people that were surprised that someone his size could move that well. But he felt like he was suddenly standing still, as Aswon rocketed off. It was like he'd thrown a switch to engage the turbo – the sudden burst of speed was staggering. As he watched him disappear into the darkness, the speed didn't drop, it was just a ground consuming lope that ate the distance and opened up a gap between them that grew and grew. Hunter made a mental note not to ever engage Aswon in any kind of ground race, wondering if all the hunters and warriors of Aswon's tribe were as fast across the ground. If so, it might explain how they could defend their land against technologically superior enemies…
The mining cart rocketed up the slope, the engine screaming and the rev-counter well up into the red area as Marius thrashed the engine hard. It wasn't like he was going to have to do the maintenance on it, and Vishtar had said "quickly"… As they crossed the peak of the slope, there was a moment of lightness where all of their stomachs lifted slightly, before the truck came crashing down on the road again, and they started the short descent. As promised the heavyweight gate to the quarry was slid back open, and the guard stood by the side of the hut, somewhat redundantly waving them through.
The road was wide, designed for the huge quarry trucks to easily pass side by side. About twenty metres of straight road, then a gentle curve to the right, the road dropping down the side of the hill at a gentle couple of degrees for a hundred meters, then turning in a wide hairpin back towards them, dropping further as the road snaked back and forth down the hillside. It reduced the grade of the climb significantly, to something even the most run-down of heavy transport could manage – but it did make the route long and slow.
The team peered ahead, into the darkness. Aided by the floodlights on the top of the fence and the guard tower, the saw the switchback road end and turn towards the town, the wide road then going arrow straight towards the light industrial estate and then into the town itself. The glow of streetlights from the town showed movement in the distance – a small commuter car weaving and dodging as it sped down the road towards them, and what looked like a small group of motorbikes giving chase. As they watched, they saw bright light for a moment, as the muzzle flash lit up the front of a weapon. The car swerved again, but they saw sparks light up the back of the cab for a moment.
All of them glanced at the road snaking back and forth down the hill, evaluating that against the speed of the vehicles closing from town and the likely position to intercept. It didn't look good.
"Hang on tight," Marius called, his words whipped out of his mouth by the roaring air as they accelerated down the hill. The others grabbed hold of handles, rails or bits of seat as best they could, wondering just how tight Marius was going to take the corner. The engine screamed as Marius pushed it hard, and they tightened their grip as they continued straight on, leaving the turn later and later.
Then it dawned on the three of them. Marius wasn't intending to turn.
"Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!" The words were torn out of Kai's mouth as the mining vehicle went airborne. Marius had found just the right place on the side of the road to launch from, and they flew through the air over the mass of rocks and compacted earth that made up the sculpted hillside. There was a crunch as they landed, the shock absorbers and tyres flexing to their limits to absorb the impact, but Marius was already twisting the wheels and redirecting them, bouncing the vehicle from one rock outcropping to another. It wasn't driving, and it wasn't quite surfing either – and it mostly relied on Marius not getting it wrong even once otherwise they'd flip and be a smear down the hillside. But instead of taking the two hundred metre route down and back along the switchback, they instead covered the thirty to forty metres down the steep off-road section between them.
In the back, Tads muttered to herself, her eyes closed as she tried to ignore the violent movement of the world around her. Air or mountain, air or mountain… mountain spirit. Yeah, something to smooth the road out a little, and help protect the vehicle. She gathered the energy required and summoned a powerful guardian to her, feeling the potent mass of the mountain spirit next to her in astral space. A frown crossed her face as something struck her, something not quite right. Something about the spirit didn't feel "normal". The thought was driven from her mind though as the truck lurched into another boulder and shook all of them about violently.
As the truck bounced off into a third boulder, her head flew back and forth like a rag doll. For just a split second she saw the reflective tinted windows of the car and at least two of the bikers chasing after it. Her astral sight flickered for a moment, just long enough to see the auras of the thugs on the motorbikes – but more importantly not the driver of the car – and a bolt of power exploded over them. She couldn't see the effects as her head was driven forwards by the punishing jolt as the car slammed into another large boulder half-buried in the hill, but she heard the faint metallic noises as bikes slid across the tarmac indicating that she'd been successful to at least some degree.
In the front seat, Shimazu made a grab for Marius, grabbing him by the trouser belt and dragging him down to the seat. In their haste to get going, he'd neglected to fasten his own seatbelt – and been too preoccupied with trying to get every last erg of power from the engine on the way up the quarry. Every bounce the vehicle made threatened to send him flying out of the cab, and he seemed to spend more time in the air than he did on the seat. Shimazu struggled to drag him down and pin him in place, aware that if the delicate fibre optic came out of the jackport on the dashboard, they were all as good as dead. He spared a glance to the front, timing his next lunge with the bounce of the vehicle and managed to spear the seatbelt in his hand, dragging it across to hold firmly in his hands as they hit the next obstruction and hurtled into the air again.
Back in the caverns, Aswon arrived at the truck, hitting the alarm deactivation and vaulting towards the cab door in one graceful leap. He slid over towards the middle of the front bench seat, and then started to fuss with the 'trode net. It was hard work – a close fitting web of electronic sensors designed to pick up delicate neurological signals and transmit them with a high degree of fidelity was not really that compatible with a massive mane of dreadlocks, and there was a good amount of swearing and pushing involved in getting things lined up.
He heard Hunter arrive behind him, and felt the trailer unhitch as he got the sensors online and the 'trode net settled properly. Moving carefully, he swung the truck around and headed out, being careful to keep out of the edges and away from the rock formations. At least the tunnels were plenty big enough down here for him, and he didn't have to worry too much. While he concentrated on driving, he was vaguely aware of Hunter moving between the crew area and the cab, bringing forth guns and armour, laying them out under the roof hatch.
As they burst through the illusion and into the quarry, he put his mental foot down and the truck roared and lurched up the hill. He spared a moment to look at the internal sensors now he was on the runway with plenty of room to each side, and smiled to himself as he saw that Hunter had grabbed both of his rifles, along with his own assault rifle and a LAW. Hunter was fiddling with something as well – the controls for the colour changing paint installed on the truck. A moment later it rippled in the night air and then settled on a vibrant yellow-orange mix that matched a lot of the other heavy equipment nearby.
Now halfway down the switchbacks, and still being thrown violently forwards and back with each impact, the lead team saw a low slung muscle car speeding down the road from the town, chasing after the bikers and closing quickly on their target car.
"I'm going to try and fool them with an illusion, I can't get a clear lock on them!" screamed Tads. She held on as tight as she could, then shaped the power to form an illusion of a sudden fountain of water erupting from the slope at the bottom of the hill, turning into a torrent of mud that washed down to the road towards the new arrival. She also called on the spirit, figuring they were far enough down the slope now to make it on their own.
"Please, go help keep the person in the car safe, save them from the attack from the guys on motorbikes and his friends!" It wasn't the best or most succinctly worded request, but the spirit seemed to understand, and with a blur he was off. Seconds later, the motorbike seemed to suddenly flip in the air, as if the front brakes had just locked on hard. The rider vaulted through the air, arms and legs wind milling, until they landed on their head and crumpled into a painful-looking roll, sliding across the road in a tumble.
The car, presumably driven by their target, continued to weave and dodge on the road, but was travelling slower than before – its speed now barely forty kilometres per hour. Closer now, they saw that it was a Ford E-commute, a brand of ultra-compact electric commuter cars designed for city centre living. Well, there couldn't be more than two people in there, so at least they'd have room in their vehicle for the rescue!
A long burst of automatic gunfire came from the rear of the muscle car, and the E-commute suddenly swerved as bullets chewed through the rear frame. It slowed further, seeming to have lost nearly all of its power, and started to drift around the curve. Shimazu grunted with effort, and finally managed to pull the seatbelt far enough over that it mated with the receiver, and with a reassuring click, Marius was secured into position, just as they went airborne again as they started on the last steep descent and closed on the confrontation.
As Tads' spirit destroyed the last of the bikers, sending another body hurtling to the ground in a painful and spine cracking fashion, the muscle car steered over slightly, clearly aiming for the E-commute and it wandered around the curve. One side of the car dipped out of their view, while the other turned more towards them – and whoever was in the back seat thrust a gun barrel out of the window and fired rounds towards them.
Three rounds cleared the top of the engine and smashed into Marius, but the distance was long for whatever weapon they'd been fired from, and the rounds thunked into his body armour and were stopped by the dense plating. He was probably going to have a bruise the next day, but they did no appreciable damage to him, and he kept the car pointing straight towards their foes.
A split second later, the front window wound down as well, and a much larger gun barrel poked out of the darkness. Reacting with the speed of a viper, Shimazu unclipped his seat-belt and thrust himself in front of Marius, rising up to put his body in-between the muscle car and target. The auto-shotgun fired, the huge booming retort bouncing off the industrial buildings to the side of the road, and Shimazu grimaced in pain as the dense solid slugs ripped into his body. The heavier projectiles and greater power of the rounds smashed the ceramic plates of his body armour and slammed into him, and he felt blood dribbling from the wounds, along with sharp messages of pain from his ribs and flank. Still – they hadn't shot Marius, and their vehicle was still in control…
Kai watched as the spirit summoned by Tads leapt up from the crumpled remains of the last motorbike and flew over to the muscle car, landing in the centre of the roof and then raising both hands in the air like an angry ape. A second later it materialised as a physical being and started to smash its hands down on the roof of the car, over and over again, letting loose a howl of fury.
The muscle car twitched, then suddenly entered a spin as the driver – already distracted by the apparent mudslide rushing towards them – was further distracted by some great animalistic force smashing repeatedly on the roof. They twisted the wheel, locking the car into a spin and sending it skating across the road in a manoeuvre clearly not desired by anyone in the car.
At the top of the hill, Aswon slammed on the brakes, and all six wheels locked up in response to his lack of experience with driving the truck, throwing him forwards into the dash. Hunter appeared to have been prepared for the sudden stop though, and had the hatch thrown open in record time, and was stood pressed against one side, sighting down his rifle scope towards the bottom of the hill. The scene swam into focus as he panned around – the faltering electric car, the remains of the bikes that had been wiped out by their unconscious riders, the still revving bike with the locked-up front wheel. He saw the open window of the muscle car and started to draw a bead on them, allowing a little lead for the distance, wind and elevation change. In his eye, the scene was overlaid by a set of carets that grew closer together, then suddenly blazed green. A cybernetic command was sent to the rifle, and three rounds of hi-velocity rifle ammunition erupted from the barrel and flew towards their target, sliding through the open window and slamming into the body inside the car.
Marius cursed, not realising what Shimazu was up to, and peered around him, spotting more bikers riding on the road out of town, catching up with the muscle car. He revved the engine and aimed straight for them, planning to ram them with the heavier vehicle and crush them under his weight.
As Marius straightened the vehicle, Kai unclipped and climbed to the side of the vehicle, judged the speed of their ride and then threw himself off, legs pumping as he absorbed the forwards momentum. He had to roll in the end, but came out none the worse for wear and sprinted towards the E-commerce.
"Keep the attackers busy, I'm going to rescue the target!"
Aswon had picked up his rifle, and was sighting down the long scope now as well, pressed up against the other side of the hatch to Hunter. He watched the muscle car spin, waiting for the right moment, and as the car's momentum carried it around, he took a few deep, calming breaths. One. Two. Crack! The supersonic round flew straight and true from the rifle, slamming into the neck of the other rear passenger in the car before exploding violently as the explosive charge detonated. He saw some of the mist and flesh explode out of the window, clearly identified through the light amplifying scope.
That left only the driver and passenger in the muscle car – and then the new group of bikers who were now close enough to be in the fight. They all seemed to have machine pistols or small sub machine guns, and were firing them in the general direction of the mining truck – most missed, but a few did manage to hit and stitched across the front of the vehicle, embedding themselves in the radiator and lights. Shimazu fired off a shot into the darkness, but the motion of their own vehicle combined with the erratic path of the bikers sent his shot wide.
Kai made his way over to the E-commute and managed to stop its motion, then pulled open the door. A single figure was inside, bleeding profusely. His flesh was pale and blood slopped back and forth in the footwell. He reached in and found two of the chest wounds that were pumping out blood, and fixed them by simple expedient of pushing in a gloved finger into the exit wound.
"Team, target is down and bleeding out, need a medkit and Tads here, soon."
Behind him the muscle car swept around, still spinning across the tarmac. The heavy combat shotgun pointed towards Kai, aiming at his unsuspecting back. A moment later the shotgun dropped, as a heavy round from Aswon punched through from the other side of the car, dropping the wielder.
Tads climbed up onto the side and tried to replicate Kai's apparently easy dismount, but didn't take into account how quickly the mining truck was moving, nor how much focus she'd lost from summoning the spirit and casting the stunning spell. When she landed, her feet were too close together and didn't move, and the laws of physics took over. Her body tipped forwards, and she face-planted into the ground – reflexively, her arms raised to protect her face, and she managed to get away with only cuts, bruises and a split lip – but it took her a few seconds to get herself picked up and back on her feet.
Overhead more rounds cracked downrange as Hunter picked off first one biker, then another. He fired three round bursts with precise trigger control from his heavily modified rifle, shooting them from way outside their own effective range. Lying almost prone on the top of the truck, his rifle and body position ate the recoil generated and let him move calmly from one aggressor to the next, fire, confirm, move on, fire, confirm, move on.
In the car, Kai reached a decision – and with his free hand fumbled into his inside pocket, pulling out the 8cm wide disk contained inside. He grabbed it with his teeth then used the now free hand to rip open the packet and pulled out the fabric disk contained inside, before spitting away the wrapper. He repeated the move, this time peeling off the protective plastic cover strip, then carefully grabbing the waffle-pattern backing and thrusting the trauma patch onto the chest of the casualty. Moments later the powerful doses of drugs started to dissolve through the skin, aided by accelerants and precursors, distributing morphine, stimulants, suppressants, clotting factors and a whole host of other cutting-edge medicines around the body.
Carefully he withdrew his fingers, watching one last reflexive pump of blood push out a thick viscous deep red blob, then the bleeding halted. He carefully moved the head back to maintain the airway, and worked to release the seatbelt, allowing the body to move if required. He spied a pistol in a small holster at the man's waist, and thrown onto the back seat was a rifle – something that looked halfway between the two that Aswon had.
As Hunter took out the last of the bikers approaching, the scene calmed slightly and the team took stock. The target was reached, though not secure, they had a good half dozen bikers down, and one crashed muscle car – possibly with live enemy in it. A roar of engines alerted them to more action, and they watched as a Bulldog step-van emerged from the town, heading down the road towards them.
"I'm getting my big gun – if that's the security version, we'll need it!" Aswon ducked back into the truck, laying down his small rifle and pulling up the monster fifty cal. Once he was back, Hunter dropped down in his place, snagging the LAW in case it was required.
"Marius? Marius! Are you heading to ram that transport?"
"They shot at me!"
"Marius, don't – that thing could have as much armour as our truck if it's the full security package, and also pop up turrets like on your drone. Break off, let us deal with them!" Aswon called over the radio. Next to him Hunter popped up again, and extended the LAW, then started to carefully sight down the hill. From the muttering under his breath, it seemed he too wanted Marius and Shimazu out of the blast radius to let them engage freely.
Marius snarled and continued to hold his course. Shimazu gave him a look, and realised that the strange red mist had descended once more, someone had looked at a vehicle funny, and Marius had taken it personally. Instead he grabbed the seatbelts and double checked them, then looked around for additional padding to try and cushion the blow he was sure was coming.
Tads had managed to pick herself up and made her way over to the ruined commuter car, and examined the body. He had some cyberware in, but not too much, and didn't seem to have any talent himself – she was pretty certain that if he was trying to hide it, the attempt would have failed when he had dropped unconscious. She started to channel energy, and the familiar golden glow filled the car as she went to work.
Back at the top of the hill, Hunter snarled and muttered under his breath as he watched Marius get closer to the bulldog van, so close that he was well inside the potential blast radius. He dropped the LAW back through the hatch, grabbing his assault rifle again and shouldering the weapon firmly, trying to reacquire the sight picture before anything went wrong.
"I got this. Standby," Aswon spoke quietly, his concentration clearly on the shot. He took a deep breath and held it, and then when his heart beat paused, squeezed the trigger. The 12.7mm round thundered out of the barrel at over eight hundred and fifty metres per second, crossing the distance between them quickly. The heavy round had barely begun to drop, and smashed into the front fairing of the Bulldog, through the 75mm square lightly armoured grille over the radiator air inlet – smashing through the mechanical parts quickly and contemptuously – and then the inertia fuse on the high explosive portion of the round triggered, sending a sizeable explosion through the internal pipes – constrained by the armour that was supposed to protect them.
The damage was obvious, as the van slewed to the side and black smoke started to pour out of the exhaust – clearly something important had been hit. As the van skidded around, it bought the open side door into view and revealed a goon standing in the doorway, his machine gun ready. He fired at Marius, hitting him across the top of the chest before the recoil sent further rounds punching through the sky. Once again the concealed body armour saved him from harm – though not from further irritation.
Marius aimed for the back quarter of the Bulldog, aiming to catch it in a ram. He was so intent on the move that he barely heard the massive report of Shimazu's hand cannon firing – and once more missing. The van roared past him, and he reefed the mining truck round in a tight turn after it that would have surprised the manufacturers.
Kai pulled out the mining radio from the pocket that Aswon had put it in before he sprinted off into the darkness.
"Vishtar, hey, this is Kai. Do you have a medic on the base?"
"Don't be such a noob. Of course we have a medic – we sent you out to go deal with it. Now get on with it." Kai looked down at the radio with a frown.
"Well, I guess we're not getting any help from them, then." He examined the body again, and saw that a little colour had returned – Tads had managed to pour enough life back into the body that there was no immediate danger of death, and they looked more than good enough to move now.
A burst of gunfire from down the road accompanied by a cry of pain over the team radio frequency made him look up though – just in time to see Shimazu reeling back in his seat with blood sprouting across his shirt as he took a burst on the armour from short range.
Up on the hillside, Aswon adjusted, then called out over the team radio.
"Taking out rear left tyre. Stand by to ram rear right. Sending in 3, 2, 1…" The boom was louder this time, hot gasses starting to fill the silencer on the front of the rifle. But once again the aim was true, and this time the round exploded in the tyre, shredding it and sending bits of run-flat rubber all over the street. The van sagged to one side, and moments later Marius rammed it, finishing off the motion that had been started by the explosion of the wheel. The van tipped over, sliding down the road on sheer momentum with sparks showering from the sides and rear as the metal scraped along the road surface.
Marius got control of the mining truck, which was looking distinctly worse for wear now, and pulled away from the bulldog, aiming for Kai and the rescue target. As he did, Shimazu twisted in his seat, and looked back towards town.
"Dammit, another car, and some more bikes. Don't these guys know when they're beaten?"
"Ok, maybe it's time to pull it back. Marius come pick us and rescue boy up, Aswon and Hunter – some suppression fire would be lovely. Tads – do you have a spirit still?"
"It should be here… oh my." Tads spied the spirit launching itself onto the side of the bulldog step van, cracking its knuckles. "I'm not sure it's my spirit any more, if it ever was. It's still attacking the bad guys though."
Up on the hill, Hunter slapped in a fresh magazine to his rifle and started searching for the next blob of bad guys, while Aswon lowered the 50 back into the cab, grabbing the Purdy instead. It should do fine against the smaller vehicles, and from experience he knew the next shot would be deafening.
As Marius and Shimazu closed on the commuter car, Tads helped support the body of their rescue target, while Kai held the target's rifle in his off hand, supporting the other side, moving to a position where Marius could reach them.
A flash lit up out from the darkness, then a quick succession of three flashes. A half second later a crack, then three gunshots reached them. Another half second and they heard the sounds of two motorbikes coming to unpleasant ends from behind them. Over the team comms, they could hear Aswon and Hunter speaking in calm, quiet, clipped tones.
"Switching, biker on left, red hoody."
"Roger, taking the one in the blue, right side"
Gunshots rang out again, as they coldly and professionally serviced targets, trying to dissuade the approaching reinforcements from getting involved.
The back door of the Bulldog burst open, and four very stunned and woozy men emerged, coughing and staggering about, clearly disorientated. They had weapons in their hands, but probably just because they'd been holding on to them and hadn't had the presence of mind to let go. Not that it mattered to Marius. There were targets in his field of view and he was driving a vehicle.
Shimazu flinched as they headed straight towards the Bulldog van, looking for all the world like they were going to ram it square on. At the last moment, Marius twisted the vehicle, using it like a club to utterly demolish the staggering opponents, smashing them into the armoured doors and killing or incapacitating all of them, before continuing to close on Kai's position. As he glanced behind them he saw the mountain spirit called by Tads pulling the driver out of the window, before repeatedly dashing him into the side of the vehicle, the body floppy and crushed as the bones snapped under the fearsome assault.
The ramming assault had taken some time though – time it turned out they could not really afford. The second car had closed the distance, threading between the crashed bikes and accelerating hard. It looked similar, though not identical to the first muscle car – a low, lean and sporty vehicle with a powerful engine that drove it forward at great speed.
A figure staggered out of the front of the Bulldog, poking his way through the shattered windscreen. He was on the far side of the vehicle to the pair on the hill, and nobody else had sight of him, so Shimazu aimed carefully and then shot him in the leg, sending him crashing to the ground and crawling back into the van for cover. He hunched down, and opened the massive hand cannon, emptying out the spent shells and rooting around in his pocket for some reloads.
As the new muscle car approached, a figure leant out of the window to the rear, raising an assault rifle to their shoulder and then firing off a rapid three round burst at the hunched shoulders of Marius as he drove away from them. The high velocity slugs impacted, shattering some of ceramic plates in his base layer and driving fragments into his back, causing him to cry out, though mostly in anger. A second figure joined the first, leaning out of the opposite window but stitching the back of the truck with fire. The engine missed a stroke, then another, and Marius felt the power drop off, and one of the wheels started to kick. He compensated, but their vehicle was badly damaged, and he wasn't sure how far it would take them now.
Shimazu finished reloading and turned in his seat, aiming back behind them to take on their pursuers. He twisted round just in time to see Hunter take out the figure on the left with two neat bursts from his rifle, while Aswon took out the guy on the right. Jubilant, he turned to let Marius know, and missed the passenger window opening a crack, and a pistol being thrust out.
The firer could see out of the window, and adjusted his aim slightly, his wrist twisting the gun until the barrel pointed just where he wanted it. In his cyber eyes, the targeting grid signalled a good lock as the SmartLink computers signified that all variables had been taken into account. The cybernetic command was sent, and the pistol fired.
The special Teflon coated bronze cored ammo struck the body armour, slicing through it with little noticeable effect and driving into the flesh below. Shimazu gave out a cry of pain as he dropped to the side, blood spurting from the wound on his side and pain lancing through his body.
The muscle car skidded around, sliding to a halt – forming a barrier on the road. The mining cart puttered to a halt near Kai and Tads, making strange noises and shaking violently from the damage taken. For a moment, the shooting stopped, and the air grew still.
The team looked over at the dark and sleek car, guessing there were at least one, if not two enemies still in there – and that at least one of them was packing ammunition that would punch through everything they were wearing. Conversely, the driver and passenger in the car could look around and see the devastation around them, the bodies thrown all over the road, the dozen wrecked motorbikes, the security vehicle on its side looking more like a mobile abattoir than a response vehicle.
A wet squelchy noise broke the silence, as the mutilated body of the driver was dropped by the mountain spirit to the ground, landing like a bag of offal on the hard tarmac, the distressed skin burst and sent blood and organs splattering all over the road.
Silence returned, as the tense standoff between the attackers and the team stretched out, second by second.