As the door was swung shut and the sound of the monsoon was reduced to the background noise of rain striking the roof of the tilt-wing, Kai looked around at the others, illuminated in the dull yellow light of the troop bay.
"So – we've got the bikes in here haven't we? I'm not sure we're going to get a taxi out here."
"Sure… they're buried in there, somewhere…." Aswon pointed at the mound of cargo in the rear section. What had once been a workable solution was now a massive pile of gear with barely any room to move. On top of the bikes and drones, the fuel took up the most space, but then there were fresh supplies of beer, the new weapons, piles of grenades and a host of other cargo that had been stashed wherever they could find space and lashing points to hold it securely. "Are you thinking of riding into town then?"
"Well, I do know what I am doing." The voice came over the speakers, but they could see Marius stretching in the pilot seat. "And that is mostly going to be sleeping or resting."
"I'd just like to point out that I can't ride a bike. So unfortunately you'll have to find someone else to drag out into the rain." Aswon grinned at Kai, showing the edge of his fangs.
"Come on now, folks – where's your taste for adventure and exploration?"
"Staying inside the chopper, that's where my taste of adventure is. Remember, I'm a witch. I don't want to be burnt at the stake or something."
"But – we have a secret mission. Surely you can't pass up an opportunity like that?"
"No. No, no, NO."
"Ok, so who else can ride, again? I know a couple of you are dab hands on two wheels."
"I've been flying all day, and I'm not moving again until I've had some rest and we're moving on. Forget it."
"And other than being a witch, I'm not going unless we're all going. I don't like the idea that there's bunches of slave traders working the area. Unless we're travelling in a large group, no thanks."
"Shimaaaaaazuuuu?" Kai looked at him hopefully. "You can ride a bike, can't you?"
"I'll come with you into town. But I'm not chopping people's hands off. And I'm not getting on a bike in this weather. It can't be that far to walk, can it?"
They checked the map, and found it was only about a kilometre to the edge of town. With the driving rain, no matter how they travelled they were likely to get soaked, so it really didn't make much sense to go mining through the cargo area for the bikes, as they'd all get soaked if they dropped the back ramp and unloaded stuff to get at the cargo buried at the back.
"Fine! Fine, we'll walk. So, it's just Shimazu and I then, is it?" Nobody else moved or even looked the slightest bit interested in wandering around in the monsoon. "Ok, well, we'll keep in touch and shout if we run into any problems. But while we're gone, can we do a thorough check over the new weapons – electronically and astrally – and make sure they're clean?"
"I hardly think they're going to have put trackers on the guns – not if they've just been pulled out of an armoury with hundreds of weapons." Aswon remonstrated. "I mean, if it's a decent tracker, it'd be worth more than a lot of the weapons. But if that's the alternative to going out in that crap – I suppose we can give them a good look over."
Kai and Shimazu pulled on their coats, wondering if the waterproofing had been designed with tropical monsoons in mind, then headed for the door. As they slid open the panel, the roar of the rain intensified, and the light wind blew in a sheet of water that pelted them in the face and caused grumbles from those inside the chopper as water was driven into them. They hopped down quickly and slid the door closed, and then started to head north east, following the road that ran around the harbour.
Inside, Marius unbuckled and moved into the rear area, and started to carefully pick through the cargo area, working towards the top of the pile where the vector thrust drone was stowed.
"Whatcha doing Marius?" Aswon asked idly?
"It's Kai. He's going off to investigate. I'm getting the drone ready for when he does something stupid and gets into trouble and needs rescuing…"
"I….wish I could say that you're not being fair. I mean, he has got Shimazu with him?"
"Yes, but that just means that once he's got into trouble, someone is going to get killed, and then they will have to deal with that, too…"
"Here, let me help you with that pile." Aswon reached up to secure some of the loose cargo, using his height and long arms to stop things being caught on the drone as Marius wrestled it down and started to assemble it into flight configuration.
Tads and Hunter meanwhile grabbed the guns, ammunition and other supplies and moved them onto the newly empty seats where Shimazu and Kai had been, and started to slowly and methodically check over them – just in case. It was better than staring at the bulkheads anyway, and Tads could use it as additional time to try and train Vadim up on the skills of astral investigation.
Outside, Shimazu and Kai walked side by side into the driving rain, sploshing through the puddles and streams of water that snaked over the ground as the torrential downpour carved its way through the landscape. Heading east along the north side of the dock they could see the brighter patch in the rainstorm that showed the location of the port facility, where massive lights were festooned over the cranes and high posts, illuminating the facility. From here though, it was just an indistinct blur of light obscured by the monsoon – but it gave them a good reference point.
They trudged on, quickly realising that their wet weather gear might be good for the average rainfall of Europe, but it hadn't been tested with the crushing pressure they found here. Water started to seep through the seams at the shoulders, and collected in the edge of the hood, trickling down the inside of their coats and sending water spreading through their base layers. It didn't take long for Shimazu to just give up entirely and pull the hood down, rearranging it around his neck to try and shed the water away and stop it filtering inside – though his head was soaked within seconds, he at least had his peripheral vision back and could hear and sense around him without the hood blocking his flanks and rear.
Fifteen minutes later they had passed the port and were entering the city itself, starting to work their way along the wide and roughly-tarmacked roads of the industrial district that surrounded the port. Large warehouses and manufacturing plants lay alongside the road to either side, goods yards piled high with containers, all surrounded by high fences and barbed wire. Security, though, seemed reasonably light – or at least what they could see of it. Cameras were old and sparse, locks looked primitive and only a few places had guard dogs or the illuminated huts of a security point.
The town was quiet and the roads pretty much deserted. Plenty of places had lights on, but nobody was out and about, it seemed – very occasionally they saw a car or truck driving through the rain, but only twice did they see someone running through the rain, soaked to the skin. It looked like the locals had decided not to embrace the first heavy rains of the year and were staying indoors where they could.
Gradually the industrial buildings gave way to commercial property as they closed on the main street running through the city, until they turned off of Montoro Street onto Mangola Street, the main artery that ran from the middle of the port up towards the main routes out of the city. Here the road was wider and slightly better maintained, though it was still very dimly lit compared to most of the cities they'd visited. Shops were open, and they saw lights leaking out from under doors and around blinds – but everyone appeared to be tucked up safe and warm indoors except them. It gave the place a slightly eerie feeling.
The town also showed a weird mix of styles and architecture. Many of the buildings were of relatively modern design, yet all showed signs of neglect. Clearly the corporations had invested here at some point in the last few decades, building the harbour and modern facilities to exploit the land of whatever resources it had – but also clearly they hadn't felt any need to continue spending money on the place, and there was a general air of decline and neglect, of memories of a better time slowly fading into the past.
It was less than two hundred metres up the main road to reach Lings, and neither of them were impressed when they got there. The building was two stories, made of cheap corrugated sheet plastic bolted to a frame of some kind, painted or coloured a pale green. Many of the panels were chipped and warped, bent and buckled. Heat exchangers hung precariously from brackets that sagged and sloped alarmingly, looking almost ready to give way and shed their load into the street below. The windows were all covered with decorative bars, streaked with rust and peeling paint, and the narrow overhanging roof that provided minimal shelter to the front doors sagged and undulated in numerous places.
They approached and Shimazu pushed open the door, flinching as some contraption fashioned over the door made a loud ringing sound. As he walked in, a faint stench of meat and blood filled his nose, making him feel uneasy as he looked around the inside of the building. It was dimly lit by overhead fluorescent tubes, which illuminated a large space punctuated by the plascrete pillars holding up the upper floor. Spread around were a large number of freezers, streaked with dirt and stained with age, containing large blocks of frozen produce. The walls were the same corrugated plastic as the outside, but rotated ninety degrees to run horizontally instead. Grime streaked the lower parts of the walls, and pools of dark fluid or stains could be seen at the bases of several of the large freezer units.
Shimazu felt Kai moving in behind him and stepped forwards and sideways, swinging around to view the other side of the building. A counter and till was set against the front wall, and shelves lined with a meagre selection of produce ran down the end wall. It reminded him of the shop in Iran they had visited – he was fairly sure that the products probably had a layer of dust and grime over them, and were likely all past the printed 'best before' dates on the faded packaging. A lone female stood by the till, staring at him as one hand smoothed back his hair and squeezed water from it.
Kai came in and glanced around, checking the corners of the shop for cameras and security systems, then expanding his search when he found none – spotting only one in the shop area, being directly behind the till and pointing down at the customer side, exactly where a robber would naturally stand if he was trying to hold up the store.
He let his gaze fall down to the single occupant of the store, who was still staring at them. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, and was dressed in a floral print dress that didn't fit her particularly well, her long black hair gathered in a loose braid that hung down over one shoulder. He quickly dropped into astral space and gave her a glance without being too intrusive – spotting no cyberware or other modifications, but feeling the uncertainty and fear seeping from her. He gave a broad smile and spread his hands wide, showing them to be empty and unthreatening. Unfortunately for him, the effect was somewhat spoilt by Shimazu leaning over to the door and reversing the cardboard sign that hung in the door from 'open' to 'closed'.
She called out, loudly, as her eyes widened, but neither Kai nor Shimazu understood any of what she said – not even getting a gist. Whatever language she spoke, the root was very different from anything they already knew, that much was certain. Shimazu examined her body language carefully, watching the tension ratchet up within her, but also saw the edge of something else. As he studied her, he realised that she was scared but not surprised. Somehow, she was expecting…something. Interesting…
The door in the rear wall was pulled open sharply, and a man slid through the doorway, sliding on the slick floor. He had a similar skin tone to the woman and was dressed in faded jeans and a grubby shirt. In his right hand, held raised high, was a large leg of meat, held firmly in his own meaty hand. He blasted a rapid-fire response back to the woman, and advanced into the room, his face a mix of fear and anger.
"Hello there!" Kai twisted around to turn his smile on the man, and also raised his hands slightly, making it clear they were empty, trying to radiate friendliness. "Do either of you speak English?" He looked from one to the other. "ty govorish' na russkom? Nǐ huì shuō zhōngwén ma?" They looked at him blankly, but the man still held the meat in a vaguely threatening way. "You try, Shimazu."
"Nihongo hanasemasu ka?" Shimazu tried. He was expecting a poor reaction, given what the Japanese had done to the Philippines to the north west – asking if anyone spoke Japanese would certainly mark them out as Imperialists most likely. But, neither seemed to understand him, or react as if they did anyway.
"Somere!" The man shouted loudly. Kai turned and raised an eyebrow at Shimazu, but it wasn't a term he recognised or understood. Thirty seconds crawled by, with the man slowly circling around the buildings outer walls, edging towards the till area. Shimazu hung back, near the door and Kai remained in the central aisle, not moving closer or further away. The back door opened again, and a young girl appeared through somewhat hesitantly. She spoke to the man rapidly, and he returned a blast of speech just as quickly.
"Daughter, do you think, Shimazu?" Kai spoke in English, hoping that someone would understand. "I'm guessing that makes these a husband and wife? I hope the young girl can understand us."
"Yes!" The girl responded, in strongly accented English. "I understand. But speaking slow."
"Ahh, excellent. I guess your name is Somare, then?" The girl gasped, not connecting her father calling out her name to attract her attention with this knowledge. Kai's mind raced – clearly she was distracted and alarmed, in fact she was giving off the same edge of fear and anxiety as both of the others. "So, which one of these is Ling?" He gestured at the husband and then the wife – if that's what they were.
"None. Ling is my father father."
"Ahh, I understand. Can you translate for me, please, Somare?" Kai was rewarded with a long string of whatever language they were dealing with here as she addressed her parents, presumably filling them in on what had been said. When she was done, he decided to go fishing for information. "Do any of you know the man named Gwok?" From the reaction of all three it was clear that they did, and he didn't have to wait for the translation. "Do you owe him money?"
There was a burst of speech back and forth, and then the girl, looking somewhat nervous translated.
"No, we owe him nothing. We have no deals with him."
"Is Gwok a bad man?" Kai asked. He saw her translate, and as she did, her jaw started to tremble and wobble. Abruptly tears started to roll down her face and her voice cracked, wobbling in pitch as sobs wracked her body. The rage that had been draining away from the father resurged with a vengeance and he strode forwards angrily, eyes wide and nostrils flaring, brandishing the joint of meat as if he meant to cave in Kai's skull.
Shimazu stepped forwards, physically interceding between them, while Kai flicked back the long coat he was wearing, showing the handle of his pistol – but making no move to retrieve it.
"Hey, hey now. Don't worry – we're not with Gwok, we're just trying to find out what is going on."
The father didn't understand, but he recognised the name again, and brandished the heavy joint in front of him. Tiring of the man's posturing, Shimazu tensed and the blade appeared in his hand as if by magic. A blink of the eye later, the sword had cut through the frozen joint, severing it twelve millimetres above the man's hands, and was already resting on the tip of the scabbard as the meat started to fall. The sword was most of the way back into the sheath by the time the frozen block of lamb thudded into the ground and the husband was still recoiling in fear and horror from the 'attack' by the time Shimazu was back standing at ease, watching the situation.
The man staggered backwards, raising his hand in front of him and examining the remains of the bone and meat in his hand, before his eyes fell to the floor and the joint still rocking from side to side. Surprisingly, the girl managed to compose herself enough to shout something to him that stopped him in his tracks, before he could do something foolish.
"Please no hurt father. He think you Gwok's men, you come here hurt us!"
"No, please tell him we're not from Gwok. Gwok asked us to come here and do something, but we don't want to. We came here to find out why." He motioned for Shimazu to take a step back, taking one himself too, hoping to calm the situation and show they didn't have ill intent. "Gwok says that you didn't respect him somehow, and told us to come here and chop someone's hand off. We don't want to do that, but we want to fool Gwok, so he leaves you alone."
She translated, sniffling slightly in between words. The mother cautiously circled around the store to stand next to her daughter, trying to support her as she listened to the explanation as it was relayed by Somere. The father, though, looked confused at first, then his face filled with disbelief, and a long string of speech came out, his voice rising and falling and full of condescension.
Everyone was surprised then when Somere spat out a retort, her small hands balling into fists and placed on her hips, and her features screwed up in anger as she spat out a response to her father. They didn't understand the language, but they could recognise the tone of voice, the surprise and the anger. Clearly the backchat didn't go down well, as the next thing they saw was the mother clip the back of her daughters head in a 'don't you speak to your father like that' way, which seemed to start a family row of steadily escalating hand gestures and volume. Kai and Shimazu stood baffled, uncertain as to quite how their 'hosts' had forgotten about the men with swords and pistols in their shop threatening violence long enough to have a domestic….
Kai slapped his hand down on the edge of the freezer, the sound ringing out like a gunshot and interrupting them mid-argument. Then he coughed, once, as if to prove a point.
"Please try to explain to your family that we are not here to hurt them, but that Gwok is a bad man, and he wants someone to pay. We're trying to make sure it's not any of you." Somere nodded and relayed the comment, stabbing fingers at them to punctuate her speech. When she was done, Kai continued. "This is going to sound strange – but do you know anyone that works at the hospital or morgue? Or will they?" He gestured at the parents.
"No, no-one like that."
"Ok, never mind. It would really help to know why Gwok is so angry with you, though?" He watched as the tears welled up in her eyes again, and the emotion started to build, then waved his hands to attract her attention. "Never mind, it's not that important. Look, we're going to sort Gwok out, ok. I'm not going to say any more – so that way you can't tell anyone if you're questioned, and you don't have to lie. But we're going to sort this out, one way or another. Come on Shimazu, I've got an idea…"
"Just before we go, Kai. Your pistol – is it anything special?"
"What do you mean?"
"It's not personalised or anything. Or a family heirloom. It's just a gun, right? One you could replace easily enough?" Kai cottoned on, and then nodded. He turned towards the father, then carefully drew out the pistol from his holster and showed the family him ejecting the magazine and working the action to eject the chambered round, before sliding the loose round back into the top of the magazine.
"Tell your father that we are leaving this here, to help defend you all from Gwok's men. Better than a lump of meat anyway. But hopefully he won't be a problem much longer." He placed the empty pistol and magazine on the corner of the freezer, then backed away from them as he headed to the door. Shimazu flipped the sign back, and they both left, keeping half an eye on the three people in the store, looking at the pistol in disbelief.
Back outside, they were once again subjected to the incessant rain, and Kai quickly fumbled his coat shut, though not before his entire front was drenched.
"So, what now, Kai?"
"We go find the hospital, and see if we can find a body that doesn't need a hand anymore." He tapped his comms on. "Hunter, can you get me a location on the hospital?"
"Please tell me you've not been injured?"
"No, we're both fine. But we're looking for a donor for a hand…"
"Ok, assuming you're still at the Freezer place, you need to head a click north, cross two roundabouts and when you get to the third, turn left. Another half a click or so along the left turn, the hospital should be on the north side of the road. But watch it, you're going past some shady looking areas of town – looks like the market district or a bazaar or something."
"Ok, cheers, Hunter." He deactivated his comms and smiled at Shimazu, looking vaguely demonic through the lashing rain. "Change of plans."
"Oh no. What?"
"We go fishing. I reckon there's got to be some low life scum out, even in weather like this. We just find a rough looking part of the city, and I wander around until someone decides to do something about it. And then you rescue me."
"I don't like it."
"Do you have a better plan?"
"No, but I still don't like it."
"You don't have to like it – you just have to get me out of trouble. Come on, trust me."
The walked further up the main road, until they reached the first of the three roundabouts that Hunter had mentioned. Looking to their left they saw a series of open sided barn rooves, sheds, lean to shacks and small cabins forming a maze of dark passages and shadows.
"Excellent – a market. Just the sort of thing we're after!" Kai looked over the area - it looked deserted, but he was willing to put money down that someone would be in there. "Stay back a bit, I think we've found our spot."
Shimazu let Kai wander forward a good ten metres by himself, then started to follow along. The torrential rain made visibility suck, but that worked both ways – and by dropping in and out of astral vision, he could get a good read on Kai's location and mood.
A hundred metres down the road, the environment opened up, the road merging into the market area without any lines or curb to mark one from the other. A large roofed area covered a one hundred metre long by twenty metre wide area, and Kai was surprised not to see any market stalls open underneath – but the whole market appeared to have closed down. By the lack of food or other waste around, it hadn't been open all day it seemed – it hadn't been hastily shut when the rains came, that much was sure. But it was the perfect place for what he wanted – dark, quiet, full of twists and turns. He sauntered along and started to whistle as he moved, both to give Shimazu something to follow and to alert any would be ambushers that he was coming.
He was about half-way along the barn when a shadow detached from a doorway and moved to step in front of him. He stopped and smiled, and gave a cheery wave, then gave a start as a second shadow appeared from the blackness of the sheltered doorway to move towards the first.
Ten metres back, Shimazu lurked by the edge of one of the sheds, just a sliver of his face poking around the corner as he crouched and watched. One hand on his sword, he dropped into astral, the rain fading away and replaced with the grey blandness of the concrete floor, steel supports and plastic roof, with Kai's body burning away with the brilliant white of a pure essence metahuman. He watched as the pair of humans moved out in front of Kai, separating to be on each side of him, then blinked as he saw a second pair move to get behind him and box him in. Four to two odds weren't great – but hopefully they didn't know he was there.
Kai maintained his smile and forced joviality, waving to each of the men in turn. He saw the pair to the rear glance behind them, scouting out the area and ensuring they were alone, and his heart raced for a moment – but then he realised that he couldn't see Shimazu, and he knew he was there….
The pair at the rear seemed satisfied and turned to face him, and knives appeared in their hands, as they slowly approached him, evil smiles just visible on their faces.
"I say chaps – you might want to reconsider. I'm warning you… no? Well, you can't say you weren't warned…" He stood still, hands not moving and a big grin plastered on his face, and for just a moment, the thugs paused, wondering why he wasn't showing any sign of fear. In his head, Kai counted down mentally. 3…2…1…
Shimazu accelerated smoothly, his feet rolling from heel to toe as he ran silently across the concrete floor. The sword was stretched out behind him, and as he closed he transferred all of his momentum into a single strike, aiming for the waist of the nearest thug.
"HAAAAAIIIIII!" the explosive cry shocked three of the thugs into immobility. The fourth thug wasn't shocked, on account of being dead, and already falling to the floor cleanly, the sword having been driven clean through him. The body fell one way, the legs the other, and a huge gush of blood splattered to the ground, along with the foul-smelling contents of the man's bowels, spilling out and extending their foul, acrid stench around the place. A moment of stunned silence and immobility was broken when Kai spoke again.
"Told you so."
They watched as the other three men sprinted away, running for their lives from the ninja that had appeared as suddenly as a bolt of lightning, death incarnate arriving in their midst to harvest their souls.
"Do we chase them down?"
"No, let them run. But now the guy's dead, can we take his hand?"
"I suppose." Shimazu moved over and examined the corpse, trying not to step in any of the pools of fluid now decorating the floor. Kai started to rummage around the sides of the shed, looking for a bit of tarpaulin or a rug or sheet of stray building material – anything he could load the body onto so they could drag it away for disposal. Shimazu examined the hands carefully, finding a few bits of cheap jewellery, and on the webbing between thumb and first finger on the right hand found a small skull tattooed into the flesh.
"Can't find anything to drag the body away on. Not without smashing something up."
"Well, if we're going to leave it here, we've got to disguise this somewhat. I've….an idea." Shimazu sounded a little hesitant, but Kai gave him a nod of encouragement. "Well, if you hold up the limbs one by one, I'll slice them off, and we can scatter them about. Make it look like some weird kind of ritual. If he's scattered all over the place, maybe they won't notice the hands are gone for a while, might think some wild dogs have taken them or something."
"Great plan. Ok, let's start with the legs…" Kai lifted a leg up, holding it at arm's reach and trying to keep out of the way as Shimazu drew his sword and flexed back for a powerful slice. Ninety seconds later, they were throwing parts of the man's body out in all directions, scattering him around the marketplace. Shimazu paused as he was about the throw the thighs, checking the pockets first and recovering a plain and battered SIN from the right-hand side, before sending the flesh skating across the floor in the darkness.
"Ok, we've got a pair of hands. Now what?" Shimazu held the two pale extremities with a certain amount of distaste and looked over at Kai.
"Back to Lings and let the family know what's going on, then back to the team I think, to get some dry clothes. This rain is…unrelenting, and I think my wet bits are getting wet." They left the market and retraced their steps, heading back to the roundabout and turning south west to head back along Mangola Street towards their destination. They were about halfway there when they head a vehicle driving up the road behind them, slowly. A moment later the car turned on their lights to full power, illuminating the road and pavement clearly, followed by a 'whoop-whoop' from a siren.
Around them, the buildings started to flash red and blue as the light bar on top of the police car lit up, and the vehicle jammed on the brakes, twisting towards them to keep them pinned in the headlights.
"Team, we have a problem. The police have just pinged us, and we're carrying a pair of hands. Tads, can we have a spirit to distract them?"
Back in the chopper, there was a moment of surprise and mental face-palming, then Marius swung into action, keying the engines alive for the vector thrust drone and finishing the start up sequence.
"Open the side door and get the drone out while the engines are warming up, before it gets too hot!" Hunter and Aswon sprung into action, manhandling the heavy drone out of the door into the wall of rain, getting thoroughly soaked in the process – but getting it outside onto the tarmac before the hot exhaust either set fire to the chopper or melted the floor. Instead it only started to melt the tarmac, which formed neat concentric ripples around the four engine locations, driven back by the hot exhaust before the cold rain set it in position. Moments later, the drone lurched into the air, rapidly gaining height as Marius vaulted it skywards, bringing the sensors and weapon systems online. "ETA your position, thirty seconds. Remain clear of any hostiles. Out."
Tads called her spirit and gave it instructions, then sent it on its way, then leant over to grab a datapad and checked on the map and studied it quickly to ensure her directions and understanding of the situation was correct.
"You heard him, Shimazu. Get ready."
"No, you get ready. Alley entrance, ten metres ahead, left side. Go!" Shimazu took off at a sprint, his hands swinging to his side, holding a hand in each hand and making his silhouette look like Cthullu had come to town for a night out. Kai jolted into action and chased after him, sliding around the corner and following the bulk of the Japanese bodyguard as he barrelled down the narrow passage, clearing the way for them.
"Kai, Shimazu – you have a spirit inbound, with orders to conceal you when you stop moving. Find a good hiding spot and go to ground, and hopefully with the spirit's help, you'll be overlooked. We'll work on a distraction." Tads called an additional spirit to her, one of those summoned at dawn that would normally have been attached to a member of the team anyway, but left at the chopper to avoid upsetting the locals. It wasn't long until dusk anyway, so she figured she might as well use their services before she lost them.
Shimazu kicked open a door and just charged through a flimsy fence, clearing the path for Kai as he ran through the block, aiming for the back road on the other side. He skidded to a halt when he saw more red and blue flashes from that direction through, realising that a second car had arrived and was waiting for them. As he turned sideways and kicked a hole in the fence to go through into a neighbouring yard, he called out over the comms quietly.
"We have more police to the rear of our location, moving to trap us."
"I'm on station, just checking the area. Find somewhere to go to ground." Marius sounded distracted and slightly bored, but they knew from experience that was just because he only had a fraction of his attention for talking – the rest was taken up with flying the drone and checking the area around them. High above the drone hovered on the four jet thrusters, sensors scanning through the thick rain and gathering darkness, trying to identify targets. The two police cruisers were easy enough to spot, one each to the sides of the block. Four policemen were racing around, looking for them, with arms raised – he had to assume they were holding guns as well as flashlights.
He saw the thermal signatures of Kai and Shimazu throw themselves into some obstacle and slowly fade as they wormed their way under cover, and watched carefully – cursing quietly as a policeman moved in to stand only a few metres away from them, slowly spinning around as he looked for the pair.
"One police officer, three metres to your south-south-east. He is checking the area carefully – not sure if he has you or not. Standby."
Shimazu flinched as the officer's torch illuminated his foot, trying to draw it back, but the barrels he was hiding amongst gave him nowhere to move to. He heard the shout of surprise and knew they were in trouble.
Marius picked up the burst of radio transmission too, and drew the same conclusion.
"Stand by to engage, distraction inbound." He glanced down at the police cruiser to the rear of the building and squinted. The rigger interface knew the pre-programmed set of mental thoughts and processes, and the gunnery sight floated into view, locking on to the hot engine block before the viewscreen shuddered and jerked as both assault rifles opened up with a long automatic burst.
Marius wasn't aware that Tads had sent a spirit to go and mess with the car, or that it had found some loose pipes to fiddle with and yank under the hood. All he knew was that when the ex-explosive rounds struck the car, there was a very gratifying explosion and small fireball that climbed into the sky. And as he'd hoped, the officer next to Shimazu turned to face that direction as the distinctive chatter of automatic gunfire ripped through the air followed by the large explosion of the car going up.
Kai lent forward from the position he was crouched in, and aimed his taser at the back of the officer, firing into him while he was facing away. The darts struck the armoured uniform and a moment later he was twitching and dancing as power was driven across his spinal column, his legs locking up and making him rock from side to side. Kai released the trigger and squeezed again, not wanting to risk him being only partially incapacitated, and not being too worried about burn damage or physical trauma.
Kai wasn't aware that his taser had taken a knock as he'd scurried into his hiding place, splitting the top housing slightly. He also wasn't aware that the Yamaha Pulsar, though widely acknowledged as one of the most effective tasers designed, had a slight issue with corrosion in salty environments – such as the last few days of travel. As he bought the taser back inline with his target, a big fat drop of rain carried some of the salt deposit in through the cracked housing, and dropped into the electronics port. The slightly salty water bridged the contact point on the front housing, and as he fired, for a split second completed the circuit, and 62,500 volts arced from the prongs to the outer housing. The rippling sheets of water sluicing down from the sky above provided just enough of a path to reach his hands as they held the barrel steady, and conducted the rapidly cycling charge to his finger. The front of the gun lit up as blue sparks of electricity arced from one spot of rain to another, just before the internal capacitor blew out, delivering four times the normal milli-amp charge in one final heave. His hand clenched spasmodically, and both arms went rigid, keeping his finger tightly on the trigger as the cycle continued until the electronics gave up the ghost as power ran rampant through the circuit board.
His vision wobbled and faded, arms trembled and he gasped for breath as the after-shocks rippled through him. Chest heaving, he dry-retched as he tried to release the pistol grip, letting the burnt and slightly melted pistol fall to the ground. A faint whiff of burning plastic and singed hair wafted through the air, and Shimazu squeezed out of position and then gingerly kicked the taser away with his boot, making sure he wasn't going to get zapped too.
Kai flopped onto his back, rain splashing onto his face as trembles rippled through his body. He made an effort to sit up, but his muscles betrayed him, refusing to co-ordinate themselves to his will, and instead he flopped like a fish out of water, writhing on the dirty floor of the storage yard, half concealed by barrels.
Shimazu jammed the pair of hands into his pocket with distaste and then grabbed Kai by the shoulders, pulling him out of their hiding place. As he bent down to haul the twitching Mongolian to his feet, he heard another pair of long bursts as Marius hosed down the second police cruiser with more explosive ammo. It didn't explode in the same way as the first, but it sounded like it had taken enough damage to be out of action, and no doubt had sent the coppers scurrying for cover.
He bent his knees and then jerked Kai up onto his shoulder, getting him settled before powering up from a kneeling position with the twitching form secured over his left shoulder. With his right hand he pulled out his hand cannon, getting it ready for action – mostly just to keep people's head down if they saw him.
"G-g-get t-t-the h-h-hand a-a-and u-u-use th-th-the cops-s-s-s g-g-gun t-t-t-t-to shoooooot him," Kai stammered. Shimazu considered the idea for a moment, realising that it would further confuse the forensics and investigation team that was bound to investigate – but then realised that would mean putting Kai down, and spending valuable time messing around with weapons.
"No, we're out of here. Team, I have Kai with me, he's been tased pretty bad. I'm going to try and get out of this yard and head south, back your way. I could do with some support."
"Shimazu, I have a more powerful spirit closing on you now, to conceal you. Then I'm going to send a another one to help you avoid any accidents, slips or falls. I'm not sure what the rest are doing, but they look like they're gearing up in case they're needed.
Next to her Aswon had pulled down the huge fifty calibre rifle and was checking the box magazine for it, before carefully checking the safety and strapping it back up out of the way, before repeating the process with his Purdey. Hunter had his assault rifle ready to go and a handful of grenades stashed in pockets, while Marius continued to fly the drone through the air high above the targets, ready to bring down crushing fire upon them.
"Keep moving, Shimazu. Spirits will be with you in a moment. We're getting ready to extract you if needed."
Shimazu bounced Kai upwards a little to get him seated more comfortably on his shoulder, and then set off at a jog, trying to find a route out of the yard that didn't have a policeman in it and work his way via the backstreets down towards the harbour. Occasionally Kai would make a weird burbling noise as he saw some pretty lights reflected in the pools of water on the road, but otherwise all that could be heard over the drumming of the rain was the sounds of laboured breathing as Shimazu carried his boss, trying to avoid the long arm of the law as he ran through the darkened streets of the city.