Chapter five: Repercussions
Kito back stepped quickly as he saw Lydecker in the door. Lydecker looked as surprised as Kito did, but Lydecker oddly reacted to Kito faster. Before Kito could even think, Lydecker sounded the alarm, drew his pistol and fired three times at Kito.
Kito had finally begun to react at the sound of the klaxon blaring loudly throughout the building, and no doubt throughout the base. Now there would be soldiers coming and he had no place to run. He ducked away as the bullets came at him but was too slow to get out of the way of all of them. He cried out as one ripped into his arm and buried itself against his bone. Kito fell to the deck with the momentum of the bullet grunting heavily. He put pressure on the wound as he returned his gaze to the elder man, who had now reaimed and with one motion could very easily kill him. Kito didn't cringe as he faced the man, knowing he had risked this very course of action investigating this building.
"What are you doing here soldier," Lydecker said acidly, his face pinched even more than usual and his skin bright red with anger, "This building is off limits."
Kito remained silent, any answer was a wrong answer now. He had just made himself a traitor to Manticore and he knew it. He held his breath watching as Lydecker stepped in closer to his own prone form. Kito realized that Lydecker's anger was overriding his normal sense of caution as he came within range of Kito's defensive circle. He waited just a moment longer watching Lydecker's livid mask as he pointed the gun at Kito's face. Before he could pull the trigger Kito swept out hitting Lydecker in the ankles and knocking him to the floor.
Kito jumped to his feet and descended on Lydecker punching him hard in the face and knocking him unconscious. He then retrieved Lydecker's gun and stepped over to Max still strapped into the chair, "OK, now is as good a time to get you out of here as any," Kito muttered to her.
"You think?" Max said sarcastically.
Kito's lips thinned at the comment but he continued, "Hold still I'm going to break these locks," He stepped back and fired the gun smiling grimly as the lock jumped up and fell from the hasp neatly severed. He moved to the second one and as he was getting ready to fire he heard the many footsteps of soldiers coming his way.
He turned reactively and trained the gun at the open doorway. The first soldier through the door went down quickly as Kito shot him in the chest. He ran up and dragged the body inside as he slammed the door to slow the rest of the would-be captors. He wanted to bolt the lock or brace the door but there was nothing to do either with. His heart sank with every act he performed against his programming, asking himself again and again why he was doing this for a near stranger.
Then again she was Manticore, and Lydecker had been treating her like dirt, how long would it take for him to begin treating the rest that way? That was something that Kito was unwilling to see, and his recent actions warranted just such treatment, he knew. How many others had he treated this way?
Kito shook his head clearing his thoughts as he calculated how best to defend himself and get Max out of the building in the process. He was left little time to it as the door burst inward, Kito tried to fire again at the stream of soldiers now coming through the busted door only to have the gun jam on him. Kito tried to fight them off but there were too many and he fell to their superior numbers. He felt himself being dragged from the room as he continued to struggle. He caught glimpses of several soldiers going to Lydecker's aid and others securing Max again as she struggled against her own restraints, one hand free and taking out any soldiers who came to close to her.
Kito blinked as the group of soldiers dragged him out into the brightening day. In a last ditch effort Kito pushed up and then relaxed completely dead-weighting against their hold. He felt one of the soldiers on his leg lose his grip and immediately took advantage of it. He drew up his free foot and kicked out hard. He was satisfied when one of the soldiers fell away, he then planted his foot and threw his full weight forward pulling the rest of them off balance and another soldier lost grip on his arm. He pulled his arm straight down ripping it from the other soldier who had managed to this point to maintain his hold. Kito immediately followed the move with an upswing shattering the man's jaw.
He systematically worked through the remaining soldiers until he was surprised to find himself free. But now what? He wanted to go back and free the woman who called herself Max, but was sure that would be futile effort. The building was crawling with soldiers ensuring that no other disruptions to the Manticore soldiers in training.
He had to escape or else he would do Max no good at all, and with that realization he moved toward one of the perimeter fences. He didn't make it very far when he was confronted by Torri and Kenai, his heart sank again.
"Come quietly, Kito," Torri said in her most authoritative voice, "Don't make us fight you."
"I don't know what you did little-bro, but you sure have the compound up in arms," Kenai said with a determined look on his face.
Kito said nothing only shaking his head and assuming a fighting stance. They both took the cue swiftly descending on him. Kenai took the lead jabbing and kicking trying to drive Kito back while Torri circled him trying to move into a position that would allow him no escape. Kito looked back momentarily to place Torri's position when Kenai landed a solid punch on his bullet wound. Kito cried out and Torri leapt into the fray, but Kito ducked and Torri sailed harmlessly over him to land gracefully in a tucked roll, quickly regaining her feet. Kito did not want to prolong this fight that would only allow more soldiers to be called in for back up. With that thought in mind Kito made a running leap, easily clearing Kenai and sprinted quickly for the fence. One leap and he cleared it, continuing to sprint full speed through the tangle of forest. Kenai and Torri were not about to give up on him that easily, but he continued on putting distance between them thinking of a plan all the while to neutralize the two of them as a threat. He rounded the bole of one large tree and stopped. Listening for the pursuit he knew was there.
Kito heard Torri coming first her more compact size built for speed, and behind her by quite a bit was Kenai. He closed his eyes and just listened as they came closer to his hiding spot. Without opening his eyes he reached out grabbed Torri by the lapel and using her momentum smashed her into the tree beside him. She immediately went limp in his grip and he dropped her where she was. He then dashed out from behind the tree and sprinted again glancing back over his shoulder seeing just how close Kenai was to him. Not too close… that was a good thing. Kito ducked behind another tree, leapt into the lowest branch some thirteen feet in the air and waited for Kenai to round the tree. Kito counted only five seconds before Kenai came under his branch. Kito leapt on top of him knocking him to the forest floor, he spun him quickly around, head butting him. Kito felt the skin split on his own forehead, but knew from past experience with Kenai that it was one of his weakest spots. He slowly wiped away the oozing blood looking down at the seemingly peaceful face of his unconscious Manticore brother.
Kito straightened over the limp form of his classmate looking about him for any further sign of pursuit he neither saw nor heard any. To be sure he began jogging through the brush distancing himself from his former home. He zigzagged through the forest making tracking more difficult as his brain worked overtime on his actions, the repercussions of such, and just what he was going to do now.