Chapter 9: Firefight

September 2nd, 2316 – 9:10 PM – Tneicnan Wilderness

The windshield of Half's truck looked like a solid wall rather than a window, with how much it was covered with dirt. Half opened his door to take a look at the damage, and Redrum did the same. About ten feet in front of their car was a small crater where that part of the road once was. All foliage around the crater burned brightly, making Half sweat a little from the heat. Some of the trees had been torn from their roots and were now lying like logs on the ground.

"What the hell was that?" Half shouted.

"Looked like an explosion from an RPG or something!" Redrum said back.

"Heh heh, looks like someone already found us," Sonic chuckled. "I'll be out of here in no time."

Half was about to reply with some comeback, when he heard the sound of a familiar hover bike. He let out a sigh.

"It's Nack!" Redrum shouted, trying to be heard over the roaring. "I don't know how, but he found us!"

"Nack?" Sonic asked.

Half drew out his tranquilizer gun, before he turned around to point it back inside the truck. Instantly, he shot Sonic in the chest. The hedgehog yelped in pain, as he pulled the dart out of his body. It was too late to stop the sleeping drug though. It had already been injected intoSonic's body, as he started to slump down and succumb to its effects.

"We'll talk about Carrie later," Half said, as Sonic's eyes started to flutter closed.

"What did you do that for?" Redrum turned around to look at the fox. "And how did he know about Carrie?"

"I've got no idea about Carrie," Half said. "But, even with that collar on, I bet you Sonic could find a way to escape in the confusion of the battle."

Halfput the tranquilizer gun down on the dashboard, smiling.

"At least, if he's awake. Shooting him with the tranq gun guarantees we won't be having that problem."

"You've got a point," Redrum said, shrugging. "But, you shouldn't shoot him with that stuff so much. What if Sonic has some nasty side effects from the drugs?"

"Don't worry about it," Half said, slamming the driver's door. "Our client only said Sonic had to be delivered alive. He didn't say he had to arrive in perfect condition. Anyway Redrum, you keep an eye on the car and Sonic. I'll go out there and take out Nack."

Even though it was dark, a full moon helped with the lighting conditions a little. Furthermore, since Half had lupine eyes, he had excellent night vision.

"This car's not damaged," Redrum said, gesturing towards their vehicle. "We can still drive it."

"Ifwe don't get rid of Nack, he'll justattackus all the way to the drop-off site," Half said, as he pulled out his .45 and checked to see if it was fully loaded, which it was. "Better if we kill him now."

Redrum shrugged.

"I guess you're right."

As he heard the bike coming in for a landing, Half pulled out his knife from his shoulder holster. It shined brilliantly in the moonlight, and seemed to be in excellent condition. Satisfied, Half slipped it back into its sheath. Next, he ran over towards the back door of the truck, and opened it. Insidethe backa black case, which Half opened up to reveal a portable armory. A compact submachine gun, an assault rifle, and his trusty green sniper rifle were all there, with ammo and maintenance tools to match.

"Hey, Redrum, which gun do you want?" Half asked, as he looked over the weapons.

"Gimme the assault rifle," he said.

Half grabbed the long, black gun and its spare ammo from inside the case. As he was passing the items to Redrum, he started to formulate a strategy on how to defeat Nack.

From what Half knew about Nack on Merc Net, his weapons of choice were Wild West style revolvers. Half couldn't help but giggle to himself at the thought of a mercenary using such primitive weapons, compared to the technology that was available today. There were semi-auto handguns available that could hold twice or sometimes three times as many bullets. Not to mention, semi-autos could reload faster, shoot faster, and were easier to carry.

However, Half also knew that Nack would be one tough target to hit, with how he could bounce around using his elastic tail. Not to mention, his battle tactics tended to be unpredictable at best. The fox figured he'd need a gun that would be able to compensate for Nack's maneuverability. Since Redrum already took the assault rifle, that left his sniper rifle and the submachine gun.

Half chuckled a little to himself. That question was a no-brainer. The rapid fire of the submachine gun would allow him to lay down a lot of lead in a short amount of time, which meant more chances to hit Nack. He snatched it off of the small gun rack, and extended the shoulder stock. After putting a fresh magazine in through the receiver in the handle, folding down the forward grip, and collecting a few spare magazines, he was ready.

"Okay Redrum, I'm going out there," Half said, raising his SMG up.

"Good luck buddy," Redrum said, noddingto him.

Half silently nodded back, and dashed towards where he heard the bike's engine cooling down.

After bursting through the next thicket of undergrowth, Half saw the bike in the clearing. Nack was there, holding a large grenade launcher in one hand. That must have been what he'd used to blow up the road. Half didn't waste any time though, as he placed the laser sight on Nack's chest and opened fire.

Nack responded by using his tail to bounce upward away from the bike, dropping the grenade launcher in the process. Now he was somewhere in the trees over Half's head, and the fox jerked his SMG up as he tried to locate him again. Even with his wolf eyes, visibility was very poor in the forest, between the darkness and the massive amount of leaves blocking his vision.

"Jeez, you're trigger happy Half," Nack called out, his voice echoing through the forest. "You didn't even let me talk first before you started shooting!"

Half looked all around, trying to locate the source of the voice, but it was impossible with the acoustics. Nack sounded like he was everywhere in the forest at the same time, going by his voice. He'd fallen silent though, and now Half was left with only the sounds of the forest. He could hear the buzzing of bugs flying through the air, and the sound of a cool breeze whistling through the forest. The leaves all around him gently wafted in the wind, giving the forest an illusion of peace and safety.

Then Half heard it: a sound of leaves crinkling as someone walked on them, somewhere over to his left. He jerked his weapon towards the sound, but saw nobody in that direction. The only thing that greeted his eyes was darkness. He strained to listen for the sound again...

And then there were gunshots behind him instead of in front of him. Half strafed to the side, ducking behind a tree. Several more rounds hit the wooden tree, sending wood chips flying up in his face...and then they stopped. The fox whirled around from behind the tree, his SMG at the ready. He caught a fleeting glance of a purple blur jumping up into the branches overhead, before it moved over to another branch and out of sight.

Goddamn that Nack is fast!

Half realized he was at a disadvantage byfighting Nack in this forest. While the fox had superior weaponry, Nack could jump around on the tree branches, giving him more room to maneuver around in and a place to hide while he was reloading. Half knew if he was going to win, he had to take this fight to a place where there were no trees. Maybe he could head back towards that clearing Nack had landed in...

"Surprise!" Nack yelled, as Half felt a gun barrel press into his back. Going by his voice, he was standing directly behind Half. The fox started to raise his hands, letting his SMG hang around his neck by its strap. Nack chuckled a bit at Half's actions.

"Oh, that won't be necessary Half; I'm killing you now!"

But Half wasn't raising his hands to surrender. He snatched his knife out of its holster with his right arm, before whirling around and swinging the blade towards Nack. The blade cleanly missed though, as Nack slid backwards to dodge. Half got one quick glimpse of the weasel, with his cowboy hat, belt, and twin revolvers in hand. But before Half could bring his gun around, Nack had already jumped up into the trees again and disappeared.

I'm sloppy tonight! That's the second time in two minutes Nack's gotten the drop on me. I better get moving, because staying here is suicide.

Half picked a random direction, and ran that way as fast as he could. He tore through bushes and undergrowth, winding around tree trunks and jumping over their thick roots. All the while, Nack was bouncing across the tree limbs overhead, trying to target Half. A few bullets sent dust flying up into the air at his feet, but fortunately none hit. While Nack was agile, Half knew he wasn't the greatest marksman ever.

"Stop moving so I can shoot you!" he bellowed.

Seeing that there was a clear path ahead with nothing to trip over, Half whirled around and ran backwards. At the same time, he pulled his up SMG and fired into the trees. Nack gasped in surprise, as he jumped to the left. Half fired at him as he retreated, but within a few seconds the weasel was invisible again among the leaves. The fox searched the leaves, but he couldn't see anything.

Half decided to keep moving, in order to avoid a repeat of what had happened the last time he decided to stay still.Once again, he took off in another direction. This time though, he saw a clearing up ahead. Maybe it was the same clearing Nack had landed in, but Half wasn't sure. He'd been running willy nilly through the forest without checking to see where he was going.

From here, it looked to be about two hundred feet in diameter. There was something in the clearing though. Half couldn't make it out from this distance, but as he burst through the last of the trees he saw what it was. This definitely wasn't the place Nack landed, although it would do nicely for a counterattack. Rough, tan-colored brick walls, most of them going to about forehead height or lower, stuck out of the ground. It looked like they used to form the walls of buildings and fences. More bricks formed small roads going between the walls. Apparently, this was the site of an abandoned Tneicnan village. In any case, the residents seemed to have fled a long time ago. None of the structures had any roofs left, and weeds grew up all around the bricks.

All of this ran through Half's head in a second, as he dashed towards the closest of the walls. A hollow window was set in it, with a door made of rotting wood to the left of that. Not having any time to open a door with Nack right behind him, Half dived through the open window. He easily rolled into a stand on the other side, before seeking cover behind the wall to the left of the window.

More bullets flew in through the window, while others passed straight through the wooden door. One even tore a sizeable chunk of wood straight out of it, exposing termite damage. Regardless, Half was very happy to be out of that forest. There weren't any trees in this clearing for Nack to hide in, so he'd be limited to the ground.

"I know you're in there...Half!" Nack called out, firing a few more bullets through the door for good measure.

The entire door fell inwards, unable to stay up any longer between the gunshots and the termite damage. A cloud of dust rose up into the air from the door hitting the ground. Half felt like coughing from the dust, although he held them in to keep from making any sound.

Maybe revolvers aren't such laughable weapons after all... He's pretty good with them. Add in that pogo tail, and it's amazing I haven't died yet. But that stops now. With no more trees to jump around in out here, one of his biggest advantages has been neutralized. It's time for the hunter and the hunted to change places.

Halfwhirled around from behind cover and aimed out the window. He spotted the purple weasel approaching across the clearing, and placed the laser sight on his head. A torrent of bullets poured from the SMG's barrel, heading straight for Nack. The weasel ducked at the last second. The only thing Half succeeded in doing was shooting the weasel's hat off.

"Aaaaah!" Nack screamed. "You ruined my favorite hat!"

Meanwhile, Half drew another bead on Nack's head before he could jump away, and pulled the trigger. A click answered him from his gun.

Shit! Why did I have to run empty at this exact moment?

Nack took advantage of the opportunity and leaped to the left, out of sight. Meanwhile, Half ducked back behind cover, ejected the empty magazine, and slapped home a new one. As the fox was dropping the empty mag though, he noticed an old clay pot on the floor next to his feet. An idea formed in his head.

He picked up the clay pot, and glanced around the "room" he was in. Another window was off on the left hand side of the building. Half hurled the pot straight out the window, where it smashed against the wall visible on the other side of the alley.

"I heard that Half!" Nack called out.

Good, because I wanted you to.

The vulpine followed up by taking the laser sight off of his gun, and positioning it on the first windowsill so that the red beam would be visible to anyone approaching the alley's window. Next, he moved quietly to hide in the darkest corner of the "room", to where he was out of sight of thealley window. He crouched down in the darkness, and started to listen for footsteps.

He heard them, but just barely. Soft, rapid steps approached the second window. Meanwhile, Half raised his SMG to fire when Nack appeared within view. Finally, Nack jumped in through the alley window with his revolver up, thinking he'd gotten the drop on Half. He jerked his gun up, leveling it towards the laser sight on the window.He realized he'd been tricked, and started to turn around. However, that was all Half needed to get the drop on him instead. The fox opened fire, spraying thearea with a hail of lead.

Nack gasped and jumped back through the window into the alleyway, but Half didn't let up on his attack. The fox vaulted over the windowsill right behind the weasel, aiming his SMG one-handed even before his feet touched the ground. Nack had turned tail and was running away, but Half didn't intend to let him escape. The fox resumed firing as his feet hit the ground in the alley, but once again Nack ducked to the side to dodge the bullets. This time, the weasel jumped behind a building to the right, where the alleys intersected. Half charged towards the corner where Nack had just disappeared, so he didn't get a chance to hide again.

Suddenly, a loud gunshot sounded in the distance, but it didn't sound like Nack's revolvers at all. It had more of a dull boom sound to it. Then, off to the right, Half could see a bright red flare flying into the sky, over the treetops.

"Sorry Half!" Nack cackled. "We'll have to finish this fight later! I've got bigger fish to fry now!"

And with that, Half saw Nack jump straight up out of the ruins. After collecting his hat from the ground, the weasel bounced off into the trees. The fox raised his gun and opened fire, but by then Nack had already disappeared into the leaves. Half lowered the gun, wondering why Nack had suddenly decided to forfeit the fight after that flare was fired. Not to mention...who fired that flare? Half wasn't aware that there was someone else working with Nack on this mission...

Then he heard the sound of Nack's hover bike roaring to life, and he instantly knew what was going on. While Half fought with the weasel, his partner collected Sonic from the truck. Then Nack's buddy used the flare as a way to signal the weasel that he'd done the deed, and the weasel called off the fight to escape with the bounty.

This entire fight was nothing but a smoke screen, and I played right into Nack's hands. Goddammit! I'm so stupid! Stupid stupid stupid!

It seemed too late for Half to do anything now though. In the moonlight, he saw a hover bike zooming over the clearing, with two people riding on it. He recognized Nack in the driver's seat, but it turned out Nack's partner was actually a her instead of a him.She was apurple vixen was dressed in some kind of light battle armor, dyed crimson red. Meanwhile, a cage dangled from a few chains beneath the craft. Inside the cage was Sonic.

Half pulled up his submachine gun and aimed at the jet engine underneath the hover bike. He fired off a few short bursts, but the bullets didn't appear to have any effect on the vehicle. The bike zoomed over the trees and faded from sight surprisingly quickly. After another few seconds, Half couldn't hear the bike anymore.

"Damn it!" Half screamed, firingthe rest of his clipinto the air.

After that, he stared at the spot where he'd last seen the bike, seething with rage as he breathed hard. It almost looked like smoke might start pouring from his nostrils. As suddenly as the rage washed over him though, it departed. Half realized something that he'd forgotten during his fight with Nack. He remembered that he'd ordered Redrum to guard Sonic.

If she got Sonic, she would have had to get past Redrum. Then that means that Redrum is... Oh God no...

Half took off running back into the forest, hoping that his friend wasn't dead.