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Speaking "you are such an idiot"
Thinking 'I can't believe he did that'
Computer / A.I. "I can't let you do that Dave."
As Arcana continues his dash, his mind is racing through progressively darker and darker possibilities, a habit ingrained through years of staying off of government and corporate radar.
"Damn it! There are too many unknowns: how long have they known about my camp, have they already acted on it, what will they do," is the frustrated muttering that flows out of his mouth as he runs towards his charge, while he checks his gun and clip. 'Alright, I have two clips, I hope that they aren't wearing body armor 'cause that would just be perfect,' re-holstering the sidearm, the scream that he hears across the headset nearly sends him into the ground for the second time to date,
"They're here, the sharpclaws cut me off before I could make it to the tree, where are you Arcana, I need your help," her panicked words, "they're catching up to me, I can't get caught, please where are..." Her transmission is cut short and all that can be heard is static. Arcana goes cold as the words repeat over and over in his head, 'they're here, the sharpclaws, where are you.' The worry, frustration, and guilt are ruthlessly shoved down and a cold, machine-like logic takes over his thought process.
Arcana heads towards where Krystal's last known position. Going over what he knew, the realization that the sharpclaws hadn't tried to kill her immediately tells him that they wanted her alive. Remembering that the sharpclaws had flight capabilities, if the flying galleons were any indication, and that there were multiple bases within a couple hundred miles, the basis of a plan forms in his mind. Tapping a second button on his earpiece, "State Security Authorization," is the calm voice that comes across the speaker.
"Authorization Kyle Blake, Arcana-Omicron-0-0-1,"
"Confirmed, state orders and mission parameters."
"Begin warm-up sequence, fill the reservoirs for the AP guns, and load a S.A.R. (Search And Rescue) ordinance package."
"Orders received, Estimated Time to completion: 56 minutes."
Cutting the connection, he soon comes upon an area of trampled brush, following it leads him to a small clearing that was obviously made recently. Scouring the area, he notices something in a tree, pulling himself up he works his way towards the upper branches and grabs a medium sized duffel bag that had been snared by a branch. Checking the contents, he finds that it is the bag that contained the items at the cave, slinging it across his back to rest with his own bag and begins the search anew. Further inspection of the clearing allows him to spot two furrows in the dirt, indicative of drag marks, which he follows in order to possibly gain some insight as to where they went.
A few hundred meters away is where the trail ends and a new search must begin, as there are no footprints anywhere in the area besides his own, Arcana pulls out his monocular and starts panning across the cloudless sky in hopes of spotting a ship. Five minutes of continuous searching pushes his frustration higher and higher, when he was about to stop he notices a small object on the horizon and instantly begins attempting to bring it into focus. Ignoring the small ache in the back of his eyes he is rewarded with the sight of a sharpclaw vessel that is heading even farther away. Lowering the scope, Arcana hangs his head with a sigh as he turns towards his hidden vehicle.
"You better be alright when I find you, because I am definitely not cracked enough to start talking to a volleyball," is the quiet warning uttered as he begins yet another run, only this one would come with the promise of an air strike.
A half hour later, Arcana walks up to his truck that he had skillfully camouflaged in order to prevent any curiosity towards it. The two days worth of jungle growth over his truck hasn't hurt either so he decides to leave the truck covered. Walking over to the rear, he enters a lengthy pass-code which is followed by a scan of his palm, as the computer is confirming his identity he recalls a quote that causes low, dark laughter to hang in the air, 'it isn't paranoia if they are actually out to get you.'
A quiet ping is the only sound of acknowledgment before the back end of the truck folds out to form a ramp for the jet. Striding up the ramp, Arcana sees the robotic manipulators arming his masterpiece and he hears the quiet hum of the reactor cycling through the start-up sequence. He walks over to one of the lockers at the front of the trailer and pulls out a black set of clothes that is a Kevlar-Nomex weave which will protect him from fires up to 700 degrees and small caliber arms fire, hopefully they won't have anything larger than a .357 or he would be really in trouble. The clothes were designed to also present a psychological factor because if you can get in their head and make them fear you, then you've already won. After donning the outfit, Arcana turns to the computer interface(see Minority Report) and downloads the picture of the map from the base he visited and the video clip from the scope's memory card in order to figure out where they took Krystal.
Running through the data, Arcana begins putting the puzzle together, "According to the map, there are thirteen outposts in that direction," he enlarges the screen, "if they kept at their current speed they could reach any of these four," the screen splits and a more detailed description of each of the four appears, "but only this one has the resources for a ship like that, a cellblock for prisoners, and a command center for those in charge."
With the one station on-screen, he begins creating a plan of attack while he make his way to the weapons lockers near the jet. Opening the locker he removes two rifles which add to his own silenced 9mm, one is a custom designed battle rifle which fires a large .50BMG SLAP (Saboted light armor penetrator) round from a 20 round clip and is equipped with an under-slung 40mm grenade launcher. The other is the very powerful C-10 Canister Rifle which is more of an anti-armor weapon. Carrying the two heavier weapons and their ammo over to the jet, he opens a compartment next to the cockpit and locks the guns into the appropriate niches. As an afterthought, Arcana grabs a couple blocks of C-4 and puts them in the duffel bag, next to the first-aid kit in the compartment. Locking the hatch shut, an errant thought brings a smirk to his face, "Rule Two: Peace through superior firepower. And always bring a gun to a sword fight."
Finished with all the preparations, Arcana sets the computer to lock down the truck after he wheels the plane out. After he sets the command a calm voice interrupts his thoughts,
"Warm-up complete and S.A.R. weapons package is loaded, ready for flight and combat."
"Acknowledged," and Arcana uses the powered track set in the floor to move the jet out and onto the ground.
Opening the cockpit, he seats himself and closes the hatch, and pressurizes the cabin.
"Initiate Ion Thrusters, call-sign for E.D.I set for 'Havoc', Confirm Command"
"Command Confirmed, E.D.I. recognizes call-sign 'Havoc', stealth is 100 percent operational"
Lifting off of the ground, a bloodthirsty grin overtakes Arcana's face as he prepares for full thrust, "they so don't know who they're fucking with," the last thing to be heard in the clearing before he is forced into the seat as the fighter accelerates rapidly towards his target is crazed sadistic laughter. Leaving behind nothing but a whirl of leaves and dust.
Shooting up through the clouds, he can't help but revel in the rush of adrenaline coming from piloting. Reaching 80,000 feet, Arcana levels off, after setting his course to the sharpclaw base he accelerates to just below Mach 1 which will prevent a sonic boom from occurring and revealing him and the E.D.I. With the autopilot controlling his flight for the moment, Arcana begins working out all of the details for the rescue mission with E.D.I.
"When we near the base you will begin reducing speed and come to a complete stop above the encampment, then enable silent running and decrease altitude to 10 meters. After such, you will climb to 500 meters and maintain that altitude except to prevent discovery or when I make contact, Confirm."
"Command Confirmed, but I must warn you that the probability of making it in and out of the base undetected is less than 30 percent, if you are killed than I must enact the Scorched Earth Protocols," is the calm acknowledgment. Unfazed, Arcana answers,
"Understood, if I am KIA, then you will follow protocol and destroy any evidence of my technology after glassing the entire area, 10 kilometers in every direction."
Accepting the statement, E.D.I. begins the descent as Arcana racks the slide on the pistol and replaces it into the shoulder holster. Reaching 10 meters above the ground next to the roof of a building, the pilot's hatch opens, Arcana leans out to open the storage hatch. He grabs the duffel bag first and quietly tosses it onto the roof, followed by himself with the canister rifle strapped to his back and the battle rifle hanging from a tactical sling on his shoulder. Landing in a crouch, he stays completely still as both he and E.D.I. check for someone having noticed the noise. Receiving confirmation that it was clear, he slung the bag across his back to rest next to the canister rifle, saluting his ride as it disappeared into the night sky, he turned and began his search of the compound.
At least an hour later, Arcana was beginning to worry that she wasn't here or that they had decided to kill her. Shaking those kinds of thoughts out of his head, he continued his search, checking every building and ship for signs that she is still there and tucking C-4 with remote detonators away in various places like a demented pack rat, "Mark this one as F-7." Suddenly a door opens in front of him and two sharpclaw guards walk through; and much to his surprise, he can understand them.
"General Scales was sure was angry when the fox escaped us before, good thing we caught her in the forest."
"Yeah, I don't get why her wants to keep her prisoner instead of just killing her now."
"Shh, quiet, that kind of talk will get you in big trouble and Scales isn't in the best of moods right now since she won't wake up since they brought her in."
"Yeah, that's pretty weird..."
Arcana doesn't hear anymore of the conversation as the guards turn a corner, but he doesn't really care because he knows that Krystal is here and now he has a pretty good idea of where she is in the compound. Since this base was much larger than the one he cased earlier, there were a lot more buildings which meant tht he could travel across the rooftops instead of having to worry about the sentries posted on the ground as long as he didn't make too much noise.
Finally locating the medical compound, Arcana searches for any way inside; unfortunately , the only ways in besides the multiple doors that had posted guards, were two air ducts that were much too small for him to fit through. Grinding his teeth at the hell about to be unleashed, Arcana draws his silenced pistol and prepares to drop down onto the two guards standing at the most secluded entrance. Remembering a quote from a long time ago, he whispers it as he falls upon the unsuspecting guards, "Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."
Landing on top of the guards, crumpling under the sudden weight, he raises him gun and snaps off two quick shots, one for each of the guards through the back of their skull. Looking through the door and not seeing anyone on the other side, Arcana drags the two corpses inside to delay their discovery and begins moving through the halls like a wraith, swiftly and silently bringing an instant death for any that he comes across. Eventually his searches bear fruit and he comes upon the room in which Krystal is being kept but unfortunately, the command staff decided to post additional guards at her door. Pressed against the wall, Arcana counts down from three and whirls around the corner looking for all intensive purposes, Death itself coming to claim them. Too stunned to react, the guards are efficiently cut down and nothing remains between him and the rescuee. Opening the door to her room he was glad to see that she was alive and unharmed, but grew concerned at how far the underlying damage went. The table she was on had a very large variety of medical equipment attached to it, while not knowing their exact function, he knew their purpose and that every item of machinery is built to fulfill a function. Therefore logic dictates that if you know the purpose you know the function.
The machinery beeped, buzzed and hummed which he assumed was at least somewhat normal. The Cerinian was comatose and lashed to the table by thick leather straps and connected by various tubes and wires to the machinery, as well as a clear plastic mask placed around her muzzle. She looked like a patient in a screwed up medical drama, but he hoped she would make it. Checking her vitals and studying the readouts from the various machines as well as the small discolored portion near the base of her neck, soon enough he wasn't able to bite back a sigh after coming to a conclusion on what was wrong with her. "Damn this is pathetic, you would think that they would be able to treat something like this,"
Disconnecting the IV, unstrapping the restraints, and removing the breathing mask, he set his bag down and removed the medical kit. Flipping around the numerous supplies, a triumphant, "A-ha," signals that he has found the needed medicine.
Pulling the cap off the end of the syringe, flicking the needle and pushing any air bubbles out, he rolls her over and injects the neural inhibitor into the base of her neck, just above the discoloration. A minute passes by, then another and another, and Arcana begins to doubt whether or not she would wake up, when finally her fingers begins to flex and her eyelids slowly begin to open as if they were weighed down with lead. Krystal slowly raises her arms to her eyes and rubs them as if this were all just a hallucination, which given the circumstances, might be a possibility, 'wait, did I just say that I might be a hallucination...weird.'
Tilting her her sideways, the questioning look is easily seen all over her face, "Arcana?"
"No, my name is Arc-2000, you've been asleep for nearly 120 years."
"WHAT!?"
"Shhh, dammit be quiet, I was just messing with you," putting one his hands in front of him to emphasize that he was joking while the other was holding his currently in pain ribs. "Do you remember anything about what happened?"
"I remember being chased by sharpclaw soldiers, and then nothing.." her brows furrowing as she tried to recall anything else.
"You were knocked out by some kind of stun weapon, you were captured and taken to a sharpclaw base, which is where we are now." His hand quickly shot out to cover her mouth as he could foresee the shout that would have surely alerted any nearby guards. "Quiet, I'm getting you out of here," as he turns to pick up his bag, he hears what sounds like a whimper, then a quiet, hopeless admission, "I can't move my legs."
Turning around, he smacks himself in the head for forgetting something like, "Hold on a sec," grabbing the second syringe from behind his ear, he pulls the cap off the end of the syringe, flicking the needle and pushing any air bubbles out."You are healed.," he sticks her in the thigh, smirking when he is rewarded with an, "Ouch!",
"Rise and walk."
"Are you insane?"
"In the Bible, they just say, "Yes, Lord" and start on in with the praising."
"What did you do?"
"What did you do, Lord?"
Seeing that she seriously thought that he was mental, and recalling that they were on a time crunch, he slings the bag over his shoulder and turns to her, "Come on and get up, we don't have that much time before the stimulant wears off and the missing guards," suddenly alarms are blaring throughout the compound, calling for soldiers about an intruder, "-are noticed."
"Shit!! Come on, we have to get out of here now!"
Grabbing his rifle, he rushed to the door and after checking, he ran through it with Krystal right on his heels even though she was still looking at him as if he was touched in the head.
Ignoring the funny look that she was giving him, Arcana continued to run through the halls, scanning each one for the soldiers that were sure to come. Being lucky so far, Arcana hopes that their luck hold out a little longer but alas; it isn't meant to be because as they round the next corner, they come face to face with a full squad of 10 sharpclaw troopers.
"OH FUCK," grabbing Krystal and throwing her back around the corner, he uses the sudden momentum to throw off the soldiers' aim, and doesn't hesitate to open fire as the bullets miss his body my mere inches.
Unfortunately, the enemy shooters didn't have any similar luck or the protection of effective body armor, not that it would have done them any good, seeing as the .50 caliber rounds in his rifle were capable of punching through five inches of heat treated steel. Even though he only fires five rounds, they tear through them like rice paper and continue on through each and every body in the narrow hall. The effect is immediate, the walls and floors for twenty feet back were painted with whatever was the color of the soldiers brains and organs.
"All clear," his words echoed through the now quiet and remodeled hallway. As Krystal walks out, she knew that they were dead but wasn't prepared for the level of destruction wrought by the rifle, "Goddess above."
Seeing her waiver at the sight of the bodies, Arcana grabs her arm and drags her further down the corridor, seeming unaffected by the squishing and popping of flesh and organs underneath his heavy boots.
Focusing completely on the task of getting out alive and mostly unharmed, Arcana misses the look of fear and anxiety that Krystal gives him after the shock of the ruthlessness of his reaction.
Running through the maze of hallways, they finally come to the exit and leaning against the wall Arcana turns to Krystal with his face set into such a serious visage that it's like that is carved from stone.
"Whatever happens don't leave my side, not for a second, and do whatever I tell you with no questions, Alright?"
Slightly surprised at the grim tone he used, it jolts her back to the problem at hand and she nods her head even though she is worried, "Alright, what are you going to do, all the sharpclaw in this entire base are probably outside those doors, how are you going to get us out?"
Giving her an odd little half-smile as her stands and faces the door, he his cryptic response only make her more nervous, "Trust me, I know what I'm doing."
Pushing the door open with one arm as he remains against the wall to prevent anyone from getting a bead on him, he yells to the gun-wielding reptiles, "'Don't shoot, we're coming out."
Seeing Krystal's look of utter betrayal, he quickly reassures her, "Don't worry, it'll be okay , just do whatever I say."
Slightly calmed but still on edge, Krystal nods her head, "you better know what you're doing," she hisses to him.
Walking outside with Krystal right behind him, he watches as all of the soldiers have their weapons trained on him and the commander of the compound walks forward to speak. "You will toss your weapons on the ground and lay down with your hands above your head, your surrender will be unconditional."
Nonplussed, Arcana features take on what appears to be a truly regretful expression, "I am sorry, but I am disinclined to acquiesce your request," is his irritatingly calm retort, at the commander's pause to comprehend the statement he elaborates, "means no."
Greatly angered by his refusal to comply, the saurian general barks out, "Kill him,subdue the Cernarian and take her back to her cell."
At the order of being put to death, Arcana's reaction is hardly what is expected, "Ah, Ah, Ah," his voice take on a mocking lilt while he waves a finger in front of him as if he were correcting a child," I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Even Krystal could see the muscles tense in the commander's jaw as he growled out,"and why wouldn't I want to kill you, it seems like a very good idea to me."
The slight grin that was slowly spreading, now reaches what usually characterize a seriously unbalanced mind and causes the commander to suddenly take a step back as an ice cold sliver of terror worked up his spine.
"Oh, I wouldn't want to kill me because appearances can be deceiving and," pausing as a single explosion rocks the area as it completely destroys one of the guard towers, " because I have placed explosives all over your base like that one, and if you don't let us leave or either of us die, then they all go off."
His grin doesn't waiver in the slightest as the base leader's expression shifts from fear of losing his life, to unyielding hatred as he realizes that he has been beaten.
"Leave now, if we ever see you again you will die and we will capture the fox bitch," he all but spat out, then he turns to his underlings and orders them to lower their weapons and commands them to find the explosives immediately.
Grabbing the hand of a completely stunned Krystal, "come on, we gotta go before they change their mind, and I don't want to have to save your ass twice in the span of a couple hours, I mean that would totally suck," he whispers in her ear as he begins to drag her towards the entrance. Gathering her wits, Krystal shakes of the unbelievable experience and worries more about getting the hell out of here and decides to get her answers when they aren't in mortal danger. As they headed towards the end of this ordeal Arcana looked over at the one he risked his life for and notices her shiver, whether it was from an actual chill or if it was from something mental, it doesn't matter and he would be damned if he went through all this shit and she was struck down by a cold or perhaps more likely would be an overachieving soldier looking to earn some brownie points by catching her in the back during their escape, so he shrugs off his heavy, multi-weave jacket and wraps it around her.
Krystal's eyes go wide at the sudden comforting gesture by the one who just killed dozens of sharpclaw without a thought, threatened their entire base without backing down, the devil-may-care cynic. Turning his head, Arcana gives her a lop-sided grin, "don't bother reading into it, after the huge pain-in-the-ass that was saving you, I'll be damned if you take a dirt nap because of the motherfucking sniffles."
Shaking her head, she pushed aside the thoughts of the enigma that is Arcana, and simply relished the comfort that came from the heavy coat and the residual warmth that it held from the previous wearer.
Dashing past the gates, they are assaulted by the deafening boom of the remaining half a dozen explosives as they detonated with Krystal clutching her ears in pain and Arcana having to support her lest she collapse. Continuing out the gates, they hear the voice of the commander scream out above the chaos, "AFTER THEM, CAPTURE THE ALIEN AND THE FOX BITCH!! I WILL MAKE THEM SUFFER FOR THIS, I WILL MAKE THEM SUFFER GREATLY BEFORE I KILL THEM."
Sharing a look that said everything, Arcana immediately touches his earpiece and shouts out, "Mr. Wizard, get us the hell out of here," the urgent transmission is instantly picked up by E.D.I.
"I am on route to your position, ETA 2 minutes."
Hampered as they are, the sharpclaw soldiers that are out looking for revenge are quickly closing the distance and so was the torture that would certainly follow. Moving towards a small clearing that he saw on his approach, he moved towards it faster, but with Krystal's balance still shot from the explosion he made a snap judgment. Yanking her from her feet, Arcana lifts her into a bridal style carry even though he doesn't realize it and Krystal's protests quickly die out as she sees that they are moving slightly faster and Arcana tells her in not so polite words that he'd drop he if she didn't stop squirming.
Shots fired at them miss as the shooters can't get a decent bead on them, but eventually one will get lucky, and then it will be all over. Sprinting into the clearing, there is no sign of the much needed ride and their pursuers are fast approaching. Standing in the center of the glade, Arcana sets his temporary passenger back on her feet, seeing as they aren't going anywhere because this is the only place for three miles that E.D.I. can land without heading back towards the sharpclaws.
The hunting party soon comes to the edge of the tree line and there is no way out that would keep either one alive, so turning towards his companion he reached into his pocket and handed her the silenced 9mm, because she most likely couldn't efficiently handle either one of the larger rifles, "if I'm going to die, I'm going to take those bastards with me!"
Flicking off the safety, Krystal stands back to back with the dark haired puzzle and silently wished that she had more time to figure him out. Ready to face their likely demise, they weren't prepared for the entire edge of the clearing to go up like a roman candle, Arcana's reaction is a little less dignified than Krystal's quiet, "Thank the spirits."
"E.D.I. you beautiful son of a bitch, you just had to wait till the last second didn't you."
"Incorrect, it was not possible for me to arrive to this position any sooner."
"Yeah, yeah, come on Krystal, our rides here," he says without turning around while he locks the rifles in the storage bay, along with the medical supply bag. Shutting the door, he turns to see that the fires are already getting smaller and the soldiers are crossing and are already heading this way, "Shit! Krystal hurry up and get in, I know it's a tight squeeze, but I only designed this as a one-man vehicle."
Running over to the jet, Krystal grabs his hand and he pulls her up into his lap, as there is nowhere else to sit. Unable to reach the flight controls, he delegates to the A.I., "E.D.I. take off, take off now and lose any possible tracking before heading to the truck."
The hypersonic jet takes performs a vertical takeoff just as the attacker reach them and accelerates into the black of night and is no longer in any danger of being damaged or even detected.
With their safety assured, Arcana has E.D.I. follow a roundabout flight plan while keeping their velocity subsonic.The pair now heads towards the only definite safe haven that with supplies and protection, both have difficult questions for the other and they are going to get the answers they seek as soon as they arrive. But for now, they will rest and regain their strength because today may have been straining physically, tomorrow will provide an even greater strain on the trust between the two and will either forge an even stronger one, or it will break this one beyond any hope of repair.