Chapter 6: Extended Lines
I am well familiar to being lost to the world. Lost is not alone, however...
Whipping around, shield extended, Blues noted with a small smile that Fleur was left open to any sort of crossfire, with no defenses to hide behind. Noting her position, he finished his spin in a half crouch, gun raised. He was looking at a young man, who seemed suddenly surprised to see his captured fish jumping their bowl.
Fleur sprung into the middle, hands raised. "Hold it, both of you! I'm Fleur Argent, a Maverick Hunter. This is..." she indicated Blues, at a loss. "...my partner. We're here to help."
The young squinted a little in the low light, then sighed and raised his rifle. "I guess you two do look like the ones who took out the big guy..." He shrugged. "Nice to hear they're finally sending out my reports. Guess it must be big to send two Hunters..."
Blues was, again, completely lost. He was starting to get the hang of it, though, and this time it looked like Fleur was just as confused. Pushing on, he decided to run with this a little. It sounded like the lead they were looking for. "Yes, about those thefts. This seems like a peaceful camp; have there been raids?"
A look of re leaf washed over the man's face. Finally someone was going to listen to him on this... "Nothing so grand as armed raids. I've just noticed a steady stream of things going missing from this armory, and it looks like this isn't the only tent missing stuff. Nothing too major, but enough that it seems like a concentrated effort."
Fleur cocked her head to the side, thinking. "How do you know it isn't the workers or someone on the inside? Couldn't this just be normal requisitions for a camp of this size?"
"No, I don't think that's it. For one thing, there seems to be little interest in many of the things missing. The other is the scale; nearest I can tell, things are fine for a few weeks, but then when new shipments come, amounts don't add up they way they should. I've only noticed a couple months ago, but I've received some of those shipments myself; we're getting the right stuff from those." He scowled, clenching his fist. "This is the biggest area of civilization in the whole region; a tempting target for thieves, and there are bandits in the area. The shipments come with guards, and our own camp is surrounded by Mechaloid drones and turrets."
Blues frowned, processing information. "But... why didn't the guards take on that Maverick earlier, then?"
The young man shook his head. "They're not really build for that, I guess. Their job is to keep stuff out, which they do well enough, I suppose. It would take more time then we had to reprogram them. Some sites use 'loids for digging, but I guess they don't have the sense to not break stuff when they find it. But... Wait, I think I have something that might help." He rummaged in his pack for a moment, then pulled out a large, ragged square of cloth, torn from it's previous owner's clothing.
Handing the cloth square to Fleur, she took it, then looked it over carefully. It was a yellowish color, trail worn and tattered. However, the design near the center was clear; the lower half of a leering skull, blood red in color. Fleur started in surprise, as she realized the implications. "Wait... the Corsica? What are they doing this far south?" Looking up, she shook the piece of cloth at Blues. "Well, I believe the kid, now. We should investigate, before they get bolder and come by with one of their airships and take the whole camp."
Blues glanced at the young man, catching Fleur's note of urgency. "Where did you find this? When?"
The young man paled, clearly not thinking his line of curiosity would lead him to something like this. "But... uh... I, I found that by the west end of camp, halfway up one of the perimeter walls. About... a week ago. There's a old dig site to the west, but there wasn't much there but old buildings so the camp moved here..."
Fleur nodded. "That's gotta be it. That would be a perfect place to set up shop in this area, without anyone realizing anything was wrong. Thanks for the info, kid, we'll get right on this." She spun on her heel, tails flowing behind her as she dashed out the door.
Blinking, the young man that started this whole line of thought turned to Blues. "Does she... um... do you want a map?"
Chuckling, Blues waited a moment as he showed him an area map on the tent's computer. Taking a moment to scan it in into his internal memory, Blues followed the impulsive Hunter, whistling idly to himself.
Adjusting his eyes to the setting sun took moments, as long shadows began to cover the camp. He caught sight of Fleur just ahead, her silvery armor a liquid copper in the fading light, matching her bodysuit. She waved at him once, and then disappeared, heading towards the western wall. He followed at a slower pace, musing to himself. A memory crossed his mind, infuriatingly familiar but utterly foreign at the same time. A young man, much like the kind in the tent, but with brown hair and clear blue eyes. "How do I get around this mess of an area to get when I need to, bro? I beat you this round, fair an square, help me out a little, here..."
Pausing a moment, he tried to piece that memory with another, and maybe figure out who the person was. He looked similar to the blonde haired girl he remembered earlier, but... Sighing, he let it go as his fractured mind refused to access his locked thoughts. Maybe later...
Coming upon the wall in question, Blues scanned it briefly, noting it was surprisingly high. About twelve feet, fully double the height of either of himself, made of a sturdy looking metal. It was covered in small openings, allowing wind though and opening sightliness, but far to small for a man-sized creature to get through. Fleur was at the top, talking with a guard, gesturing animatedly. Pausing at the bottom of a ladder to the top of the wall, Blues called up to the vulpine woman. "Find out anything?"
Sighing, Fleur hopped off the top of the wall, twisting in a tight curl to land facing him. She shook her head, holding up the cloth. "The guard didn't see anything, though he did confirm the ruins are that way." She gestured over her shoulder, obviously annoyed. "Whats the point of guards if they don't see anything? Don't answer that. He did offer to let us out, though."
Nodding, Blues gestured forward, indicating her to lead the way. Following her out the arch the outer doors made in the wall, he noticed that she seemed to be missing her staff, all of a sudden. Now that he was thinking of it, she seemed to be able to make it appear at will, then make it disappear with just as much ease. Scanning over her back, he shrugged, unable to find the thing. Maybe in her pack...?
Heading out from the camp, the two of them hiked for a several hours, with Blues marking off their progress internally on his map. Fleur seemed to enjoy taking the lead, showing off her superior speed and agility, trekking off to scout ahead for a bit before bounding back to mention some of what she had seen. They were crossing a large, open patch of grassland, with rolling hills and waist high grasses of a tough, scratchy variety. From time to time, Blues would notice Fleur in the distance, on a large outcrop of rock or in one of the periodic islands of twisted, wiry trees, scanning ahead. He was on his way down one of the rolling hills, easily half again the size of the wall around the dig site, when he caught sight of the vulpine woman, her silvery armor glittering in the moonlight. She was heading back towards him, using the low, bounding leaps that she seemed to enjoy. He noted that she cleared her side of the hill in about four jumps, gapping some seven or eight feet at a time.
Twisting a little on her last hop, she landed in front of him, a smile on her face, ears pulled back against the wind of rapid transit. He noted with some surprise that seemed to be breathing a little heavier then usual. "Well, guess what I found?"
Raising an eyebrow, he quickly checked his map. Unless she had been moving at a phenomenal pace, she couldn't have found the old dig site. That was, by his estimates, still half a day away. And despite her comments earlier about the speed of his light jog, they were making good time. So, he was lost at her meaning. Again. He was beginning to hate it here... "I don't know. Not the old site, I'm guessing?"
She shook her head, then spun around, flourishing sometime that settled on her shoulders. Holding her arms out, she showed off the yellow cloak, complete with red skull in the center. "Ta-da! I found a few of the bandits in a small camp a few hills down. It took some sneaking, but I, the crafty Argent the Silver Flash, was able to get in and out with this." She turned, posing a little, but with a more serious look on her face. "It looked like they were getting ready to hit the main camp again. I think we should take them out."
Frowning, Blues considered their options. They could go in, take them out, and help the main camp, like she suggested. Or, they could simply go around, avoid the confrontation, and thus the risk that the bandits would send a distress call, alerting their comrades at the old dig site. A tricky situation either way. Justice was never his thing, he recalled, and preferred to leave that to others. However, it might make more problems later if they were dealing with the main site and these came back to reinforce the others. "Ok, fine. We can take them out, as long as we are quick about it."
She scoffed at that. Flipping her short hair back, she dashed forward, her new cape billowing out behind her, tails streaming underneath. Calling back over her shoulder, she waved him on. "Now speed, that's MY game! Just try to keep up, old timer!"
Creeping up on the small camp, the plan was simple. There were only a handful of bandits, and it looked like only one radio. Fleur was to get the communicator, while Blues kept the others busy. Blues waited while Fleur crept around to the other side of the small campsite, checking over his weapons. He wasn't sure what each were fully capable of, yet, though he did test some practice shots on the hike here. One was similar to the gun he had been using earlier; a combat grade Hand Buster, capable of single fire and powerful charged shots. The other was a cycler design; able to create withering barrages of smaller shots, but dense in number and speed. It also had a semi-auto mode, firing shot bursts of three or four shots, for more precise work, though he doubted that mode would be of much use in this next fight. He had also found that they both had a slight magnetism to them, allowing them to stick to the inside of his shield when not in use.
Suddenly, a small animal yipped in the distance, echoing over the quiet glade the camp was in. Head shooting up, Blues recognized the signal Fleur had given him earlier. Time to get to work.
Standing heavily from the grass, he pulled the cycler, shield up and at the ready. Rushing forward, he watched out the eye slit in the middle of the oval device, watching the Reploids in the camp reacting to his sudden presence in their midst. The first one he met from behind, as the bulky, hunched over shape came to it's feet. Letting loose with a hail of fire, Blues felt the gun shudder in his grasp, as it's triple barrels quickly overwhelmed the heavyset target.
The next one rushed out from the side suddenly, a large, wicked ax in his hand, lit along one blade. Blues wasn't amused; igniting his Dash Jets, he boosted forward, barely keeping his balance from the still unfamiliar upgrades. He was able to still slide his shield up and under the opponent's weapon, flinging it, and the arm holding it, clear out of the way. Releasing a salvo of energy into the Reploid at point blank, the sparking body collapsed. Seeing movement behind the falling body, he sprayed the area, noting movement as something leapt behind a line of boxes.
Spotting something glinting in the fire light above the camp, he blinked in surprise as a small metallic orb dropped down in front of him, bouncing off the hard ground. Eyes wide in sudden panic, he lost track of the rest of the battlefield for a moment as he dove forward towards the device. Slipping his shield up and underneath, he flipped the grenade up into the air a moment early, ducking a little as it exploded in the air.
Wincing as he felt a shard of shrapnel sting across his cheek, he dropped back a step, shield up as he cleared his head. Hearing the crack of a energy bolt, he looked to the left, rolling back as a round shot past his chest. Coming up, be whipped up his shield in time to take a couple more shots to it, before returning in kind with a couple salvos of his own. That got one of the two rushing him; the gunner dropped, but it was enough time for his friend with the large hooked blade to reach him.
Too close to get away without exposing himself, Blues growled in annoyance as he caught a heavy blow to his new right shoulder guard. The attacker quickly tried to capitalize on the blow, perhaps acting a little too hastily. Noticing the weight of the blade and the angle of the next attack, Blues slapped the cycler into it's spot on the inside of the shield, and spun, shield sliding along it's strap onto his back. Taking the heavy blow across his now protected rear, he finished the spin, revealing the Hand Blaster, fully charged and jammed into the armpit of the arm holding the blade. The other Reploid looked surprised as the trigger released, instantly vaporising half of his chest, dropping him.
Taking a moment to survey the area, he noted that he was in a small clearing, at about the middle of the small camp. A fire was to his left, and a line of boxes to his right, with a large cargo truck behind those. There were tents opposite him, where he could see Fleur highlighted in bright flashes from her staff, as she tore her targets apart. Turning from Fleur, he spotted the object behind the boxes moving; it looked like it was waving to something. But the only thing behind it was the truck...
Suddenly realizing the trap he had walked into, Blues ducked low, bringing his shield up as a barrage of neon yellow gunfire blew through the canvas covering the side of the cargo truck. Feeling his protection shudder as the storm of fire hit him, he risked a quick glance through the view port to confirm his thoughts. There was a large gun set up in the back of the truck, propped up on a box. He could see the person firing it, lit up from the bursts of light exiting his weapon. Grinding his shield into the dirt, Blues quickly considered his options.
Their weren't many. While he could get away, he had to keep drawing the big gun's fire for Fleur, who he wasn't sure would be able to dodge this kind of fire, even with her enhanced speed. And he was pinned down behind his shield, it being the only thing keeping that fire from quickly overwhelming him. He had to something, though, as his arm was starting to go numb from bracing against the withering stream of fire. Glancing though the view port again, he confirmed his suspicions; he gunner's allies were moving in to flank him. There were two of them, one from each side...
Digging the bottom of his shield into the ground, Blues knew he had to work fast. Quickly grabbing the hooked blade from the destroyed Reploid next to him, he propped it against the back of the shield, digging the sharpened end into the ground next to him, holding it up. Flipping the cycler to his numb left arm, he grabbed the Hand Blaster with his other, quickly bringing it to a full charge. He took a deep breath, then moved.
Activating his Dash Jets, he rocketed low across the ground, away from his protection, into the open air. It would only take a moment for the gunner to realize he wasn't hiding anymore, and another to track his gun to it's new position. And if Blues didn't take out the others, they would jump on him while he was distracted with the fixed gun. He had three targets, two guns, and a single moment to work with.
This was gonna get tricky...