Chapter 8

Ruby and Weiss watched as the Olifant burned.

"That Wraith blew the hell out of our Olifant," Weiss said, as they started to run.

"Poor Tuskson," Ruby sadly said.

"Poor Tuskson?! He almost got us killed!" As rain began to fall, Weiss asked "Now what?"

"Stay out of sight, find a kiosk. My mom's in the data-center under the ONI building."

"Basically right at the heart of the Covenant occupation."

"We're going to need Vergil's help getting her out of there."

Weiss took of her armored jacket, and handed it to Ruby. "Here. Take my jacket."

"I don't mind the rain," Ruby said, not taking the jacket.

"It's fiber-armored. I mind you getting shot."

Ruby took the jacket, put it on, and put the hood over her head. "Thanks." After running a few feet more, they finally found a kiosk.

Optican, healthcare on demand," It said. "Please place your hand on the touch pad-"

"Vergil, get me mom," Ruby said.

"ELEVATED HEART-RATE. ARE YOU FEELING ANXIOUS? STRESSED? TRY OPTICAN"S NEWEST MOOD-SETTLING DRUG, 'STATENIZOL'."

"And stop playing doctor!"

The normal health screen was replaced with an image of Summer Rose. "Finally, a kiosk with a camera," Summer said, feeling relieved. "Now I can see that you are alright. But why are you dressed like a police officer?"

"It's Weiss'," Ruby said. She turned to Weiss. "Say hello."

Weiss cleared her throat and said "It's good to meet you, Doctor Rose."

"You know…You are the first person Ruby's ever introduced to me."

"Mom?!" As she said this, Vergil began to imitate some type of creature's whistle. "What's Vergil doing?"

"Learning to whistle," Summer responded.

"Whistle," Weiss said, confused.

"So he can communicate with the tentacle aliens!"

"STRESS HARMS RELATIONSHIPS," Vergil said. "GOOD COMMUNICATION AND GOOD MEDICINE CAN HELP."

"We just met a guy that tried the whole 'communicate with the enemy' thing. It didn't work out so well, Mom."

"These new aliens are different. Inquisitive, not violent. They're searching for something under New Mombasa, I'm sure of it! And if Vergil can learn to speak with them, we'll be able to determine whether or not they can-"

But, she never finished, as the kiosk screen only showed static.

"Mom," Ruby shouted.

From the PA, the mysterious propaganda man said "Attention citizens! The enemy has infiltrated our data systems!"

As he continued to talk, Vergil tried to say "IrREGular PUlsE! HeaRT- Rate FAllinG! Report tO The NeaREst-!" Then, there was only static.

"Vergil!"

"All civilian chatter is restricted," the Propaganda man continued.

"No," Ruby shouted, kicking a nearby trash can.

"Whoa-whoa! Calm down," Weiss said.

"They killed him!"

"Who?"

"The police! They just pulled Vergil's plug!"

"No way. The whole city would shut-down. The evacuation would grind to a halt. No one would be crazy enough to-?"

"No one?!"

Knowing who would, Weiss exclaimed "Aww crap!"

Thunder is heard as Ruby and Weiss ran towards their destination.

"Police Headquarters," Weiss yelled, holding Ruby's hand. "Straight ahead!"

"How does a level one blackout work," Ruby asked, blushing from the hand-holding. "How do we bring Vergil back?"

"Emergency Communications department. But we can't just-"

"Kick down the door? Plug Vergil back in? You bet your ass we can!"

"Ruby! Wait!"

They made it to the building, and found the directory of the building. "Here's a directory…Emergency Comms. Fourteenth Floor. Elevators are-"

"Hold up," Weiss interrupted, pointing to the lobby. "Look…lobby's all shot up." Ruby turned, eyes widen when she saw the bodies. "And over by the elevators."

"A-are those cops," Ruby asked, frightened by the sight.

"All dead. Probably a Brute kill-squad…"

"Howdy, folks."

The two went pale when they saw a man with a shotgun.

"…Or not," Ruby muttered.

They looked at the man's clothing, seeing a name tag. 'Winchester'

"Sorry about the mess," he said. "Since it appears we're all going straight to hell today…" Winchester cocked his shotgun. "I figured I'd send some of my pals on their way myself."

"Listen, buddy," Weiss nervously said. "We don't want any trouble."

"We just need to get upstairs," Ruby said, before Winchester pointed his shotgun at them.

"Stay right where you are," he said, as the elevator dinged and opened. "Here comes another one now…"

A cop, with the nametag 'Bronzewing,' came out of the elevator and walked into the lobby. It looked like he was talking into his Chatter. "Mmm-hmm. Yeah. I don't know why they shut the Super down. We'll keep broadcasting as long as we-"

"Hey there, Dove-y!"

Dove looked up to see the bodies. "What the…Officers down! There may be Covenant in the-!"

"Come on now," Winchester said. "Get off you chatter, and pay attention."

"Cardin? What are you doing here? Didn't you get fired?"

"Remember how often I asked you not to use my half-and-half? And remember how often you didn't listen?"

Dove's eyes widened. "You? You did this?!"

The man put down the shotgun, and brought up an assault rifle, pointing it at the officer, and said "Should have stayed in the elevator, Dove."

"No! Please!"

"I wrote!" He fired once. "My name!" He fired again. "Right there on the carton!" He fired once more, killing the officer.

"Ruby, let's go," Weiss said, before Cardin pointed his gun at them.

"According to this department, I have issues with anger management…If I we're you? I'd stay right where you are."

Cardin reloaded his gun, and said "You two are my hostages. Sit tight, or you're gonna end up like these old buddies of mine."

"Weiss," Ruby started. "We have to get upstairs-turn Vergil back on!"

"No talking," Cardin shouted. "You work for the NMPD?"

"Uh…"

"No," Weiss said.

"Oh yeah? Where did you get the jacket," he asked, looking at Ruby.

"I stole it. From the trash."

"A thief, huh? Got a record, you little punk?"

Weiss looked at the man, anger in her eyes and said "Look. Why don't you put down your rifle and-"

"Why don't you shut your goddamn mouth." They all started to hear the sound of boots coming down stairs. "Hear that? SWAT pussies finally woke up. They'll be wearing body armor, so you have to take the head-shot."

Weiss knew what was about to happen, and shouted "Get down, Ruby! Now!" She held Ruby close to her, covering the girl's eyes, hoping she won't see the shoot-out. The SWAT team kicked the stairwell door, and entered the lobby.

"Drop your weapon," One of them, pointing his gun at ardn.

"Come and get it," the mad man said, shooting one officer, making him go down.

"Dammit, take him down," another shouted, as the firefight began. After a while, a SWAT officer yelled "Bang and clear," and threw a flash-bang at Cardin, making him go blind.

Cardin screamed. "My eyes! Aww, you lousy sons of bitches-!" That was the last thing he said as the man was gunned down, and died.

"Ruby," Weiss said, looking at the girl. "Ruby?! You OK?"

The SWAT commander saw them, and shouted "You! Hands where I can see 'em!"

"Don't shoot! I'm NMPD dammit!"

"Let me see a badge! Nice and slow!"

"The whole city's crawling with Covenant, and we're killing each other," Ruby said, feeling scared.

Weiss brought out her badge and said "Here, see? Metro pee-dee? I need to get her to the fourteenth floor. It's an emergency!"

"OK. Take her up," the commander said. "We'll deal with this mess…"

As they walked to the stairs, Ruby muttered "There must be dozen of bodies here…"

"We can't save them, Ruby," Weiss said, pulling the girl away from the lobby. "But we can save Vergil. We have to go."