XXXIII
Crisis
"W-Who are you?! W-where did you come from?! D-Did Ninth send you here to inquire about the status?! T-The men haven't shown up yet, i-it isn't m-my fault that these bodies aren't disposed of," the woman stammered when Bando confronted her. Either she was in a serious state of shock or she had somehow confused Bando with the men belonging to this ship.
Even though he could play along Bando just wasn't in the mood for it. "You're mistaking me for the wrong side, bitch. I'm not here to help you vermin, I'm here to kick your sorry ass. Now unless you start to answer some question it's going to hurt, slowly and painfully."
Slowly it dawned on the woman that the man opposite of her didn't belong with the people running the ship, in response she took a cautious step back but it was a futile gesture.
A sharp click could be heard as Bando cocked the pistol and aimed for her head. "I don't think so, you're welcome to try but you won't get far," he grinned, taking a certain delight in the woman's predicament. He was a little surprised though when he heard about the person called Ninth by this woman. Was this another one of those self-proclaimed daggers? He couldn't care less about it, he would find out about it in time anyway.
He looked down at one of the containment units, a part of the cover had been removed allowing him to have a look at what resembled a control panel. "Now tell me, what exactly are you doing to it? What have you bastards done to those kids, why are they classed as weapon components in your records and what the fuck does incompatible stock mean?! You had better answer me!"
Staring at the muzzle of a loaded weapon fully aimed at her the woman was left with no other option but to give in, fearing for her own life she told him whatever he wanted to know. "I-I don't know the answers to all of those questions, I'm just charged with overseeing that the subjects are kept in a stable condition during transport, I-I have no idea what they intend to do with the subjects once they have been unloaded, I swear. We haven't harmed any of the subjects, I assure you. They are simply far too precious or that, except the ones they reject."
Bando clicked with his tongue in response to her answer, just another one of those morally challenged scientists that would swear that they had meant no harm despite that what they were doing was most certainly harmful to others. 'Fucking hypocritical bastard!' Bando's face contorted as that thought went through his mind, honestly, that alone would be reason enough for him to grab a steel bar and smash the woman's kneecap, just to get his point across.
"I'm not buying that, you know way more than that! Start talking or you're not even going to have the chance to regret pissing me off!" he sneered, the muzzle of the gun firmly pressed against the woman's forehead. Bando was making sure that the woman would be kept intimidated by him, that would lessen the risk of her trying anything stupid.
"I-I swear, oh G-God have m-mercy on me. I swear on my family that I have no idea what they are planning to do, please they are keeping me, hostage, here."
Bando didn't buy a word of it, not with the callous way this woman had talked about disposing of the bodies when he had sneaked up on her earlier. The woman was more likely to be lying and trying to paint herself as a victim so that she was going to be spared, though luck for her as Bando would have none of it. Not with a disgusting piece of filth like her.
"I'm getting really tired of waiting for my damn answer, perhaps I should just cut off one of your fingers to persuade you otherwise. Now start talking and stop wasting my time!"
"A-Alright, a-alright. Please don't shoot me?" shaking visibly the woman pleaded with him.
Bando sneered in disgust, "You're cutting it awfully close! My fucking answer now dammit!"
The woman nodded frantically. "Of course, of course. I don't know where they come from or where they are brought to, you see they are offloaded at a harbor and then transferred by other means. We're not allowed to go above deck and these mercenaries are here to ensure that."
"Who are these mercenaries? How are they involved and who hired them?"
The woman shook her head in return, she didn't have an answer to any of those questions. "We don't know, they just appeared all of a sudden and took over, anybody who objected just simply vanished. I can't give away my employer, they are going to kill me if I reveal that. You don't know who you are dealing with, they are more powerful than your bosses at the police."
It caused Bando to laugh out loud, just hearing how pathetic that sounded. Grabbing the terrified woman by the scruff of her lab coat he yanked him off his feet. "Listen up you miserable piece of shit, I don't work for the fucking police and there is nobody on this planet that is stronger than me! What makes you think that I won't kill you for not telling me?! That it won't be slow and painful?!"
Dropping the woman to the floor Bando was getting this close to just put a bullet through her brain. "Why are these not send away, why are they still here? Why are they incompatible?!"
Still lying on the ground the woman looked up at him. "Because they are ill, they have been diagnosed with Encephalitis which prevents them from undergoing the treatment."
She had barely time to react before she was lifted off her feet and shoved into the wall behind her.
"What fucking treatment?! Are you bastard experimenting on these kids?!" Bando yelled, his patience for the woman had worn thin. It was even worse than he could have imagined and yet he still remained unaware of what kind of experiment was being done to these kids, he needed to get some answers, anything to help him form a picture.
"I-I-I don't know, honestly I have no idea what kind of treatment is given to them, the only thing that I know is that a strict screening procedure is set in place in order to select only the best specimens. I don't know what means the selection procedure is intended for."
So they were selecting the kids with some kind of goal in mind but to what purpose was it? Bando sure as hell wasn't having a good feeling about it, something twisted was going on here and it didn't bode well for the other kids. He wondered if any of those kids that had died at the abandoned factory would have been deemed as incompatible? Just what exactly was it that these people were planning on.
The woman did, however, went into some detail as to what the requirements were that they had to select possible candidates on though she never could entirely answer any questions that Bando would have with regards to what they were doing. "We can't even work with any male subjects, only females are eligible and these can only be up until a certain age," the woman added.
Ninth dodged the shot as she jerked hard sideways, avoiding the bullet aimed for her chest with a certain grace, as she pressed her attack. "Keep trying, boy," she laughed as she spun on her axis and lashed out for Sakai with her boot which sends him flying. Voicing her disappointment she spat, "Sending a man to do a woman's job. How terrible."
Wasting no time she quickly recovered, getting back on her feet and darted past Sakai who was still reeling under the impact of her boot to his face. She wasn't interested in him, no she had her sights set on the younger of the two men, hopefully, this one could keep her amused for a little longer. "Come now mon gars, do not end this too fast for me."
Still terrified Kanzaki could barely get his aim straight, his shots going wild even at this relatively close range, he tried to steady his arm but his body wouldn't respond the way he wanted for it too.
Darting from side to side Ninth had no trouble in closing the distance enough for her to make use of her combat knife, lunging out with a ferocity she managed to draw blood. She was just toying with him, enjoying and savoring the fear that her unfortunate victim was emanating.
"Keep on trying, boy," she laughed at her prey, spun on her heel and slashed a deep cut in his cheek.
Lying on the floor Sakai felt like his nose had been broken by that kick, damn it hurt like Hell. From the corner of his eyes he could see that his man Kanzaki was struggling to hold up his own against this woman, she was simply playing with him, darting back and forth to avoid his clumsy strikes, he wasn't going to make it if this kept up and once she had finished him off then she would be coming for Sakai next. He needed to get back on his feet.
He needed to go and help his man, leaving him to his fate was going to haunt him for the rest of his life if he didn't do his best to change the situation. This really was one of those rare moments where he simply wished for Bando to be here. 'Never thought I would want that bastard to be here that badly, God I'm going to hate myself for wishing for this. Bando get your sorry ass down here now!' If the radio was working then he would be screaming for him to come but unless Bando were to stumble on them they were on their own. With his anger and hatred for this woman rising the pain began to wear off.
Groaning as he pushed himself up he wondered what he was going to do about her, anything was going to be better than nothing. She had to be stopped otherwise they weren't going to make it out alive. Her back was turned towards him at the moment.
Now was his chance, if he acted accordingly then he might just be able to take her out, his shoulder still caused him a lot of pain which made it hard for him to pick up his gun. "Bitch!" he cursed underneath his breath as he bends forward.
Picking it up he offered some thanks that she had hit him in the left shoulder instead of his right, otherwise it was going to be difficult for him to handle the recoil of the submachine gun. Removing the safety he braced it against his good shoulder, shouting for the man to drop down right before he opened fire on full auto. If it hadn't been for the silencer the noise would have been deafening within the narrow confines of this passageway, as if he could care about that right now.
"Die you bitch!" he roared in anger right before the hammer slammed down, his hands already moving on their own he slammed in a fresh clip before he even became aware of it. "Kanzaki, just shoot her! I don't care how but shoot her!" Although his initial burst of fire had failed to take down their opponent, Sakai had managed to put more distance between her and Kanzaki. It offered them some breathing space though he would have preferred putting a bullet or two through her.
Ninth hissed at being denied the pleasure she was having. "So the crusty old bear has decided to come to the aid of his compatriot, that is so touching but it won't help you. You're a terrible shot I should say, only managing to graze me twice."
Yeah, she was right there, he was a terrible shot all right. Even when it should have been impossible for him to miss but then she had likely reacted faster than Kanzaki had been able to and he could not have opened fire until his man had gotten out of the way. The fault lied with him, he had underestimated the woman.
"Are you alright?!" He asked as Kanzaki managed to get next to him, well that at least meant that they could form a front against her. If they could keep her at bay then their chances would improve and they might even be able to hold out long enough for Bando to appear.
"You think we can make it, sir? She looks pretty tough to me, it would help a lot if that man was here as well," he was breathing heavily, no doubt a result of the injuries Kanzaki had sustained across his chest. The way that she handled a knife was scary to behold.
"We can if we keep enough distance between her and us, as for Bando I have no idea. We can't contact him over the radio so we have to deal with this on our own." God, he wished that the damn radio worked. "Now let's move back slowly, the further away we get from her the better."
"You honestly think that you will be able to stay alive long enough, how naïve of you two but I am interested to know who this other man is that you are talking about. It is clear to me now that neither of you two would have been able to give that bâtard odieux a run for his money, au revoir," she licked her lips and smiled right before she tossed a pair of grenades towards them. They clattered across the metal floor with a metallic clank.
"Run!" Sakai screamed but it was already too late, the explosion swept them off their feet and hurled them through the air.
"What did you just say?" Bando asked, frowning as he looked at the woman. "What the fuck do you even mean it has to be females?! You're telling me you sick piece of shit that you vermin have been abducting little girls to fucking experiment on?! It took every ounce of his will not to strangle her on the spot, those girls were none of his concern but he sure wasn't planning on letting them remain with these perverted bastards. "I'm taking those kids with me now, open those damn units and wake them up!"
The woman waved her hands. "Y-You can't, they can't be awoken just like that from the hibernation. It's a lengthy procedure to get their bodies back at the right temperature, if you just pull them out right now they will die from the shock. You can't do that. You-." She was violently interrupted as Bando rammed the butt of his assault rifle into the woman's stomach.
"Shut up! I'm getting sick from just listening to you! Give me one fucking good reason why I shouldn't just blow your brains across the wall you fuck!" He was through with this excuse of a woman. His willingness to let her live grew thinner with each passing second, he was no fan of kids either but human trafficking and experimenting were a whole different matter to him. "Either you find a way so that I can get those kids out of here or you brain matter will decorate the walls, not one of you sick, twisted bastards deserves to live."
"P-Please I am telling you the truth, disconnecting them from the system and awakening them would kill them, it's a safety measure to make sure that they cannot be taken away by somebody without approval. I can-."
The back of her head exploded, the smoke still coming from Bando's .50 pistol. He had heard enough and honestly he felt no desire at all to letting this wretched woman live any longer, the callous disregard for human life was sickening. It was a different story when it was during war or combat but to treat others like some kind of meat on the table went too far even for him. There was nothing left for him in this room anymore, he couldn't do a thing for these kids and all that was left to him was to make the Seventh pay for it.
He would worry about this Ninth person later and after that, he would find a way to get these kids out of here before sinking the entire ship. Likely he was going to make sure that most of the bastards were going to drown along with it. What remained now was to link up with Sakai and inform his department.
He was going to have to go back and see if he could track them down faster than the enemy could, he just hoped that Sakai had been smart enough to leave him a trail to pick up otherwise it was going to be a, possibly, long search. "Dammit it Sakai, if you dare to die on me I'll fucking kill you myself!" he cursed as he tried in vain to raise the man on the radio but to no avail. It was still being jammed. "Worthless trinket." No longer having any use for it, he just threw it away. No further point in dragging it along with him and besides if he did wanted to contact anybody then he still had his cellphone.
Thinking about that he wondered if Dai had received his message by now, briefly considering it he just as quickly dismissed the idea and focused his thoughts again on what was more important right now; surviving this mess.
While it was certainly going to help to know that backup was on the way he couldn't spare much time on that, he had no idea on the amount of manpower that his enemy still possessed though it certainly was a good magnitude higher than theirs. Good, that was good, their enemy was definitely going to need that little advantage. Some might consider him to be arrogant in his thinking that he could one such amount of people, they could be right about him but they could also underestimate him. 'Like I could care what people think of me. Others mean nothing to me.'
They wouldn't be the first people to make that mistake, looks could be deceiving, he had made that mistake once himself and had paid a heavy price for it. Even though he certainly felt a growing contempt for these people he wasn't going to allow that to let him make the mistake of underestimating his opponents in battle. Seventh was a proficient fighter and certainly not somebody to take lightly, the same could likely be said for this Ninth figure as well though he had no idea on what he could expect should it come to a confrontation.
'Perhaps I'll be lucky enough that I fight the both of you at the same time, now that would be something I can look forward to.' His body ached for the thrill of combat when all of a sudden he heard an explosion in the distance.
Checking out the bodies of the dead men Seventh heard the explosion as well coming from one of the upper levels, craning his neck up he wondered what the hell was going on up there. Surely this Bando figure hadn't brought any explosives with him, did he?
"Just what the hell is going on there, don't tell me mate that you're planning on sinking this ship? That seems rather excessive now, had hoped for you to be a bit more delicate," he mentioned, wiping some sweat off his forehead, it was getting hot inside as it seemed the ship's air-conditioning had broken down. Just one minor problem on a night where so much seemed to be going wrong. "What a bloody mess, alright."
Pushing himself back to his feet her surveyed the mess that had happened here, no less than six men been had been attacked and killed. Their bodies were littered with shell fragments and large bullet holes, he could deduce that this Bando fellow hadn't been particular discrete in his attack on these men. "You're not one to pull any punches now are you?"
It was only a rhetorical question but it nevertheless caught the attention from one of the men arrayed behind him. "Who are you speaking to sir, do we need to continue with our sweep in this direction? Or should we secure the storage rooms?"
Seventh didn't answer the man, he wasn't in the mood for it anyway, besides that the grumpy mercenary wasn't really keen on having their company as well. He wanted to be alone to make sure that it was going to be him and him alone who would take down this Bando.
"Neither of which, we will split up here and you will take the rest of the men and reinforce the exit points, under no circumstances are they to be allowed to get off this ship! You let them escape and it will be your head that will be presented on a stick to the First!"
That seemed to get the point across as the men back off from him, no, he didn't need nor want them to accompany him and least of all he wanted for them to mess up the fight he so desired.
"I will continue this way and drive our prey towards you. Shoot on sight. No prisoners understood," he did say that but he certainly wasn't planning on driving Bando towards the waiting men, no he would drive him towards one of the holds where it was just going to be the two of them.
"Understood sir, I will have a runner go and look for Ninth and inform her of our current situation. With your permission sir, we will take our leave then."
"No wait, on second thought I will need for two men to accompany me," he remarked quickly as he pointed towards two men, he had plans to use them to his own advantage and to help setting up the trap that was forming in his mind. "I have a special task for you but for now we need to wait for a moment."
The two men and he watched and waited while the remainder of the group broke off and went their own ways. With them gone his attention turned back to surveying the scene of death and destruction that lied before him, studying it would hopefully provide him with some insight to his opponents methods though he had already seen at first glance that the man was rather direct and thorough in his approach.
Seeing the splintered crates and the damage floor panels he could tell that likely some grenades were used as well to make these men keep their heads down, anybody who would have tried to run would have been gunned down. Dammit, he wasn't so keen on the usage of those, one wrongly placed grenade could do so much damage to the ship and while he didn't really give much consideration to it he certainly wasn't too keen on the idea of it blowing up while he was still on board. He was going to be one that would survive.
"He sure did a number on these guys, are we even sure that this was done by one man? Just who the hell is this guy supposed to be? Some kind of special forces?" He could hear one of the men say behind his back. Special forces indeed if the information provided to him by the two dead cops was correct, SAT apparently one of the most powerful organizations that this country's government had access to. He was certainly planning to learn more about them once he was done here. "We are done here, keep the location noted so we can relay it to the clean-up crew. Our opponent has likely gone in that direction, right towards the other storage rooms." Fortunately for them, that area was also a dead end, sadly this Bando hadn't been that bright if he had rushed towards that area without bothering to look for other ways out. Cornering him was going to be a lot easier tough it did make it harder to goad him towards one of the other holds.
'Killing him there will be just as good, just as long as nobody gets in our fucking way,' he grinned in response to that thought but kept it out of sight of the other men, they didn't need to know about this. It was after all just going to be him and Bando, no need for any spectators.
Suddenly the lights in the room went out as did those lights in the passageway. Everything turned pitch black within seconds and for several moments it went dead silent with the exception of the occasional sound that to Bando could only mean gunfire. Somewhere up the passageway, nearer to the office ahead, he heard other sounds as well, voices, screaming and shouting. Standing still he kept listening to the noise, he could tell what was going on over there.
Apparently, there was a fight going on further up ahead and one side was clearly enjoying a massive advantage over the other. Briefly, he wondered if Sakai and his goon had been caught, well the two of them would certainly fit in the picture but there was something that made him reconsider as he listened carefully.
No, they way that the people were screaming told him a different story, those weren't cries of pain or agony but ones born out of terror and despair. Getting closer to it he still kept vigilant though he became all too aware that the noise had died down and that meant only one thing; whoever had been unfortunate enough to get ambushed had been decimated.
It made him be anxious with excitement, oh to think that there was another person on this ship that could possibly achieve such a marvelous feat. It was only courtesy to greet them and if possible tests one's own mettle against such a worthy opponent.
Looking above him the lights were still out, it wasn't an incident that in this area they had gone out, no, whoever had planned this ambush had made certain they would stay out long enough to get the job done. Such thoughtfulness and thoroughness. Admirable.
All of a sudden and with no prior warning the lights in the passageway turned back on, yeah that definitely wasn't a coincidence, his guard was up as he felt that somebody was watching him. The silence that settled in was unnerving, it was in such contrast to what he had heard before, this was making it rather eerie. Gun at the ready he took a deep breath and rounded the corner, it was utterly deserted.
The noise and screams which had been silenced all of a sudden only moments earlier confirmed to what he found in the now deserted passageway, there were the unmistaken telltale signs of one-sided battle but what perplexed and also unnerved him the most was the absence of any bodies.
Even without those, the place looked more like a charnel house, the stench of blood thick in the air. The brass casing of bullet littered the floor. Kneeling down he took off his glove and held one in his hands. "The brass is still warm, they were shooting at something very recently," he said to himself, it matched with how the noise had died down before he had managed to get here. Dipping his finger in one of the many puddles of blood he felt how it was still sticky, it hadn't even started to clot.
"Not much of a fight either, I doubt these guys managed to hit anything before they got sliced and diced," he remarked as he checked the patterns of the bullet impacts, they were all over the place as if the men had been firing in every possible direction. It was odd as there were only two ways in this hallway that a person could have hit them from. It didn't make sense but he couldn't put his finger on it either.
'Just who the Hell managed to pull this off?' He had ambushed several groups as well but none of them came even close to how weird this one was, taking out multiple targets within a very short amount of time and then even managing to dispose of the bodies.
Given a closer look at the direction of the blood splatters and there were a lot of them he could tell that the attack had come from multiple directions which were virtually impossible given the rather narrow confine of this hallway. Just how had their assailant managed to pull that off, this could not have been done by a single person, it gave him an eerie feeling and he had to think to what he and Sakai had discovered earlier.
He tried to come up with an explanation for what he was seeing but this was not a case where he could simply connect the dots, he did have to admit though that it had been pulled off by somebody who was really good at this kind of thing. Certainly not a couple of goons hiding behind a crate of something.
"Who the fuck are you?" He asked himself, taking a mental note that he was going to need to exercise more caution from now on as it became apparent that there were others on this ship apart from him and Sakai but until he could confront these persons he remained unsure of their motives, he certainly wasn't going to put himself at risk until he was aware of those.
Keeping his gun at the ready he moved on, leaving the bloodstained section of the passageway well behind him but still keeping in mind that he needed to be weary of his own surroundings unless he wanted to share their fate as well. "Like hell I'm going to end up like those bastards, mark my words, I'm going to fucking pull through this shit!" He continued further, going in the direction that he estimated that the explosion would have originated from.
With his ears left ringing Sakai felt like somebody had folded him double and dumped him in the nearest trash compactor. Just about every part of his body that he could feel at the moment hurt, and it hurt like hell. "I think they could scrape me off the floor right now…" he groaned, trying to move but the way his body was protesting made him feel like he didn't have the strength left to continue any further.
"Bando, that bastard, is going to have a field day if he could see me like this. I can already imagine the smile on that bastard's face, ah like I could care…"
Damn, he must have been hit hard if he was feeling this terrible, then again that woman had thrown no less than two grenades at them, if any feeling he should count himself rather lucky. He should have been dead, much less being able to complain about his sorry state.
"… Sir, sir are you alright?" He could hear Kanzaki cough, good that meant he was alive as well, it certainly made him feel better knowing that the man was also alive. "That was some blast, oh thank goodness that we managed to live through that one."
Sakai tried to crack a smile but even that hurt. "Yeah, damn lucky for us. You don't suppose that that crazy woman was blown up as well? Could use some more luck for sure."
He heard the man's heavy breathing, guess that meant he had been hit just as badly as he was. Well, not much of a surprise, hopefully, that woman had been caught in the blast as well otherwise, they were going to be in so much trouble as neither of them would be able to put up much of a fight right now.
"I don't know sir, everything's a blur to me," Kanzaki responded as he let out a sigh and Sakai could understand his position, his own vision was also affected, shapes were vague and blurry to him, he could just make out contrast but nothing that would enable him to recognize a person. That woman could be standing right in front of him now and he wouldn't even be able to tell, let alone if anybody were standing a few meters away from him.
"Kanzaki, do you think you're able to stand? We need to get a move on," Sakai coughed, trying to clear his lungs, but every time he did it caused a burning sting in his chest. "Others must have heard that explosion no doubt, they're likely on their way towards it." They couldn't stay here any longer, even if they were both in a terrible shape, staying here for any longer would spell certain death for either of them. More than ever they needed to find a place to hide while they recovered before linking up with Bando.
"Of course sir, I doubt it's gonna be fast, though. I can't feel my left leg but I'll try."
Good, that was what Sakai wanted to hear, as long as they refused to give in they still had a chance left. "On the count of three, alright? One, two, three." They both groaned as they struggled to get up but somehow they managed it, barely. Leaning against each other for mutual support Sakai got his first glimpse at just how bad in shape they really were.
"Damn, you really look terrible," Sakai remarked underneath his breath as he caught a glimpse of the ravaged form of Kanzaki, the man simply looked terrible, likely he himself wasn't in any better shape or at least that was how he felt. "Alright, let's orientate us first, I would hate for us to walk right into the wrong crowd now."
He could hear Kanzaki chuckle in response. "You shouldn't jinx us, sir, that would really ruin this day," the man mentioned as he cautiously tried to take a step forward but the moment he placed some weight on his injured leg he collapsed on the floor, his leg unable to support his own weight. "Shit…" Was all that Kanzaki could say as he lied there, he didn't scream or cry in pain which likely meant that his nerves had been damaged by the shrapnel. While that was going to help him to keep moving as he could ignore the pain it also meant that they wouldn't have any idea just how badly injured his leg really was.
Sakai kept it to himself but he figured out that the man's leg was possibly broken. Hopefully, it could still be fixed, he certainly prayed for it. Leaning forward he reached out with his arm.
"Alright, lean on me. Let's also keep a lookout for anything that we could use as a crutch. Don't put too much weight on that leg, Kanzaki. Now let's get away from this place…" With considerable effort they slowly started to make their way out of the damaged corridor, hoping that this route was going to lead them to safety.
Plunging the syringe in her arm Ninth growled as a surge of pain flared up, those grenades should have done the trick but at the last moment, the younger of the two men had kicked them back towards her. Luckily she had been able to take cover in the nearest room before they detonated but it had not been without risk.
It had taken a few seconds to long for her to reach the safety of the room, a few seconds that had meant that part of her was left exposed when the grenades went off. Shrapnel had embedded itself in her left leg.
It wasn't going to be a hindrance to her, she had plenty of experience of being injured under difficult circumstances, this meant nothing to her. "Those bastards, this means that I will stop playing with you any longer, next time I will kill you on the spot. Fun time is over."
Finished with tending her wounds she checked the radio to try if she could contact any of the men, an update on the situation would be welcome as she had been out for a while.
"Worthless piece of scrap, to think I have to work with this kind of junk. Well, I should get going, I can't allow the men to do a woman's job." She didn't need it, all that she needed to know was where her prey was going to and that was something she could do on her own.
Getting back on her feet she was ready to go back after them, she didn't know how much of a lead they had but figured that it likely wasn't going to be much given they must have been hit just as hard as her, they had to be in an even worse shape that she was.
Injecting another set of painkillers she was ready to resume the hunt once more, leaving the room she already noticed that if she wanted to go after them that she was going to need to use a different route, apparently the explosion of the two grenades had been sufficient to deal enough damage to the supports leading to them to collapse. That section of the corridor had caved in, leaving it blocked.
"Well it seems that the hunt is on again, I hope you two won't disappoint me," she said, licking her lips with anticipation of having to track down her prey. Hopefully, it was going to be a challenging one as otherwise, she would satiate her frustration on the two of them once she caught up with them. "Then again I should not expect too much from men."
If they were anything like the Seventh then she would be better to brace herself for a disappointment, for that matter she wondered if her orders had already been relayed and executed. "Even a L'imbecile such as him shouldn't have any trouble in carrying out such a simple order but then that bâtard has messed up before. If he screws up again I will make sure that First will be informed of the failure of Seventh. There will be no second chance after this."
She couldn't help but smile thinking about what fate was going to await her fellow mercenary, she had never been a team player nor did she care much for her supposed comrades in arms.
Well, it was going to have to wait for now, tracking the intruders down was more important.
Shouldering her rifle she set off in pursuit of the two escaped men, she was going to track them down and once this little merry dance would come to an end she was going to kill the both of them. And she would make sure that their deaths would be slow and painful.
Bando quickly jumped back into the cover. "Fuck," he growled a little, as he had rounded the corner he had nearly run into an enemy search party, hurrying back into cover he wondered if they had seen him but as it remained quiet he figured that he had been lucky this time. They were standing right in front of a doorway and he needed to be on the other side of it.
"Only two of you, that shouldn't be so hard for me to pull off," he told himself, honestly, just two armed men who weren't even aware of his presence would hardly pose a threat to him. Right now he was the one holding the element of surprise and with that the decisive edge in the fight. "Two shots is all that it's going to take."
He was planning on making this swift and clean, no protracted battle or a brutal assault this time. Taking them both out with the minimum expenditure of ammo would enable him to restock his supplies. He was going to dart from the cover and use the submachine gun to take them out, one shot in the head each, the silencer would drown out any noise made from shooting. That was going to be the plan here, nice and simple and without too much fuss.
Placing down the shotgun and the assault rifle on the floor as they were only going to be in his way if he wanted to make a swift move, he would pick them up the moment the two men had been taken care off. "Better make sure that I don't waste any bullets on you two."
Switching the weapon's firing mode to selective fire he was all set, that was until a sharp crack could be heard coming from the corner, followed swiftly by a second after which all went quiet. He was getting that eerie feeling again from before and he became all too aware that it had gotten way too quiet all of a sudden. The men had been talking up til mere moments ago but now there was nothing, not even a sigh or a cough. Something wasn't right here.
Moving closer towards the edge he pulled out his own combat knife and held it in front of him using the polished metal as a mirror to get a better look, he sure didn't like what he was seeing; the two man were dead, their bodies slumped against the walls of the passageway.
"What the fuck just happened here?" He wondered, uncertain how this could have taken place almost literally underneath his nose. Slinging the submachine over his shoulder he picked up both the shotgun and the assault rifle, for now, he preferred raw firepower over stealth.
Taking a deep breath he jumped out from behind the corner, his gun aimed for whatever there was for him to encounter; the corridor was completely deserted. "You have got to be fucking kidding me here, just what the fucking Hell is even going on here?!"
It didn't make any sense to him, while the first one could have at least had some directions to attack from there was nothing here, there was only one way for anybody to approach them and that would have taken them right past him. That was impossible.
Crouching down next to one of the bodies he began to check it, hoping that he could find an answer to what he had just happened. Once he began to check their neck he learned what had happened, here a deep cut had been made at the base of the head or rather where the spinal cord met the skull, no doubt it had been severed. Placing the man back Bando was left wondering who had been able to pull this stunt off, neither man had seen it coming and neither had he. "How the fuck…?" He was left puzzled, how could both guards have been taken out in rapid succession from the back without the other seeing it? This was now the third time that he was confronted with people been taken out that he could not explain and it kept getting weirder. The first had been doable, the second troubling but this was impossible.
With the first one, he had a hunch about the air duct running above where the blood trail led into, here there was nothing. That said the opening that led to the ducts above him were barely large enough to get his hand through, he ruled them out.
There was another clue left as he checked their weapons, the safety hadn't even been removed which meant that the attack had been so quick that neither could have reacted. Turning his attention back to the entry wound he marveled at how precise it had been, who had made the attack had known exactly where to strike, bypassing the body armor and going straight for the killing blow with a surgeon's precision. "Very impressive," he told himself as he closely examined it. "Very impressive indeed, bastard. Just who the Hell are you?"
These guys were definitely pro's, then again he found it hard to believe that special forces would be active on the ship as well, least of all as he should have picked up something. He had been one, if not the best, and not even he could have managed to pull off a kill like this.
"It can't be SAT, I doubt that any of the other branches would be involved in this. This doesn't match with their M.O's. This is way too precise. I'm starting to think that we have a new player at hand, now where could you be hiding then?"
Looking from left to right he searched to see if there was perhaps a camera that this person could have used to make the attack, perhaps an ambush had been placed here earlier, a possible booby-trap that might have been employed?
He tried to come up with all sorts of explanations for what he was seeing with his own eyes but it all of them simply fell short. There was a piece missing to this puzzle. Well, he could waste more time by standing here and looking around or he could get his ass moving and try to find Sakai. After that, they would look to get the remaining kids of this ship.
Then came another unpleasant surprise, his hand resting on the wheel he noticed that the door was locked even with the clamps free, this door wasn't supposed to stay closed. Trying to turn the wheel again he found to his frustration that it refused to move an inch, no matter how much he strained himself in an effort to get the damn thing to turn it simply wouldn't budge. After a while he simply gave up, his strength exhausted, there was no way he was going to be able to open this door. He was getting a really bad feeling about it now.
Risking a glance through the glass the noticed that he couldn't see a thing, there was nothing but darkness across the other side and yet he couldn't shake the feeling that he was staring somebody right in the face, a chilling sensation that stirred his very soul. "This is bad," Bando said to himself underneath his breath before he turned on the spot and broke into a run as fast as he could. If what he was beginning to suspect was true then everybody on this ship was as good as dead, he needed to find Sakai and get then get off this ship before it was too late.
For Sakai it had been an exhausting walk, not only did he struggle to move but he also had to offer support to Kanzaki who's leg seemed to go from bad to worse. Their pace was painfully slow but at the very least they kept on going further, the corridors were, fortunately, absent of any people which was for the moment a huge relief to both of them.
"Sir, if I'm not mistaken we should be able to reach the outside decks after that door. We can then go back downstairs and use the exit right there," Kanzaki pointed out to Sakai as just up ahead a large, heavy door came into sight.
Sakai fervently hoped that it was left unguarded, given it was only a small emergency escape it was possible that the enemy would ignore it in favor of going for the actual ones. "I hope that we can be lucky once more, once outside we'll go straight for my car. Hopefully, Bando has managed to get out as well so we can leave."
Even though he wanted to stay and call in reinforcements that was no longer an option, both him and Kanzaki needed urgent medical treatment and he had no idea in what kind of shape Bando was going to be but he kept it in mind that he was likely as bad of as they were.
It didn't sit well with him how bad this little operation had gone, truly this had to be the worst possible outcome. He had already lost two good men, two more turned out to be traitors though he had no idea on their further fate. The man he was helping was seriously injured and it was even possible that he was going to lose his leg, Bando he had no idea but he feared the worst.
As for himself he fully expected that there were going to be severe repercussions for his own career, if he were going to be able to leave with a dishonorable discharge then he could likely count himself lucky.
There was no telling how much information had been passed through from his department, he also wondered if those two were the only traitors in the entire unit or that there were others as well, it was a terrible revelation and one that made him question if they were ever going to succeed. The fight against organized crime was bad enough as it already was but if one also had to deal with corruption and traitors amidst the own ranks then it became a lost battle.
"Sir, are you alright?" He was asked but for now, Sakai chose not to answer it.
Taken his silence as an answer Kanzaki, fortunately, kept silent, only providing the occasional hint in which direction they needed to go. It was a welcome change as Sakai just wasn't in the mood for talking right now, much less to a colleague as too much had happened.
Then Kanzaki decided to break his silence and say something that he felt that his boss needed to be told. "Sir, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have been prepared for what happened. You couldn't have known that people from our own department would have been bribed. You shouldn't be blaming yourself."
Hearing those words did make Sakai feel a little better though it did nothing to take away the concerns he had, even if one of his own men felt that way there was no guarantee that his superiors were going to share that opinion. There was even a highly probable chance that the men that had been bribed had already placed evidence to incriminate him should he survive. He didn't even dare to think that maybe even some of his superiors might as well be in on this, if that was true then he was going to become a scapegoat.
"Thank you, Kanzaki, for what it's worth. Still, don't waste your breath by trying to make me feel better about my own failure, you should focus on staying alive. You have a family that you need to go back to, I refuse to be responsible for another death on my watch, you hear me?!"
Like Hell he was going to let this man die here in this place, no, they were going to make it out alive. For that matter, he was also starting to hope that Bando was still alive, even though he was a bastard that Sakai could miss like a bad toothache he still was a better man that some.
"Turn left here Sir, it should be right around the corner." He went in the direction he was being told, sure enough, a sign appeared overhead that they were heading towards an emergency exit. Finally, it seemed that something for a chance was going right this night.
"I can't wait to get off this tub, I'm sick of it," Sakai cursed as they got even nearer, so far it was going well for them, there was no noise up ahead that would signal that men were stationed there. Only the light humming of mechanical and electrical components greeted them. "Almost there, just a little more and then we'll be safe." They were so close now.
Cracking a smile since they had gotten on board of this ship Sakai felt reinvigorated, the promise of safety filling back his reserves. He wasn't going to stop now, not now that their salvation was coming into sight.
"Keep your eyes open Kanzaki, I would really hate for any of those bastards to find us when we're nearly there," he mentioned quickly, becoming aware that perhaps their little escape might have been going a bit too well. His natural suspicion set in, causing him to become very weary all of a sudden. Perhaps it had all been going a bit too smoothly for them?
The door was just around the next corner, maybe no more than just ten more meters for them to go, still, it remained silent, could they be lucky one more time?
A woman's voice drifted towards them. "Bonjour, I am so glad to see you have made it this far, that saves me the trouble of having to come and find you. Now come mon gars, let us resume where we left. Bon, okay?"
Squatting down Seventh had a good look at the bodies of the two death men, inspecting their bodies he was impressed at the manner in which they had been taken out so swiftly. "Very impressive mate, I don't even think that Second could have snuck up on people like this, truly you are a worthy opponent alright."
The amount of planning and patience that must have gone was in stark contrast to how ferocious the attack must have been, neither of the men had been able to react before taken out. Well, he was going to have to keep note of watching his back when he would confront this Bando, truly the man was a highly capable assassin if he could do this.
"Oi mate, such a shame I'd have to kill you. First might even have wanted to offer you a job as we have a vacancy open with you having killed Twelfth." That man had never been really good at this job, he had little more than a butcher and Seventh felt elated to know that the useless trash was taken care of. The loss of such a man was more of a benefit than a loss.
But this Bando person was somebody entirely else, then again it was unlikely for him to be persuaded so easily, the man did not seem to appear to be the kind of person who could easily be bribed or turned.
During their fight, he had seen enough to determine the kind of spirit the man possessed, single-minded and determination were but two of the words that immediately sprang to his mind. But then he wasn't really interested in recruiting, all he wanted was to get a good scrap.
The two men who had accompanied him earlier were still present though they kept a certain distance between themselves and him. That was good as he felt no need for their company. They were still a good way off from where he could set up a good trap.
Scraping his throat he wondered if he would have taken the obvious short route or the better longer route; the short one meant using the door though that one was going to make it more difficult to corner him, the longer one was going to make that easier depending on how much of a head start his prey would have but it also provided the man with more places to set up an ambush for them.
"Where did you go mate, which route did you pick?" Most people would have gone for the shortest possible route, it was pretty obvious but then this was no rookie. No, this man knew that kind of risk which made the possibly of him taking the longer route more viable.
"Yeah that's more like you, isn't it? Taking the longer route and leading us on a merry dance, sorry but I'm not going to fall for that one, mate." Pushing himself up he weighed the options that were at his disposal, either taking the longer route and hope they could catch up in time or go with the shorter one and hope they could cut him off. A shame that he didn't have a clearer understanding of the man's course, his heading wasn't straight but it certainly wasn't random either. Was there something going on that he wasn't aware of?
Without being able to contact other teams it was difficult to keep track of any developments or to be kept aware of any possible spotting of the target. That would make it so much easier.
Then all of a sudden his radio burst to life, taking him by surprise. A series of messages and orders started coming in, it caught him unaware but it also held a nice surprise for him, the intruders had been spotted and were now being driven away from the exit point. Unfortunately, he also learned that Ninth had already engaged the enemy. "Damn you, wretch, he's mine!" he spat silently and stormed off in a furious pace.
Bando narrowly avoided slamming into Sakai as he came around the corner. "Fuck where have you been?! Care to tell me what the hell you have been up to?!" he yelled in frustrated anger, it was that he could think on his feet and that his sense was sharp enough otherwise Sakai might have found himself in a less fortunate state.
"Bando, don't go! We need a plan of attack! Dammit!" Sakai yelled to him in return as he hinted over his shoulder towards where the voices of approaching men could be heard coming closer. "This whole thing is going sour fast!"
Bando just shrugged as he reloaded the gun. "I have a plan, attack!" He pulled the trigger and opened fire, catching a few of the overall-clad figures who couldn't duck behind cover fast enough. "Now get your sorry ass moving! I'll cover the both of you!" Firing again he caught two more of them, their bodies dropping to the floor as the bullets tore through them.
"We can't stay here any longer! We need to get out of here!"
There was no argument from Sakai, they needed to get out and fast. Their exit was blocked and already more men came rushing at them, likely from multiple directions. Automatic rifle fire ripped through the air, men were screaming and dying somewhere behind him as Bando struggled in his efforts to keep the mass of enemy bodies at bay.
Staying in these narrows passageways wasn't going to help them forever, at some point they would get outmaneuvered, they needed somewhere with more room as well as cover. Moving as fast as he could with Kanzaki still leaning on him Sakai just hoped that not one of those bastards were going to come from the back. Right now he couldn't even defend himself, let alone Kanzaki.
"Sir, give me your gun. You can't defend either of us like this," the injured man said, lifting his other arm up to indicate that he could still use it.
Seeing the merit in it, Sakai nodded his head in agreement as passed the man his pistol. "Just make sure to shoot at anything that moves, now come on!" Behind them, they could hear the distinct sound of a full auto of the assault rifle that Bando was using, how he wished that he could help the man.
"Sakai! Move it faster damn you! We can't stay on this ship any longer! We need to get off it! Or we're all death! You hear me?! Death!" They both heard Bando shout as he brought up the rear, Sakai was firmly aware that they couldn't stay here any longer and needed to get off this ship as fast as possible, even so, he found Bando's reaction a little bit exaggerated.
"I know! First, we need to take cover somewhere!" He looked in every direction, hoping to see a sign or something that would provide him with an idea on where to go. A door was pulled open but before the man could react Kanazaki opened fire, putting four bullets into the man before he crumbled.
"Good shot, now let's go. There is a storage room nearby, we'll use that to regroup and come up with a plan," Sakai was quick to remark, without even being aware of it, their enemy had unintentionally provided them with a way out.
"Bando! We're leaving! This way! Sakai screamed for what it was worth, his voice seeming to get drowned out by the sheer noise created by automatic weapons fire and small explosions. It seemed that Bando had resorted to employing what grenades he had left in order to keep the tide of men back. Going past the dead man they headed straight for the storage room, signs making it clear which way they needed to go.
"Sir over there, I-I think it's an exit." He heard Kanzaki shout with excitement, for a moment he didn't believe but then he looked in the direction. It seemed unreal but there it was, an exit and not a guard in sight; it seemed that it would lead straight to the upper deck. "Bando?"
"Close the fucking door!" Bando shouted as he was the last person to go through it. "Close it damn you! Get down!" Barely had Sakai managed to close it or several explosions rocked this section of the ship, guess Bando had indeed used several grenades to keep them at bay. As the silence that followed settled in it dawned on them that they had somehow managed to get out alive. Picking themselves up slowly they began to smile, they had made it.
"We've done it, sir. Oh, thank God we made-." Kanzaki smiled until his stance suddenly changed and without warning, he started to groan, his body convulsing in response to a searing pain that gripped him. And then his chest erupted, bones cracked as they were snapped, a monstrous spear-like object tearing through in a spray of blood.
Author's note: There you have it, folks, next chapter is up. Sorry for being a little later with this one that usual but I have been under the weather for a few days now with a severe case of the flu that doesn't seem to want to leave, ah I'm just feeling miserable.
Going to keep it short, enjoy the chapter and take care.