'Crack!'
Another bullet tore through the hot air of Tarailia and screamed towards its target before slamming into the AC unit with a loud ping. Behind said AC unit, Blondie growled slightly. Being a nox wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. He was the biggest target there and the gunman knew it, sending another round downrange.
He wasn't sure what type of rifle the kugraw had, but he knew it was big and hit hard. That also meant it had a rather slow fire rate, something he could take advantage of. The dinky little AC unit he just barely fit behind wasn't exactly the ideal form of cover against a high powered rifle. It would only be so long before one of those bullets snuck past. He needed to get somewhere safe or risk having a hole blown in him. He waited patiently before...
'Crack!'
The kugraw fired again, the result the same. The bullet bounced off the edge of the unit and fell to the floor. However this time Blondie was ready. As soon as he felt the bullet slam into the metal behind him, he drew his rifle and popped out of cover. He quickly took aim at the prone kugraw before firing off three shots.
'pow, pow, pow!'
None of the shots hit their mark, but they certainly took the kugraw by surprise. Blondie took the opening and scrambled away from the AC unit, breaking line of sight with the marksman. Now safe behind the solid brick wall next to the doctor, he breathed a small sigh of relief.
"Are you ok?" Erica called out as she scurried over to him. Without saying a word he shoved her back slightly, in no mood to be playing fix up with her. Erica stumbled slightly but just managed to extend her tail out and stop herself from falling over. A confused frown spread across her face.
Down on the lower level of the rooftops, Vex and Ava were hatching a plan.
"Looks like there's a way to flank him. You've got that fancy shield, right?" Ava asked as she holstered her pistol.
Vex cocked her head to the side at first, but after a few moments a malicious smile formed on her lips.
"I see what you're thinking," she gave a gleeful nod before readying her mace. Ava drew a short sword he had hidden under the back of her shirt and gave her a small nod.
"You ready?"
"Ready!"
With her confirmation, Vex leaped back up over the small wall and directly into line of sight with the kugraw. From his point of view, she was standing directly in his cross hairs with no way of attacking him. It didn't take long for him to pull the trigger.
At first it seemed like an easy kill. However the kugraw was taken aback as Vex held her left hand out and all of a sudden a large blue circle appeared in front of her. The bullet bounced off the shield and embedded itself firmly in the concrete ceiling. However it did leave a small crack in the shield.
Wasting no time, Vex pushed forwards. Making sure to keep herself behind the shield at all times, she slowly began walking towards him, each bullet he fired bouncing harmlessly off into the ground. However it wasn't long before the cracks started to get larger and larger.
'Crack!'
Another bullet soared towards her. It struck the shield like all the others, except this one managed to shatter the blue device into pieces. The blue energy flickered briefly before disappearing all together. Vex looked slightly stunned as she found herself standing on an open roof top in the direct line of sight of a kugraw with a sniper rifle.
She closed her eyes and braced for the inevitable impact of a bullet hitting her. But it never came. Instead, there was a sudden roar of pain. Blondie, Salvo and Erica all popped out of cover to witness Ava sneak up behind the kugraw and ram her blade firmly into his back. Unfortunately, he seemed to be wearing some sort of armour which deflected the blow. However it was still enough to penetrate his flesh.
Vex immediately took the opportunity and raced towards the now injured Kugraw. Said kugraw immediately whipped around as the cold feeling of metal piercing his body became more apparent. Now fuelled with rage, he dropped his rifle and quickly reached for the small dagger by his waist. Ava was fast, but she wasn't fast enough.
She swung at him but he moved with surprising speed. He was barely able to twist his body out of the way of her strike, countering with his own. Although small, it was precise. The dagger impaled her just below her stomach. It wasn't a deep wound, but it certainly felt like one. The kugraw drew his hand upwards, tearing open a clean hole in Ava's chest. She cried out in agony as warm red blood spilled all over her hands and chest.
Thankfully for her however, the blade had barely penetrated her skin at all. It was more of a draw cut than an open wound. Still, it was enough to knock her off balance. She stumbled back slightly before tripping over and slamming back into the floor. Before the kugraw could finish her off, the sound of footsteps behind him were growing louder rapidly. He turned around just in time to see Vex's mace flying directly towards him. However, just like with Ava, his speed caught Vex off guard.
Her strike missed. But the Kugraw's follow up certainly didn't. The position he had put himself in meant his back was now facing Vex. Using this to his advantage, he spun around and let his momentum carry the weapon. In a split second he whipped around, dagger in hand. Vex was caught by surprise. A look of pure fear was etched into her features as an explosion of pain rocked through her body.
Erica watched on in horror as she saw the kugraw slam the dagger directly into the side of Vex's throat.
The little vett'iri seized up briefly. The mace dropped from her hands and she reached out for the kugraw, desperate to try and wrench the dagger from her neck. But it was no use. She choked slightly as she felt her breath escaping her lungs, but no air flowing back in. Her eyes were wide with panic, but that only served to fuel the kugraw's malicious blood lust. With about as much care for her as his garbage bag, he grabbed her head and shoved her to the side. The vett'iri slammed into the pavement, green blood covering both her and the kugraw.
She let out a few more choked gasps before her breathing halted, her eyes closed and her head tilted to the side slowly. A large pool of green blood began to spread across the concrete beneath her.
A sudden and violent emotion rocketed through the dahmak. She'd just witnessed two people stabbed. Every bone in her body was urging her to stay behind cover and she wanted nothing more than to get the hell off this roof and go home. The crack of gunshots resumed as Salvo and Blondie traded fire with the kugraw. But it all started to become white noise.
She quickly decided that staying here and cowering, despite that being exactly what she wanted, wasn't going to get them anywhere. Going against everything she wanted, Erica threw herself from her cover and began bolting towards her fallen allies. Bullets whizzed past her but she was just fast enough to slide past the engagement and cower behind a small outcropping that provided adequate cover for someone her size. Before she could think about what the hell she'd just done, a sudden blast of air whipped across the roof.
The group all halted as the sound of engines suddenly roared to life. It lasted for about four seconds before behind the roof, a large single seated jump ship rose from beyond their view. It was painted a dark black and has a golden cockpit with two small stubby wings protruding from the belly of the vehicle.
The kugraw quickly began fiddling around on his gaunt before his gaze snapped up and he smiled as a small cable began to dangle from an open hatch inside the ship. The ship proceeded to begin hovering above the large skylight that took up around half the roof. Wasting no time, he bolted for the cable. However Blondie and Salvo had different plans.
Blondie's focus wasn't phased by the huge ship above them. He kept his cool and pulled on the trigger. A bullet zipped through the air. Hitting a moving target was hard, hitting a moving target while there's the equivalent of a small hurricane on the roof? That was almost impossible. His shot landed, but it wasn't as lethal as he'd hoped.
The kugraw winced as the bullet struck him in the side. It wasn't lethal, but it was enough to halt his progress. He doubled over and tripped, slamming into the glass skylight. It was enough for Salvo to get an idea. He quickly holstered his pistols and began bolting towards the kugraw.
The assassin was injured, but he was quickly back up and grasped the rope. With another tap of his gaunt, said rope began to rise back into the ship.
While all of this was going on, Erica made a break for where Vex lay. Ava was alive and conscious, that put a few of her worries to rest. At least she would be fine. Right now Vex wasn't so lucky.
The dahmak raced over to her and tried her best to control her breathing as she looked over Vex's lifeless body.
It didn't look good.
The dagger was firmly lodged in her neck. It took a bit of effort to wrench it free, but the dahmak was able to remove it fairly easily. She threw it to the side before seizing a small case of super strong medical glue from her sash. The wound was large, it would definitely need stitches. But right now there was no time for that.
With hands as steady as an angel's, she held the wound tightly and began covering it with glue. The liquid set almost as soon as it touched her flesh, sealing the wound and halting most of the blood flow. She then grabbed what little bandages she had left and began wrapping them as tightly around her neck as she was comfortable with. Too tight and it would choke her. Not tight enough, and she'd lose more blood. Something that she really could not afford to lose right now.
Thankfully, by a stroke of sheer luck, the knife had missed her spine. It was more to the front of her neck and the blade was facing vertically, not horizontally. That little detail might have just saved the vett'iri's life. Erica worked as fast as she could. She had experience with injuries like these, but she also had access to almost all her tools back then. Right now she was a discount combat medic.
After she was satisfied the bandages would hold, she quickly shuffled around in her messenger bag and prayed that what she was looking for wasn't shattered from how much she'd been moving around. Her knees ached from kneeling on the concrete but that was the least of her concerns right now.
She pulled out a small needle out and gave it a gentle shake as she inspected the greenish liquid inside. When she was satisfied, she quickly pulled Vex's left sleeve back and jabbed her vein. There was something odd about her though. Her veins looked almost like they were black. That was not healthy at all. Still, she could fret about that later. Right now, keeping the vett'iri alive was her top priority.
Soon after she'd given Vex the adrenaline booster she pressed her fingers up against the vett'iri's palm.
There was a pulse. She was still alive.
Relief washed over the dahmak, but it didn't last long. She was alive but wouldn't stay like that for very long if she didn't start breathing soon. Unfortunately, despite coming as prepared as she could, a breathing assistance device was a little too big for her messenger bag. The only other option would be mouth to mouth.
Wasting no time she quickly pinched Vex's nose shut and lowered her mouth down. She prepared to begin the process when suddenly Vex's eyes snapped open. She quickly gasped for breath and was taken aback as she was greeted by the sight of the doctor a little too close for comfort.
"Gahhhh... ahhhhhh," she inhaled. "I-I'm sorry... d-did I miss something?" She asked after catching her breath, slightly confused as to why Erica was mere centimetres away from her. "Woah there cowgirl, we don't even know each other yet," she jested, clearly oblivious to how close she'd just come to biting the dust.
Erica sat back and breathed a long sigh of relief as Vex's breathing began to stabilise. "Thank the architects," she mumbled.
"What... what's going on?" Vex asked.
Erica opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by the sound of a bullet impacting right next to where they were both sitting. In the fear of losing her patient, she'd almost completely forgotten about the fact she was still being shot at by an armed assassin.
That same assassin was now hanging by a cable and currently being hoisted up into the belly of his ship. If the crew didn't act fast, they were all about to be in big trouble.
Salvo's eyes were filled with anger. This guy had just murdered his friend. There was no way he was about to let him go. With as much force as he could muster, he launched himself into the air. Had he been a millisecond later, he would have fallen and crashed right through the sky light. Thankfully though, he was just able to grasp onto the small bit of slack cable that dangled from below the ship.
He rapidly hauled himself up, now clinging on to the assassin's waist.
"Get off me you deadweight!" The kugraw snarled as Salvo tried his best to break his grip on the rope. However the assassin was holding tight. With only seconds left before he would be inside, Salvo suddenly had another idea.
"Blondie... grrr... shoot- shoot the rope!" He called as he struggled with the kugraw.
Blondie's ears perked up as he heard Salvo's call. He knew the risks involved. The cable was barely even an inch thick. Even the best marksman in Spectra would struggle to hit that shot. Not to mention while there were two heavy kugraws fighting on the end of it? A wrong move and he might end up hitting Salvo. That seemed to be a risk both of them were willing to take though.
Slowly, he raised his rifle and held his breath.
"Wait, no!" Erica called out. If Blondie succeeded, then both Salvo and the assassin would be sent straight down.
Through the skylight.
Her protest fell on deaf ears however. Blondie's eyes narrowed. The world around him slowed down as he channelled all his focus onto the thin cable. That was all that existed now. Nothing else mattered. He waited for his breath to steady out, taking note of the natural patterns in his body movements. There was no room for error.
'Bang!'