Chapter 16: The Leanbox Rhinos
Note: The previous soundtrack is still going (Note: Readers please listen to Need For Speed 2005 Most Wanted Pursuit Soundtrack 1.)
One of the Leanbox Humvees attempt to ram into our car, but I manage to use a speed breaker and I dodge the Humvee. I just managed it as it moves past me slowly, It's quite nerve racking.
I just hope our racers are alright, as while I've always been hoping they're ok and I've always been confident, I'm starting to get more concerned.
Noire gets on the radio and must be thinking similar thoughts to me.
"Are you guys OK? Is there anyone hurt or dead?" She asks with much concern and with a caring tone.
"We're fine but the Humvees have hit us pretty hard. We can still move but taking out those Humvees will be quite difficult." One of the Lastation drivers replies.
"OK, just keep driving don't engage the Humvees we'll take them out." Noire orders.
That's a great idea as their cars should hold out.
"OK. I'll board them and take them out." I say to Noire.
"OK." Noire replies in a happy tone while smiling in admiration towards my idea.
While I know our cars are bullet proof and have a lot of health, I'm concerned some of them are taking damage; if the Humvees are not dealt with we could end up dying here.
It is unfortunate that we can't just use the Bugatti's own weapons to destroy their Humvees. But I completely understand as we need them to find any possible evidence as to regards their base, as well as making sure they have no survivors.
I then see the Humvee that attempted to ram us closing in from the rear. The gunner is constantly shooting our car with his mini gun; I look around inside the car, relieved to know the bullet proof glass is barely suffering any damage or dents. I decided to lower my window a crack and I manage to shoot the gunner in the head, with such a good shot. Another soldier then takes the gunner's place, but I shoot him in the head too. The Humvee then resorts to ramming us again.
"Take the wheel Noire." I say to her calmly.
She responds with a nod before sliding towards the driver's seat.
I climb out onto the roof quickly as Noire takes the wheel. The Humvee then hits us at the back, but it doesn't deter me as I then jump onto the bonnet of the Humvee, before I climb onto the turret. One of the passengers tries to shoot at me but I kill the soldier quickly. The remaining passengers including the driver try and avenge their fallen comrade, but one by one they die by me sustaining little damage from them. It is then I get in the driving seat, getting used to the controls as well as the different location of the driving seat itself.
I get on my own radio as I quickly adapt to driving the Humvee.
"OK I captured a Humvee." I reply to Noire.
"Well done." Noire replies sounding rather pleased for me.
I then speak to the cop radio.
"I have managed to kill a Lastation soldier, but he took out all of my passengers. I need a gunner right now, over." I say to the chief.
"Approved I'll send a soldier over." The chief responds.
As ordered a Humvee then approaches me from behind, and is getting really close. I see a soldier climbing onto the bonnet ready to jump to my vehicle, who's none the wiser.
I quickly mount the mini gun, putting lead inside the gunner's and the soldier's body. I then quickly get back to the driver's seat before they can do anything.
"Be advised, one of our Humvees is in fact commandeered by a Lastation soldier. Be advised he could be Lord Black Lead, he's highly dangerous, approach with extreme caution. Remember our goal: to capture Lord Black Lead or Lady Black Heart whoever is alive from their duel." The Leanbox soldier says via cop radio.
Duel? This concerns me that they know me. I speak to Noire on my radio.
"Did you get that Noire?" I ask her with much concern.
"Yeah I thought only some of Lastation know of your existence, this concerns me greatly not least of which that they expected us to duel." Noire replies to me in the same tone as mine.
"I reckon they, whoever they is expected us both to fight each other. Do you remember the brain washing we experienced? They must have hoped we'd be brain washed into fighting and killing each other." I explain to her.
"I'm worried they'll find out we're still alive." Noire replies with deep concern.
"I think they think I killed you. Just stay in your car, keep your windows shut. Hopefully they won't see you." I say to her.
"Way ahead of you." Noire replies, it's good to know that she has the same thoughts as me.
Right now I feel we're at a stalemate. They need to capture me, but I don't think they know I am Lord Black Lead, and they don't have the means to be able to box all of us in, all they can do is keep going until they meet their roadblock.
As for us, well we need to take them out, but we need all of the enemy troops dead. The only way to do that is by shooting their passengers, which is a negative due to us getting killed from the mini guns. Or we can kill them by jumping on their vehicles which only myself and Noire can do, and we both agreed it's best for my CPU not to show herself to the Leanbox troops.
I gotta move fast as time is running out. What to do Black, what to do? Suddenly a Leanbox soldier then leaps on to my Humvee, who came from the vehicle behind mine. He must be clinging onto the back of it, I know this because I saw him from the wing mirrors, as well as Noire telling me via radio.
Before I know it however he throws a flash bang inside. Fortunately I find myself to be flash bang proof, so it doesn't affect me at all. When he jumps down to deliver the final blow, I shoot him with my G Con 45.
Before anything else could happen, I then choose to board the Humvee behind me by climbing out of the hole on the roof.
I reach the bonnet only to have one of them mount the mini gun. Luckily I shoot him before he gets to spin it though. After which the driver attempts to shoot me off but I shoot the female driver in the head, before she can even fire.
I manage to get into the Humvee through the hole on the roof, where the mini gun is mounted. I decide to keep the accelerate button pressed down, by using the dead driver's hands. I just hope it won't be too much of a problem doing that. I then get on the mini gun and start shooting at all the various Leanbox gunners. After a little while of wiping the gunners out, I get down from the mini gun. I go back to the driver seat and decide to take her hands off from the accelerator, I then look behind me to see another Humvee I could jump to.
I open the door and I see the Humvee I wish to jump to aligning itself, so it's soldiers could shoot me. Before they could lower their windows to shoot at me, I jump. As I jump I grow concerned with where I could land, but I manage to grab a wing mirror with one arm. I'm hanging on in hopes that I don't end up falling behind the cars, as I manage to shoot one of the occupants of the vehicle, as they lower their windows. But that's not before another one of them try to shoot me off with an assault rifle. Thankfully the bullets neither cause much force or damage, but I then notice him trying to reach a shot gun. Before he could grab it however I was able to fire again.
I can feel the wind blowing on me as I hang on to that wing mirror for as far I'm concerned dear life considering the lost time at worst and therefore potential danger of my allies, trying so hard to secure myself. But it is very precarious and I have worries that I would fall. Eventually though I grab onto the door, by holding on to where the window meets the door. I manage to shoot the rest of the passengers while holding on, even if they had time to shoot at me back. I must admit though being shot didn't make holding on any easier.
Next, I somehow manage to open the door I'm holding on to. I quickly climb around where I'm holding, and pretty soon I am able to step into the car itself. Finally I get into the driving seat but before I can shut the door, a Humvee knocks the door off as it drives past. Whew that was lucky but now I'm exposed to enemy fire.
They must have noticed me on that door so they wanted me to be crushed. Even if I was lucky I could do with another vehicle, one where there is a door on the driver's side. I notice the Humvee that drove past in front, with the gunner trying to shoot at me. With this in mind, I steer the Humvee so that I am able to dive from the Humvee I'm in to the one in front. I choose to get out on the roof, not letting the enemy gunfire deter me. As soon as I'm on the roof, I then get on to the bonnet and dive to the back of their Humvee, holding on as securely as I can once again.
When I feel as comfortable as possible holding on, I then shoot the gunner and climb to where the mini gun is. I then manage to shoot at all the passengers inside the Humvee fairly quickly. I do so by rolling around the roof, taking them out one at a time when I could.
I choose to stay at the mini gun and fire at the other gunners of the Humvees. More of their soldiers come out to man their mini guns, only for them to suffer the same fate as their comrades. A few of their Humvees drive past me as I try to shoot the occupants inside, but to no avail due to them having bulletproof windows. I guess I'll need to board them then.
Luckily due to one of the Humvees driving past really close, I manage to jump towards that Humvee.
Upon grasping the roof. I manage to lean my head over the hole, killing the passengers inside one by one. After mopping them up I then board the Humvee itself.
I mount the mini gun in another attempt to take out the other gunners on their Humvees. I manage to do this but they drive past once again. What makes the situation worse is I now see a sturdy roadblock up ahead, consisting of about half a dozen Humvees. And they all have their mini guns pointed towards us. I don't think they're within range but I'm unsure if we'll get through. We need to take them down but I need to find a way to do so.
"Be advised roadblock is in place, they won't get through, we've got them.
If they turn around then chase them but don't open your windows, ram them off the road and box them in if you can. Be advised this is all we got, you must succeed in capturing Lord Black Lead over." The chief finishes off.
At least this is the last of them, fortunately I now have a plan as I get on the radio to Noire:
"They have dispatched a roadblock up ahead, I don't think we'll be able to punch though it. I'm unsure if we can keep going, but I have an idea though." I say to Noire.
"I see it too. Let me guess you wish for us to stop our cars, fake our surrender and then have me take them out with the on board mini guns?" Noire asks me.
"Yeah we work best when we ambush. Let me board your car, I need you to stay in the vehicle, they cannot know we're both alive." I respond to her.
"Sure excellent idea." Noire replies in a friendly manner.
I see her car driving to the side of the Humvee I'm in. I manage to jump to it and get in the driving side with ease, as Noire moves over to let me drive. Though it feels good to be back in her superior car, there's no time to waste as we have a situation to deal with.
The moment I'm driving I get on my radio.
"Everyone I want you to stop your cars now." I order to the racers calmly.
The Leanbox vehicles reach the roadblock stopping gradually when they get there, while all of us on the other hand break right now. Our tyres screech a bit from the sudden breaking.
"Their cars have stopped." One of the Leanbox soldiers on the radio says.
"Good. OK be careful, encircle the cars." The chief replies.
I see some Leanbox soldiers walking slowly with their assault rifles pointed towards us, they aim their guns looking through the sights as they attempt to have us surrounded.
I get on the radio again, giving more orders to our troops.
"I want all the drivers to get out now. When Noire fires her mini guns I want you to arm yourselves and attack OK?" I speak calmly.
They all reply to me on the radio confirming they'll obey. Noire then turns to face me smiling.
"When do you want me to attack with the mini guns? Are you going to give me a signal?" She asks with much curiosity.
"I'll let you do it in your own time, some time when they approach us and see us surrendering." I reply as I get out of the car.
Noire wishes me good luck before I'm out of the car and shut the doors.
Those of us that get out of our cars, all stand in a line next to our rides. One of the Leanbox soldiers then gets on their radio.
"Good news chief they have in fact surrendered, I have reason to believe that Lord Black Lead is among them..." He reports to his chief.
I can see the radio person smiling, as they're being praised for their success. But I know their success will be short lived.
"…Sure we'll take them into custody." He then holsters his radio after talking.
"Put your hands up, do it Now…" One of the soldiers yell, but he gets interrupted due to a hail of fire from Noire's mini guns, that pop out from her amazing car.
The mini guns are able to move around like anti air guns, as it rips up various targets. This includes the gunners and the various soldiers as they fall to the ground quickly, with multiple bullet holes in them.
At this time we all get out our shields and guns to protect us. I can see a few more Leanbox soldiers cowering behind the Humvees, eager to get away from our fire. The ones that came out to arrest us are now all dead, along with those that manned the guns. It pleases me that the tables have now turned and now my it's my turn.
"Now it's your turn to surrender, come on out I will spare your lives I promise." I yell out to them.
"Never!" They yell back.
They stand up, making their last stand only for us to wipe them out pretty quickly. We all check to see if all of the Leanbox soldiers are dead, I even look with my special vision but I see no green bodies, indicating that they're all dead. I get on my radio to report the good news.
"All clear." I say to Noire.
"It's annoying how they never surrender, it's probably due to them being brain washed. I just wish I can just one day save at least one of them from being killed in battle." Noire responds with plenty of frustration.
I soon see her get out of her car.
"Let's see if we can find any intelligence in those Humvees." She says to me calmly.
We both walk towards the Humvees with much curiosity as to what we'll find.
We both head into one of them. I see a dead driver inside though this one is wearing what looks like a green coat with a hood, but it looks like one from olden times. I stepped into the passenger's seat to have a look at what I can find. Only suddenly the driver threw a smoke bomb inside the vehicle.
I expected it to have no effect on me, but it does as I'm struggling to see from the smoke and it's choking me quite a bit. The next thing I know I hear two shots, only I now find myself to be in serious pain in the chest. I must have been shot but how can I've been shot before but be perfectly fine, but be shot by this driver and now I'm in serious pain? Both me and Noire try to shoot back, but we can't see him to shoot accurately. I have to get out of the Humvee or else I'm done for.
Suddenly I then hear the sound of glass breaking, which surprises me considering how I thought these Humvees were supposed to have tough glass. What is going on? It's not long before Noire quickly pulls me out of the smoky Humvee, before looking inside herself again. It is now she finds that the smoke has finally cleared, and this assassin has had plenty of bullet wounds in his chest, he's now dead. She quickly returns to me to see how I am, before putting her hands on me in an attempt to sooth my pain.
"Are you alright Black? How badly hurt are you?" She speaks quite frantically, perhaps she's worried that she feels responsible for me being injured, and feels bad for it.
Though I am in serious pain, I don't bite her head off as she's only looking out for me.
"Unfortunately not, do you know how long I'll last? I'm in serious pain, do you have anything for my wounds?" I struggle to speak due to the pain.
The pain is difficult to ignore but amazingly, Noire placing her hands on my wounds sooths it a bit, making it a bit more tolerable. I never knew she could do that with her hands but it is impressive, I wonder if it's the power of love. Or perhaps it's how massaging relieves pain, and since friendly fire is impossible Noire can't hurt me by touching my wounds. After feeling her soft, warm, caring hands I don't make so many gestures to show how much pain I'm in now. This causes her to smile in the knowledge that her beautiful hands are making me feel better.
"Don't worry you won't die, you're just at fairly low health at about 33%. But your health will increase by 1 health point a second, meaning you should be back to full health in 2 hours. Though your pain will go away during that time, I do actually have something that can heal you back to full health, get rid of your wounds and your pain." She speaks with pride, pleased that she is able to relieve me from my pain.
"As odd as it sounds I think it's best to let my body heal itself. I think me being wounded could be more convincing to them, and the pain should help me to act." I reply still being in pain.
"That's very true. As you wish Black. I must say I admire you for not taking aid, so you can use your injury as a ruse. I best thank Uni for the assistance." Noire speaks to me as though she's proud of me. She smiles a lot as she keeps her hands on my wounds there, gently rubbing her fingers getting rid of the pain as best she could.
After which she gets on the phone thanking Uni for her assistance, but after that I find myself wishing to talk to her about what just happened.
"I find it odd that we couldn't see the assassin via our magnetic vision. Not to mention how his smoke bomb blinded us, and his gun actually wounded me. It's a good thing Uni helped with her long range Sniper rifle, she's an amazing shot." I ask as I'm baffled with all of this. Still at least I can talk normally.
"I have reason to believe that he was a boss, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's actually a well-known character. My gut tells me he was an assassin, as people like him have the ability to be invisible to special vision. They're also able to affect people like us with things like smoke bombs, and when their opponents are stunned their weapons cause an unbelievable amount of damage, but only when they're stunned. It's fortunate that he merely shot you in the chest as he could have killed you.
I am however working on a means to detect assassins before they strike, as well as being resistant to their smoke bombs, but it'll be a lot longer before they'll be available to everyone in Lastation.
If I'm honest this is the first one to have been encountered here, though I have a lot of knowledge on them thanks to people like Shay and Ezio." She explains to me smiling. She seems to enjoy massaging my wounds with her fingers and thumbs, as it makes her very happy perhaps it gives her pleasure.
Yeah, where have I heard the names Shay and Ezio before? Hmmmm.
I must admit I do have memories about this. I remember how assassins often blended in, as well as how they were able to throw smoke bombs to stun their targets, before killing them. Yeah it is certainly easier to kill a target when they're unaware, which perhaps explains why assassins have much more damage when they're assassinating. But what concerns me is who is this assassin?
I was wanting to have a closer look at the body, but then I hear the cop radio:
"Hello? Is everyone there, what's going on? I heard a lot of gun fire and dying, is everyone OK?" The chief is saying frantically.
Noire gets on the radio, pretending to pant.
"I'm the only one left, but the good news is we have won the battle and I've captured a wounded Lord Black Lead." She says speaking in a different tone.
"OK meet up with Jacqueline Porter back at base." The chief replies.
"Sure no problem." Noire responds to her.
We then move away and make a discussion.
"There must have a base in Lastation somewhere just as I suspected. Although it deeply concerns me that I don't know where it is. I'm Lastation's CPU I should be able to know where it is.
OK. I propose we find that base, infiltrate it and maybe we can learn more about those attackers. More importantly how they sneaked in undetected." Noire speaks with concern and shock.
She then transforms into another person. She doesn't transform to her human version but instead, she now has short blond hair and baggy woodland camouflage trousers. She also wears a black t shirt with a grey vest over it.
"What do you think dude? Do you think they'll realise I'm actually Lady Black Heart?" Noire asks me as a joke.
"Nahzzz, I was thinking of the same thing. You disguise yourself and you and I infiltrate the base, with you posing as a Leanbox soldier while I pose as myself but wounded. The story shall be that you captured me then hopefully, we can learn more about those dorks." I reply to her.
She nods in agreement towards my idea, after which she gets on the phone again.
"Hi. Great news Uni, we have reason to believe there is an enemy base nearby, but it's invisible to my radar. I'll let you know where it is but would you be able to provide sniper support, as well as camera support if there are cameras, …..you will? Ok thanks I owe you two now. I'll never forget the day you've saved our lives." Noire speaks with pride, sounding quite jolly.
She now hangs up.
"I have 2 questions Noire. 1. If they have the means to become invisible to your CPU radar, wouldn't they also have the means to have it so you can't watch them by hacking cameras? And 2. What if we can't find this base?" I ask her politely.
"Good questions, you make a good point. Firstly I would know if a Lastation camera has been tampered with, because there are cameras in every building, even if they are not in one of Lastation's buildings, we can set up cameras to find them. As for the second I have reason to believe their base will be marked on their GPS hopefully." Noire replies sounding optimistic.
I find it odd and bizarre that I never encountered any X Box characters, except perhaps this assassin but I've no idea who he was. There's only been Leanbox soldiers and lots of them, there is probably a significant reason to this. Although that encounter was a close call, I do feel something strange about this, almost as if they want us to wipe them out. It does make me wonder whether the assassin was there knowing the troops would fail, or whether they knew he'd fail too. It's hard to say but it doesn't feel right at all.
My CPU then picks up a Leanbox pistol, before we head to the Humvee with the dead assassin. We try and have a look at his body to see if there are any clues. Other than his dual wield pistols and a hidden blade, he doesn't have anything else. Nothing distinctive, just that he was an assassin. After that we place him in the back, before getting in to drive ourselves. As it turns out Noire is correct as there is a GPS, and on it is the location of their base. Noire then tells Uni of the coordinates and we head out.
I have various thoughts racing through my mind, as I'm curious to know why Shay and Ezio are such familiar names? As well as the questions that my CPU has, about them not being on her radar and them being able to ambush us. Yes various thoughts race through my mind indeed, not least thoughts of my wounds aching me, but it is for the best as it's useful for convincing my enemies that I did duel with my goddess, and I was wounded before being captured. Hopefully I can find answers, maybe they might know something about what's going on here?