A lost ITEM


[ACMI: Omen]

As they left the car out into the night air, a cold wind blew past due to the speed the train was moving at. Rather than continue on to the next car, Shiage pointed up.

"There isn't an emergency ladder on these cars, I think I may have to pull each of you up."

Esther shook her head "That will take too much time, our pursuers are too close behind you."

Frenda had something though, she reached into her bag and pulled out something that looked like a collection of… car spoilers?

"If there's no ladder, we can make her own. Help me with these."

The little rungs could be pushed against the side of the metal car and activated by an electric lighter that Frenda had also had on her. It activated some sort of thermite or similar compound in the rungs that made them fuse against the wall, creating a solid foundation.

"They'll be able to follow us." Shiage noted.

"No time to complain!" Frenda noted as she began climbing quickly "And we'll need to help Takitsubo."

The named esper was leaning against the car wall and panting. Shiage helped her up the ladder brackets, though as they arrived, GV noticed a pair of Hound Dog members had climbed up to the roof one car behind them. They must have predicted what the team was thinking.

GV raised his pistol and fired twice, both into the roof of the car near the members. He wouldn't shoot those that were technically team mates though that didn't meant he wasn't going to shoot near them.

The rest of the team ran on ahead, GV following last and glancing back as he ran, discharging his pistol twice more with bullets that he'd infused his hair into.

At a mental flex, the roof of the car behind them was electrocuted and he made the charge jump to the guards through their steel-toed boots.

"Sorry, I wasn't aiming for you!" He lied as he called back.

The train was coming towards a turn into the station, that meant they needed to hit the breaks.

GV and the survivors of Item hunkered down to avoid falling over before leaping from the train at the corner.

The combination allowed them all to land relatively harmlessly beyond a fence on the other side. Takitsubo was shielded even from the ground as Shiage had pulled her into an embrace to shield her landing.

"If we keep moving above ground, it will be easier for them to find us." Esther noted as they moved. Shiage nodded.

"There's an underground facility near here, I know where.

The team ran on. The pursuit was sapping all of their strength though and they were all panting heavily.

The facility was locked but as the others kept an eye out for enemies, Shiage picked the lock.

As he worked, GV's phone rang from an unknown number. He hesitated but answered.

"What are you doing?" The girl in a dress' voice emerged "I have reports from Hound Dog that sound like you are breaking from the mission."

She didn't sound angry or confused, just a mild interest.

"Conflict of interest." He noted "The people that are with the target include some acquaintances I'm not willing to harm to get to him."

The others looked over as GV said that, but the girl's voice didn't really sound all that worried as she went on "So you're looking for an angle, is your skill so lacking you haven't found an angle yet."

It was fairly clear that she knew he wasn't trying that hard, but the polite fiction was maintained by her not pointing that out.

"Ask her what happened to Kinuhata." Frenda called from her watch position.

"Is that one of your acquaintances I hear talking?" The girl asked simply "You might as well set your phone to speakerphone mode."

GV did and there was a polite cough from her as he held the phone out for all to hear.

"Hamazura Shiage, you should probably think about giving up now." The girl began "Just make it easier for yourself."

"Not happening." The man answered simply as he kept working on the lock. As it clicked audibly, the woman sighed.

Frenda repeated her earlier question "What happened to Kinuhata?"

"She's injured, but not dead. She'll likely be sent to a reformatory until someone decides to release her."

The news seemed to cheer the members of ITEM up as GV concluded the call, promising to give the mission a good shot. It would probably be a lie but if Shiage ended up dead he'd try to claim credit.

With the door open, the extended team ran down into the facility. Good thing too as Hound Dog was almost upon them again.

Their five pairs of feet pounded against the metal floors, the sound bouncing around and making their presence really obvious to the team that was following behind.

However, Takitsubo's strength was finally giving out, her legs buckled under her as Shiage managed to catch her.

GV and Frenda moved quickly to cover them as Esther went forward to help carry her.

"Go!" GV called to them.

Frenda nodded, pulling out some explosives "We'll buy you a bit more time then follow behind you!"

At their words, the man regretfully nodded, taking help from Esther to carry Takitsubo faster.

The sounds of footsteps approaching them grew louder as the Hound Dog remnants approached.

"Hey." Frenda noted "What excuse are you planning to use here for letting Hamazura go?"

GV hummed as he checked how many bullets he had left in his pistol "Not sure yet."

"Thanks for helping us." Frenda admitted "I was worried when I realised we were trapped. You really came through for us."

GV nodded "You all seem like good people, and some of you are Joule's friends. Not helping you would have felt bad."

Frenda was quiet for a moment "Go on, run ahead to cover the others. I'll be fine on my own here. If Kinuhata was left alive, I should be fine too as long as I don't leave my death as the only way for them to go forward."

"I was told to avoid killing any of you if possible." GV agreed "But are you sure?"

Frenda began tossing handfuls of small balls onto the floor of the tunnel where the members of hound dog would be coming from. She just gave a nod.

"Yeah, I'm not sure why, but I feel like they'll need you more than me. I don't want to split my attention or do things by half measures. So go on, we'll break apart here."

GV nodded and spun, just as the soldiers of Hound Dog came into sight.

Frenda smiled.

"Just soldiers? You'll need more than that to get past me!"

As GV ran, he heard detonations behind him.


End of chapter.

I was going to end this chapter on a different note, but here is good enough.

I need to get back into writing after taking some of the Christmas week off. This is how I started that, only I then forgot to upload it until the new year. Oops.