| Chapter Twenty-Six: Suburban Warfare Barrier Greenback had never been so proud in his life. The toad sat on a high stool, watching from the window of his office as the final Buzzbomb was loaded under Gallagher’s right wing. The ship’s weapon systems were now fully online, and the missile launchers worked like a charm. There was little more that Revolver’s crew could do…Gallagher was battle ready. And the best part, Greenback told himself, was that the Buzzbombs might actually work. A team led by Boomer Kuwangner had done the actual Buzzbomb recovery. The devices Boomer had brought back to Revolver were aged, rusty, and useless at first glance. But, really, you don’t just throw a nuclear weapon in the garbage. A nuke only comes into one’s hands once in a very blue moon, Greenback thought. They had to make some effort to salvage the Buzzbombs, once they discerned what they were capable of. The strategic capabilities of such a weapon were priceless for the Mavericks…the ability to take out an area with the radius of a city block held great possibilities. They could surgically remove Hunter Headquarters and all its assets from the map while focusing the rest of their firepower elsewhere. The sudden loss of a headquarters and most of their commanding officers would be too much for the Hunters—they’d never recover in time to mount a counterattack. The Mavericks would seize control of Megacity 5 after defeating the wimpy Megacity Army. How long they would hold it was another story entirely, Greenback knew, but during that time they could do a number of things crucial to their cause. Once this possibility had been confirmed, Revolver had looked to Greenback to make that possibility into a reality. The Buzzbombs were decrepit and needed a lot of tricky work, not to mention some plutonium. The Mavericks had many resources throughout the world, and a contact was able to smuggle some of the plutonium into the Catskills, but only enough to support two or three of the Buzzbombs. That was all right, Greenback had learned, because only two of the original five Buzzbombs had any potential at all left in them. Welding was Greenback’s trade, but bombs were his hobby. The kooky frog often spent his free time hanging out in his personal laboratory, devising demolitions devices that The Team was always more than willing to implement. Greenback was extremely good at his trade, and so when Revolver had realized that he himself didn’t have the technical know-how to fix the Buzzbombs, Greenback had been assigned the task. Nuclear weapons were a new thing for the frog. Sure, he was good at all conventional bombs, but even he made mistakes. One time he’d blown up his office in Steel Alley, hurting himself more than a little. Fortunately it had been a small bomb, and they had been able to reattach his arm. Shortly afterwards, when he’d joined the Mavericks, Greenback had installed a barrier program in himself similar to Armored Armadillo’s Rolling Shield, just in case he made any more mistakes. He’d heavily doubted the reliability of a Rolling Shield against a nuclear blast, though, and so he’d taken painstaking steps to make sure he did things right. He studied for weeks before even touching the Buzzbombs, and that was saying something, considering Reploids could simply upload information into their databanks without going through the time-consuming learning process that humans suffer through whenever they have to learn a new skill. Greenback made sure that he knew the ins and outs of every nuclear bomb variant in existence, and he’d pulled up the old files of the Buzzbombs themselves, files written when the United States had placed the Buzzbombs among their nuclear arsenal. He’d learned everything there was to know about the bombs, and then and only then had he started work on his task. One of the first things that he learned was that as easy as it was for a nuke to blow up a city, it was considerably difficult to detonate the damned things. All kinds of wires had to cross at once, systems had to flow in a certain way, the detonating mechanism had to go through three specific strokes, and it just went on and on and on. Any number of factors could make the process go wrong, and Greenback soon realized that try as he might he could not do anything about that. What he had been able to do, however, was transform the Buzzbombs from defective pieces of scrap into the real nuclear weapons that they had been years earlier. Actually, Greenback admitted, that was a generous summarization. He’d been able to fix two Buzzbombs, and “fix” was a very technical phrase. Sure, they could work. It didn’t mean that they would. Greenback had modified the warheads and used his plutonium to reactivate them. All that was needed for the bombs to become live was to push a button inside Gallagher. The proper circuits would then be completed and the warheads would merely wait for impact. And even then, “impact” did not necessarily mean “detonation”. Greenback figured that there was about a fifty/fifty chance of his two successfully reactivated Buzzbombs going off. Yes, he’d been able to rewire the warheads, but like he’d noted earlier, any number of factors could throw them out of whack. The Buzzbombs were fragile things, after all. The men inside Gallagher—and the humans and Hunters looking on—would all hold their breath when the Buzzbombs flew, waiting to see which way the coin of fate would turn up. That would make Greenback feel somewhat powerless, he knew, and he didn’t like that much at all. If the warhead failed, the Buzzbomb would be useless. Or at least, that was the case when Greenback began his work. However, to guard against total duds, he’d personally fashioned the delivery missiles that he’d attach the Buzzbomb warheads to. Even if the warhead failed, the missile shafts were loaded with some very explosive materials. They would do major damage to any structure they hit…no, they wouldn’t destroy Hunter HQ, but the damage would be significant. However, if the warhead did work, Greenback knew, a crater would replace Hunter HQ as planned. The man who’d tipped the Mavericks off about the Buzzbombs…what had his name been? Greenback couldn’t recall it. He was an agent of the Gold Serpent, and the name was probably false, but whoever it was was in a high spot in the Megacity Army. No doubt he thought he’d been selling the Mavericks pieces of trash. Greenback wondered vaguely what that man would think if he knew what Greenback had accomplished now. He’d probably soil himself, the frog thought with a cackle. Those Army blokes never could stand up to the Mavericks, even when they’d used conventional weapons. Giving the Mavericks nukes, however…well, that man would soon feel like a real idiot, Greenback was sure. Two Buzzbombs…two targets. What could they be? Hunter HQ, that was for sure, Greenback thought. How could any sane Maverick pass up a target like that? The Team WAS sane, right? But that was target one, and assuming it didn’t take both Buzzbombs to destroy Hunter HQ, where was target two? The Council Building at the center of Megacity 5? No, Greenback decided, that wouldn’t accomplish anything. Anyone important would be evacuated from the building before Gallagher made its approach. The Council Building could be destroyed with the cluster missiles Gallagher carried, if it needed to be destroyed at all. What else, then? Alden Base? No, that was just a reserve station—all its important gear would be at Hunter HQ by now anyway. So what?! What did that leave? What was target number two? Greenback didn’t get a chance to think that one through any further. Revolver walked into the office slowly, leaning against the doorframe. He looked doped up, Greenback thought, but that was probably due to lack of sleep or rest of any kind. Revolver had been working round the clock with Greenback and Chuck to put the finishing touches on their airship. “Well, good sir,” Revolver said, and stopped to allow for a huge yawn. “I believe we are good to go. A few more systems checks and tests…give or take two days.” “Greenback is pleased,” the frog replied. “Are Buzzbombs working properly?” “They are,” Revolver replied with a nod. “You did a stellar job, Greenback. You actually gave us nuclear weapons.” “Nonsense,” he croaked back modestly. “Greenback just…built on what was already there.” Revolver chuckled. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. Anyway, I’d say it’s about time we called it a night. Chuck and I are headed back into the castle to see if we can’t grab a drink before Gravity Beetle stops selling it. Care to join us?” “Greenback will do just that!” The frog hopped off the stool and bounded over to the door. “Has been too long since Greenback had drink.” “I share your pain.” Revolver let Greenback lead the way and followed the frog slowly, letting a number of thoughts roll through his tired mind. After this job was over, Revolver would be staging a coup d’état of sorts in Steel Alley. Chuck was already working with him on the matter, but they hadn’t spoken to Greenback about it yet. Frankly, Revolver didn’t know if he could be trusted. Greenback’s loyalty was to Steel Alley’s engineers less than the Alley itself…Revolver thought he could mold his motives to fit the engineers’ best interests, at least in Greenback’s eyes. The frog would be an invaluable member of Revolver’s team. He’d already proven that. Revolver, like so many others, had vastly underestimated the intelligence that Greenback carried in his head. Now that he knew Greenback’s full potential, however, Revolver was reconsidering his earlier judgments. He glanced behind him at the airship that would soon change the world. All it would take was this one mission, Revolver knew, and everything would switch around. If he managed to survive, he’d have a whole new world of opportunities. He didn’t know yet that a mission was underway in Sub-City 3 that would throw a real wrench into his gears. That was the problem with conspiracies…more often than not there were other conspiracies going on around you. ____________________ Fang landed on the roof of a library overlooking the main road and crouched down. He clutched his sniper rifle in his right hand, with the safety off. He hated using the cumbersome weapon, but it would only be for a moment. Two rooftops away he spied Kismet crouching in a similar manner. Fang envied her. She got to carry an RPG—rocket propelled grenade, more easily defined as a “bazooka”—rather than a sniper rifle, because her role in the mission was a bit different. Other Mavericks appeared on nearby rooftops, getting into position for the attack that was to follow. With Boomer Kuwangner, that made nine Mavericks in this mission. There was some traffic on the roads, but it was light—most people had already left for work over in Megacity 5, and this was mainly a residential area. The rush hour was more or less over. Traffic was dwindling even further now, as though to make the Mavericks’ job easier. Fang grinned toothily. The panther had signed onto this mission mainly for the chance to prove himself. He’d been left out of the quarry and Blackstar missions. Instead, he’d been used mainly for reconnaissance, something he was good at. His stealth was what had gotten him the green light for this mission. His friend Kismet had helped him with his spy work, but she’d been somewhat higher in clearance rank. Not that she’d kept any secrets from Fang, of course. She had been working closely with a Maverick named Tetra who was currently stationed in a Reploid junkyard that serviced “fairly intact junk” which was an oxymoron if Fang had ever heard one. Tetra’s job had been to divert salvageable mechaniloids to a factory in Steel Alley occupied by Mavericks. The mission had worked well, and via Tetra the Mavericks had been able to amass a group of Bee Blader hovercopters among other things. Kismet’s skill at stealth had gotten her into this also, and Boomer Kuwangner tended to look to the two of them as his unofficial lieutenants. It made Fang proud. But nothing would make him prouder than to pull this mission off successfully, he knew. He watched the road below him—it wasn’t all that far down, the library was a short building—and waited for the little motorcade to approach. Boomer would radio them all before it got close, of course, but still he paid close attention to the scene below him, daring the Hunters to make an appearance. He raised his sniper rifle and pressed his eye to the scope, scanning the area below and making sure he felt comfortable with its usage. It would only be needed if Kismet failed, and Fang highly doubted that Kismet would fail, but who knew? It paid to be careful, in a mission like this. Fang scanned the building tops and found the Maverick he was looking for. The Reploid had been built to resemble a cricket, or some ugly bug like that, and had probably been selected for the mission due to his jumping skills. The Maverick was also decent with a sniper rifle, only his rifle carried rounds that were not meant to kill. Rather, they contained “bullets” that disintegrated with the heat that came from impact, and they were to be used on Zero. The round would bust through his armor, but it wouldn’t plow into anything critical, since the bullet itself would not be there anymore per se. Instead, the casing would be gone and the inner contents of the bullet—a powerful tranquillizer that slowed Reploid operating systems to the point of incoherency—would spread throughout the victim’s body. Zero would drop like a rock and the Mavericks would make off with him. Fang would personally prefer to slit the prick’s throat then and there, but the High Command or whoever had demanded that Zero be brought back alive. Signas, on the other hand, was just a target and nothing more. When his car got close enough, Kismet’s RPG shell would streak down from the building tops and reduce his transport to ashes. If he or any of his guards survived, Boomer’s snipers would pick them off. It was short, it was simple, and it would probably be effective. Assuming everyone hit their targets the first time. If not, then things could get sticky. Fang yawned, and it scared him. He wanted to be fully alert. So he yawned again, hoping it would get all the tiredness out of him. That was the problem with waiting…you got bored, and then you got sluggish, and then things went straight down the crapper. He didn’t have to wait long, however. “All Mavericks, at attention!” Boomer Kuwangner’s voice rasped through their radios. “Hunters on their way down the main road. Line up your sights and wait for my signal!” ____________________ Zero knew he was breaking about a million traffic laws, but he deemed it a small price to pay for finally having a chance to screw around and be immature again. He loved hovercycles, and while he wasn’t crazy about riding them down city streets, he always managed to find some way to make it a pleasant experience. He’d zoomed far ahead of Signas’ car and had to turn down side roads and backtrack behind his commander…so he’d have the excuse to go even faster to catch up. The wind blew his hair around behind him like the tail of a comet, and more than one driver honked their horn or threw the crimson Hunter a rude gesture, though he barely noticed. Ahead in a medium-sized black car, Signas and his four guards tried to keep track of their comrade, all of them waiting for the moment when Zero would hit a telephone pole or uproot a fire hydrant. Such things usually happened whenever they could, Signas thought drearily. But, he supposed he could sympathize. Signas himself only rode in a car because his frame was too large for a hovercycle. He would have loved the freedom one of those bikes promised, but alas, t’was better to be safe than splattered over the side of the road like a cracked egg. They’d ridden about a mile from City Hall. The Hunter station would be coming up in a few minutes, and from there it would be smooth sailing to home, where he could get busy putting the finishing touches on BROKEN HALO. As it stood, the ground troops such as Hunter infantry and mobile artillery would move out first. When they got themselves nestled into the Catskills—which might cost them some blood, Signas thought—Hunter HQ would release its airborne units. Commander Taggart himself would lead his Ravens against Seraph Castle, equipped with the most destructive bombs that the Army could provide for them. Taggart would attack first, with the aid of the Reploid Air Force—a division of the Megacity Army composed mostly of Reploids in order to keep some former Repliforce militants from revolting again out of “discrimination”—and then the ground forces would do their thing. Signas would try to coordinate the two attack waves to be as simultaneous as possible. The point was to not give the Mavericks any time at all to launch a successful counterattack, and especially to deny them the time to fire a Buzzbomb. They assumed, after all, that the missile launchers would be somewhere in the castle. The Hunters had no idea about Gallagher—Carlos Delgado never had the chance to bring that information home. At the same time, however, a sizable force would remain at Hunter HQ consisting mostly of Alden Base’s reserves and a large team of Hunter technicians. Their job would be to maintain the missile interceptors that had already been set up by Army personnel. If the Mavericks did get a Buzzbomb up in the air, the Hunters at the HQ would be charged with shooting it down. If they failed…well, Signas didn’t even want to think about that. Much remained to be done, and most of it revolved around getting home and meeting with the other commanders. He hoped there wouldn’t be any delays, especially now that his mind was fully set on work. ____________________ Kim Stetson left her apartment shortly after nine, heading down the street to her regular coffee shop. The 20-year-old college student was spending her time off by studying, of course. She had quite a test coming up, and to fail it would mean taking the class again, and that meant more cash down the drain. She entered the coffee shop and sat down next to a man in a brown overcoat. He was both her classmate and boyfriend, and so it was only natural for them to hit the books together. First, though, as usual, they passed time at Sub-City 3’s best little café before heading for the nearby library. “Hey, Kim,” he said as she sat down. Stetson replied with a yawn. “Can’t wake up today, Lou.” “Sleepy day,” Louis Simons agreed. “Getting colder, too. They’re predicting snow at last.” Kim blinked at that. She hadn’t heard. She was planning a road trip to visit her mother this weekend, and snow might complicate things. “How bad?” “Blizzard,” Louis replied. Damn! “Ma Nature’s a bitch.” Louis smirked. “She isn’t even PMSing yet.” “I hope that wasn’t a subtle reference…?” “Never.” Simons glanced out the window and watched the traffic as Stetson got a cappuccino for herself. It promised to be another dull day. They were both studying for a biology exam, a subject neither of them relished, but it was necessary for their career path. If they managed to survive the humdrum, maybe they could catch a movie later. There was a new one out that looked pretty funny. Louis didn’t think Kim would object. If anything, she hated biology worse than he did, which was why they spent so much time stalling in this café. Kim returned and they sipped at their drinks while discussing recent developments in their lives. Louis’s stock investments weren’t going that well, and he’d been counting on them to finance the rest of his college years. Kim’s father was still having some heart trouble, but it shouldn’t be anything that the doctors couldn’t fix. After about an hour of small talk, they conceded that procrastination wouldn’t solve anything. Kim and Louis got up to leave. ____________________ Boomer Kuwangner’s eyes narrowed at the approaching motorcade…if you could call it that, really. It was just a car and a hovercycle…a hovercycle that was speeding ahead of the car. Zero was playing cowboy again. Boomer thought quickly and decided to make Zero the secondary target. They’d attack Signas first, and hopefully the shock of the situation would make Zero pause long enough for the cricket to get his shot in. The cricket Maverick was more than ready. He crouched on a building slightly taller than the library, and his sniper rifle was leveled at the approaching hovercycle. The targets were still too far out of range, but soon… The cricket’s real name was a number…that was all he’d been to the company that had produced him. He went by the name “Loader” because that was what people had called him where he used to work. Technically it was a simple term for the type of labor he’d done, but he didn’t mind using it as a name. What was in a name, after all? Loader glanced up and met Fang’s eyes. The panther was glancing from comrade to comrade making sure everyone was ready. Kismet didn’t even glance up. Instead, she was aiming her RPG straight down at the street below. When the black Hunter car filled her line of vision, she’d fire—or, more precisely, she’d fire when Boomer told her to. “Lock on,” Boomer ordered. Everyone had already done that, but it was a necessary order anyway. Boomer glanced down the road. Pedestrians were scarce. That was good—there was less of a chance for one of them to get in the way. “Stand by for my order,” the Maverick Boss rasped, and everyone knew full well what they’d do when they got that order. The mission had been planned and rehearsed to near perfection. ____________________ “Near perfection” was never good enough, though there was nothing the Mavericks could have done about it. “The best laid plans of mice and men…” It happened suddenly and without warning. Perhaps it was inevitable—Zero couldn’t continue to get lucky while driving like a maniac. The blonde Hunter decided to turn back again and race up from behind, wondering if he could beat Signas to the station even when they were so close. He nearly turned right into a large van, and the driver had to make a sudden drastic swerve…putting himself right in the middle of the main road. Signas’s driver slammed hard on the brakes but the car didn’t stop fast enough. The two vehicles collided with a resounding boom and a brief shower of sparks. Signas lurched forward, taken off guard by the shock. His four guards got out of the car, and he was dragged out along with them for fear that the vehicle might explode. On the way out, the first thing he set foot into was a pothole, and he stumbled forward past his guards rather unexpectedly. ____________________ “What in the hell!” Boomer Kuwangner had raged when he’d seen the collision. Damn that Zero! And he’d even managed to disappear from sight! But wait…he was coming around, he’d turned back from that side road to examine the collision. The Hunters were getting out of the car…so was the driver of the van…was that…? Yes! It was Signas, getting out with them! “Now!” Kuwangner rasped sharply. “Kismet! Destroy them!” Two rooftops away, Kismet’s body rocked with recoil as her bazooka spat out a rocket that sped straight down the road to the collision site. It wasn’t the ideal spot…the car should be closer, and actually, the round might even hit the van instead— It did. The rocket streaked through the air and scraped the side of the stalled van, setting it off prematurely. The van driver was killed almost immediately, though the full force of the explosion hit Signas’ car. One of the four guards was both incinerated and shredded by shrapnel right away, and the others were seriously hurt. Signas himself got very lucky, Kuwangner saw from his perch—the fortunate bastard had tripped, staggering past his guards and away from the blast zone…well, not entirely away from the blast zone, but far enough away that he was very much alive and mostly unhurt. “Snipers!” Boomer shouted into the radio. “Attack! Loader, take down Zero! All Mavericks, prepare to descend for ground assault! Over!” ____________________ Zero had turned his hovercycle around right away, feeling like a royal ass. What in the hell had he done this time? He’d sped back towards the main street, surveying the crash site even before he got there. It didn’t look too bad, he’d thought. Neither car had been moving much at the time of collision…both had hit the brakes already. They were badly jolted, but other than that… The explosion had thrown Zero off his hoverbike and left him sprawled out on the pavement. An axle from the black Hunter car flew like a lance through the air, impaling the brick wall of a building behind Zero. He looked up in horror. Had the crash ignited a fuel tank? No, he realized, something else was going on here, but his mind was sluggish from the fall. As he sorted out the cobwebs, he made out the mangled body of one of Signas’s guards…no, now he remembered, there had been a whistle…a very short, soft whistle had pierced the air, and then the explosion… The three remaining guards were already in action. One was very badly hurt and was trying to crawl away from the wreckage, while the other two grabbed Signas and tried to hurry him out of the way, but no sooner had they gotten close than the first guard’s head turned into a spray of coolant and flying shards of metal—he had been shot. The second guard barely had time to register his comrade’s death; the shots were almost instantaneous. It landed right in what passed for his collarbone, sending a spray of hot coolant onto his face. He cursed and tried to staunch the flow, at the same time moving in front of Signas on accident as the Grand Commander tried to get himself moving again. As such, the guard took the bullet meant for Signas as well as the second bullet meant for him. One hit him hard in the back, rupturing several vitals and spinning him around, a big moving fountain of Reploid blood. Then, finally, the second round hit him in the head and killed him. Signas didn’t notice just yet; the heavily armored Reploid was moving towards an alley that he sorely hoped was not being used as one of the sniper nests. Two more rounds exploded into the ground where he had been, but other than that, it appeared for the moment that Signas had escaped the initial catastrophe with his life. Zero gaped in shock for about half a second before his training took over. He leapt to his feet—twice. It was a double-jump program that he’d installed in himself during the Repliforce war, and it granted him much needed acrobatic abilities. This dandy little maneuver wound up saving him for the moment: another sniper bullet smashed into the ground where he’d been, and the Hunter glanced down in time to see a strange liquid splash onto the pavement instead of the spent bullet…or even if they were using lasers, there should be a hole in the ground! But there wasn’t anything, just that weird liquid… Zero raced across the street, passing the burning vehicles and nearly got himself killed by jumping at the wrong time over what he’d deemed to be a pile of scrap—in fact, it was Signas’s fourth guard, who was still trying to crawl to safety. Some Maverick had finally taken notice of him and sent a bullet towards his head. Zero almost took it for him, but missed by a hair, though he felt the sudden heat as the bullet whizzed by his face. He snapped his head around just in time to see the final guard lose his computerized brains. “What in the hell?!” Signas found himself shouting almost involuntarily. He wasn’t even shaking, Zero saw when he joined him in the alley, which was commonplace in anyone who had just experienced a life-threatening situation. Probably the shock just hadn’t worn off yet, Zero thought. Zero took a second to think. They weren’t all that far from Alden Base. If there were an attack underway, then they’d need reinforcements sometime, right? And he’d call the Hunter station, too. Probably best to do that first, he decided, since they were closer. “SC-3 Maverick Hunters,” Zero barked into his wrist radio once a connection was made. “This is Commander Zero here with Commander Signas near the…” He checked. “The Thomas Light Library. Repeat, the Light Library. We are under attack, repeat, under attack!” “I hear you, Zero,” an unfamiliar voice answered. “What’s going on?” They didn’t have a chance to respond before another bazooka shell hit the ground at the entrance to the alley, sending a spray of shrapnel into their sanctuary. Zero instinctively threw himself in front of his commander, noting it when a sharp pain started in his lower leg. He briefly examined the shrapnel wound—nothing serious, it had barely penetrated the armor. “Guard patrol is dead, Signas and I are under sniper fire. Someone’s out there with an RPG, too. Get somebody out here fast, man!” “Already done,” the voice responded. “Hang in there, we’re sending a unit to your position!” “Roger!” Zero switched channels. “Hey, this is Commander Zero! Put me through to Colonel Jones right now! Yes, dammit, this is an emergency! You think I’m shouting for my health?! Get a move on, asshole!” Probably it wasn’t wise to smart off to the poor bastard charged with maintaining radio communications at Alden Base, Zero decided, but he needed a target for his anger and this was it. “Settle down,” Signas ordered, with remarkable calm. “Sir! We’ve got to get you out of here.” “We’ve both got to get out of here! But we can’t do it running around like chickens with our heads cut off, can we?” Zero blinked. “Actually, sir, that just might work. Nothing pisses off a sniper like an enemy who doesn’t follow a set pattern in their movement.” Signas took a moment to register that idea. “Quick. There are other alleys here. Let’s go, and for god’s sake steer clear of the streets!” They never had a chance to implement that particular plan. ____________________ Fang leapt from the library rooftop with a natural ease. He hit the ground smoothly, his shock absorbers making sure that his legs didn’t give way, and sprinted towards the scene of flames unfolding before him. Five other Mavericks touched down near Fang, all of them moving into position with their innate weapons—the sniper rifles were back on the rooftops. They were useless now except to Loader, who merely hopped carefully across rooftops, hoping to get closer to the alley where Zero was hiding. Kismet didn’t come down right away either. She spent time reloading her RPG and sent another rocket flying into the ground near the alley, perhaps spraying its inhabitants with shrapnel. Then, she used an approach similar to Loader’s: she leapt across rooftops after dropping her RPG and eventually arrived at the building overlooking the alley. The white tiger drew a long, diamond saber and leapt down into the alley with a feral roar. Fang entered the area shortly afterwards. ____________________ Zero heard Kismet before she got close enough to do any damage. He glanced up at the descending tiger and his lightsaber came to life in his hands. Rather than ducking out of the way he double-jumped, meeting his surprised enemy in midair while in the middle of a spin. His legs snapped out into her chest and propelled her away from him. She landed hard on the ground just as another Reploid came in from the other end of the alley—the one not near the flaming wreckage. He was a humanoid, and he immediately began firing an arm cannon at the Hunter in the air. The orders were, after all, to take Zero alive…they didn’t stipulate anything about him being “unharmed”. The shots weren’t well aimed, however, and Zero landed unhurt, though he was a bit startled. More footsteps were coming, and there were already two Mavericks inside the alley with the two Hunters. Signas made eye contact with the Maverick who had just shot at Zero. The enemy turned toward Signas, the one marked for death. Even before Zero hit the ground, though, Signas did something that the crimson Hunter had not expected: the Grand Commander drew a big, powerful pistol from his belt holster and shot the Maverick through the chest with such fluidity and precision that indicated a lifetime of practice. In fact, they both knew, this was the first real fight Signas had ever been in. The Maverick—what a poor, dumb, startled bastard he’d been in his final moments!—fell dead and Signas spun on his heel to apply the same quick death to Kismet. The tigress, however, was already back on her nimble feet, and she was being joined by several other Mavericks. Zero knew that they wouldn’t get anywhere just by waiting for the enemy to come to them, so he did what he’d done countless times in the past: he charged headfirst into a situation where he was hopelessly outnumbered, swinging his saber like a madman. It was time for some skills to show, he decided. Fang growled and leapt at Zero, swiping his claws at the Hunter’s chest. “Ryuenjin!” Zero shouted, and leapt into the air. His sword became a pillar of fire that seared deep into Fang’s body, dropping the panther on the ground and filling the air with the smell of burnt fur. “Shippuga!” Zero shouted again as he came down, and his sword elongated as he somersaulted in midair. He decapitated another Maverick this way, and immediately jumped back into the air, dodging a burst of plasma from another humanoid. “Hienkyaku,” he said under his breath as turbo thrusters in his legs flared to life and sent him screaming through the air like a humanoid jet. His sword lashed out and took the arm off the Maverick who’d fired that last shot. Another swing and he was dead. Signas hadn’t just stood there. Kismet had charged him head on, leaping over his head as he’d fired another shot. The tigress landed behind the Grand Commander, who turned too slowly. Her clawed foot slammed into his chest and sent him staggering backwards, but the damage was minimal. Signas’s armor was too thick for her to pierce. Of course, that also meant that he was slow as a turtle, he knew. He’d never win a close quarters battle, so he charged out into the fray that Zero was creating. He wound up running into an unalert Maverick, and knowing that it was too close for him to bring up his gun, Signas threw his massive fist into the Maverick’s chest, smushing the armor like plastic. Another punch caught the bastard in his face and spun him around and backwards a few steps—Signas raised the pistol now that he had room and sent the death shot into the Maverick’s teeth. Three Mavericks were dead, not counting Fang, who was still alive and battle ready, though wounded. ____________________ Officer Bob Casey had seen the crash from a few streets down and had set down his coffee to go investigate. He had a large hovercycle, one with reinforced armor. It didn’t go as fast as some of the other models, but it kept up with cars, and that was fine for everyone except daredevils. The police officer had just been getting onto his bike when the first RPG shell hit the crash site, and he’d immediately radioed in for help. Not satisfied with just standing around, especially when he saw the second shell go off, he’d started to ride forward towards the site to look for survivors. Times like now, people needed help. Casey had his service revolver—which fired lasers—out and ready as he approached the area…which was good, he soon realized, because there were people around here, and they were running around and fighting each other. He recognized one of them, of course: it was Zero, one of Casey’s personal heroes. Anyone who fought the Mavericks earned Casey’s respect, which made sense, since Casey was a human. Zero, however, was one of the best of the best, and there wasn’t a cop in Sub-City 3 who wouldn’t hesitate to help him out. Bob Casey didn’t quite know what to do, though. He spied a Maverick about to skewer Zero from behind with his claws. The culprit seemed to be a panther Reploid with burn wounds. There was another man who was pulling his weight, too…it looked like a Hunter general…Jesus, was that Signas? Casey didn’t know Signas that well, since he mostly paid attention only to the soldiers, not the generals. He did know that Reploid from somewhere, though, and he knew that Signas led the Hunter organization with Dr. Cain, so whatever this was, it was big. Casey decided on his course of action in the next second. It was very good, especially considering that Casey had never experienced military training. The police officer rode his hovercycle directly toward the cluster of fighting Reploids. Zero saw him and in that split second they identified each other as allies. Zero leapt to the side just as the panther Reploid was about to make his move. Officer Casey extended his revolver and squeezed the trigger four times in rapid succession. It was overkill, as all the shots hit, but Casey hadn’t ever been trained on conservation of ammunition. All he knew was that he had an enemy to kill, and he wanted to make damned sure that the enemy died! ____________________ The pain surprised Fang. He was even more surprised by the fact that he was coughing up blood. Finally, the greatest surprise was that he was actually dying. He knew it because he was finally paying attention to his autorepair systems, which were no match for these new wounds. What the hell! He’d joined this mission to prove himself, not to die! And at the hands of a human! Just a police officer, a grunt, nothing more! What a horrible way to die! The last thing Fang did was make eye contact with Kismet. She watched her friend’s life abandon him right before her eyes, and seconds later she leapt out of the way of a hovercycle speeding through the cluster of combatants. She fixed the human riding it with a piercing glare, and the tigress sprang off after her prey. ____________________ Officer Casey rode the adrenaline as well as he rode his hovercycle. He turned it to go back in for another pass. He was turning too slowly, though he didn’t know it. Zero met his eyes and flashed him a grin that soon changed to something else entirely. Casey spied the tiger approaching and revved his bike to the top gear, flying directly towards her while firing his revolver. She merely leapt over his head as he fired his last shot, expending his laser cartridge. Damn! He ejected the cartridge and fumbled inside his pants for a new one. All the while he was moving his bike around, and kept clear of the battle zone. People were shooting at him now, but he was doing a good job of dodging their fire, he thought. Finally! He loaded the new magazine and turned the bike, again too slowly. He didn’t really know what to do next. Casey could go in for another pass, but they would expect that now. Instead, he decided to help pick them off from here. A small yet sharp blade buried itself in Casey’s right arm, causing the officer to shriek in pain. Whatever it was had bit even into his bone, and he moved his left arm—his gun arm—to remove the object causing the pain. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do this with a gun in his hand, as Kismet had known when she’d thrown the blade. Casey looked back and saw the tigress approaching, her diamond blade drawn and aimed right at him. Casey stopped his bike, not wanting to drive one handed. That was his last coherent thought. He squeezed off laser rounds one by one, missing every time. He was frantic with fear and pain, and his aim was off. Kismet covered the distance easily and pounced. She tackled Casey off his bike and spilled the police officer onto the ground. The man’s revolver flew from his hand and landed out of his range. It was useless to him now. Bob Casey didn’t rightly know what had hit him. Well, he did, but it never had a chance to fully register. There was that brief stunned moment of nothingness, and then metal claws sliced into his belly as the full weight of the white tiger came down upon him. He tried to scream, but the blood caught in his throat. Kismet twitched her feet, ripping through internal organs and causing the man extreme pain, and then clamped her jaws around Casey’s neck and ended his life that way. One horrific death for another, she thought as she got to her feet and licked the blood off her lips. Fang had been avenged. ____________________ Signas had seen Casey die, and the sight revolted him. The hesitation it created was enough time for a razor sharp boomerang to slam into his left foot, biting through the armor but not succeeding in taking off his leg. Signas let out a startled cry, attracting the attention of another humanoid Maverick who grinned evilly and aimed his arm cannon at Signas’s head. Zero impaled him from behind and hoisted the body over his shoulders, throwing his sword out at the Mavericks behind him. The body slid off the weapon and knocked over the attackers like bowling pins, and Zero rushed to Signas’s side. “I’m gonna be a clumsy walker,” Signas announced, somewhat embarrassed. “Sorry, Zero!” Zero didn’t answer. Instead, he used the brief seconds he’d gained by knocking over the Mavericks to scan the area and form a new plan. “Boss! Come on!” He didn’t even explain himself as he helped Signas start moving towards Casey’s hovercycle. Neither of them noticed the boomerang that flew up from the ground in response to a magnetic pulse, and so neither wondered where it had come from. Kismet leapt into action around the same time Zero got Signas to the bike. The crimson Hunter rushed at her, leaving Signas to board the bike himself, and stopped at the last minute as though hesitating. Kismet grinned and raised her sword. Suddenly, though, Zero shot his sword arm forward and cried “Rajingeki!” The blade of the saber turned into a lance of electricity, and impaled the sadistic white tiger as she approached. Zero had attacked too soon, though. She recoiled and staggered backwards and away…had he waited just a little more he would have gone through her generator. Signas reactivated the hovercycle and started on the road to the Hunter station, but he immediately veered onto a side road. He felt extremely opportunistic about taking the bike of a man who’d died fighting to help him, but he had to get out of there one way or another. He glanced back to see that Zero was rushing towards the hovercycle he’d been thrown off of earlier. And where the hell were their damned reinforcements?! ____________________ Kim Stetson gasped in horror. She and Louis had been one of the many to approach and view the accident scene, but when things had gotten hairy the pedestrians had gotten out of hand and run for their lives. Louis grabbed his girlfriend and shoved her back down the sidewalk to her apartment. They’d been far down the road to the library when it had happened, and neither of them liked being out in the open as long as they had been. It was too easy to die that way, especially if this were a Maverick attack. But they already had been noticed. Loader had given up on getting close enough for a shot, and had changed tactics: instead, he would move backwards to try and make his field of vision larger. He leveled his sniper targets on Zero as the Hunter raced to his bike. The cricket fired just as Zero paused, but the extra distance Loader had placed between himself and his target zone meant that it took longer for the rounds to reach their destination. It wasn’t more than half a second, but it was enough for that lucky bastard! The tranquilizer bullet exploded on the ground near Zero’s foot, startling him again with that strange liquid. Loader cursed and looked up from the sniper scope in time to see two humans walking down the sidewalk. They were alone, having not been able to fall into line with the other groups of pedestrians. An idea ferreted its way into Loader’s mind. Things seemed to be going badly, so…what the hell? “Boss,” the cricket chirped into his radio, “I have an idea.” ____________________ “Fall back!” Boomer Kuwangner’s voice rasped into his cohort’s ears. “Retreat!” Zero activated his hovercycle and prepared to zoom after Signas when he wondered what was going on. Kismet and the surviving humanoid were making a break for it. Each threw Zero a sneer as they passed. They were speedy, and they were using short-range warp technology to cover distance. Just as Zero was about to follow Signas, a familiar and hated figure fell from the sky and landed on his spindly feet on the road in the direction where Kismet had escaped. Boomer Kuwangner laughed as loudly and maniacally as he could and removed the boomerang from his head. He threw it towards Zero as the Hunter was preparing to step off the hovercycle and do battle with the Maverick. The weapon tangled Zero’s feet and spilled him off his ride. Zero cracked his chin hard on the pavement, but didn’t let the stars that cluttered his head stop him from leaping immediately to his feet. Half a second later, another “wet bullet” hit the ground where he had been. What the hell was up with that! He should have been tipped off right away, but he wasn’t. His rage was too much already, and Zero was notorious for giving in to his rage. Boomer knew that, and placed his hands on his hips as the boomerang came back and replaced itself in his head. He struck a mocking pose and laughed again at Zero. “Not bad,” Kuwangner rasped just loudly enough for Zero to hear him. “You proved yourself once more, Zero. Even if you did have to kill four of your own people to do it.” What he meant, of course, was that Zero had caused the whole thing by screwing up and causing the car crash. In fact, by causing the crash Zero had saved Signas’s life, since the Grand Commander would never have survived had his car gone any further. But Zero didn’t know that, nor would he ever ask. The insult struck him in his soul, and he immediately hopped back on his hovercycle and started to speed towards Boomer. The stag beetle used his warping capabilities to vanish and reappear on Zero’s right. He warped again as Zero turned, confusing the Hunter and angering him further. “What’s the matter?” Kuwangner chided as he reappeared in his original position. “Can’t catch a measly bug like me? Some champion. Anyway, the next time we meet, you won’t be so fortunate. One time or another, your luck will dry up! Until then…” He motioned to the corpses of the four guards, who lay near the still-flaming wreckages of two vehicles. “You just can’t seem to protect any of your comrades. As I’m sure a certain little lady would tell us...” He began a sprint down the road. A killing rage took Zero and the Hunter sped off in pursuit of the Maverick. That last reference had been aimed at Zero’s killing of Iris…Boomer had struck far too close to home for Zero to not pursue him. Kuwangner vanished before long, reappearing on top of a building. He leapt from rooftop to rooftop, occasionally throwing his boomerang down for Zero to dodge, and also to make sure that the Hunter didn’t lose him. At the same time, Loader was crossing rooftops too, and two Mavericks below him were hauling special cargo. Zero dodged the Boomerang Cutter and swerved his bike to the right. He converted his right arm into a cannon—something he rarely if ever did anymore, considering the fact that his arm units couldn’t support a powerful projectile weapon while supplying power for all of Zero’s sword techniques—and fired shot after shot at the Maverick who was dancing around on the rooftops. Unfortunately, in all his rage Zero forgot that boomerangs have a tendency of coming back. The cutter sliced through the energen fuel compartment of the stationary hovercycle and ignited it. The explosion threw Zero from its seat and reduced much of the bike to useless scrap. Boomer waited for his weapon to come back to him. He had to use the magnetic functions in his head to pry it from the bike’s wreckage. Zero was on his feet right away. He was a demon in battle, especially when enraged. It would take more than that explosion to bring him down, though that one damned shot from Loader would do it. For that, Zero needed to hesitate. And for that, Loader had arranged the perfect scenario. Boomer leapt off the roof. The next thing Zero heard was a scream. He spun around, whipped out his lightsaber, and prepared for action, but what he saw stopped him cold. Boomer Kuwangner had just touched down, but his boomerang was in his hand and pressed to the throat of a young human woman, whom he held with his spindly yet strong left arm. “Well now, Zero,” Kuwangner said, and his tone implied a smug grin. “Isn’t this an interesting situation?” “Kim!” Another voice. Zero glanced to the right and saw a young human male being restrained by the humanoid Maverick that had escaped earlier. Kismet the white tiger was there too, though she was mainly nursing the sword wound that Zero’s thunder attack had given her and fixing her former attacker with a poisonous glare. For her part, Kim Stetson didn’t quite understand how all this could be happening. She’d been running back to her apartment with Louis when a strange cricket Reploid had fallen from the roof above them. It had grabbed Kim and leapt back up the roof, leaving her up there paralyzed with fear. Seconds later it had brought Louis up in the same way. Neither of them had been thinking coherently enough to resist, and had just sat there until two more Mavericks entered the area. The cricket had brought them down, and now Louis was being held at gunpoint and she had a blade pressed to her throat…it was even drawing blood, she realized! Oh God, oh God, don’t let me die, don’t let me die…!!! Zero’s rage melted like an ice cream sundae in Hell. He saw the situation and realized that there wasn’t much he could do about it. The female was trembling in abject terror, and her boyfriend didn’t seem to be doing much better. Zero sympathized. He, too, had seen a woman he cared about die before him. But what did that mean? Was she already dead? No! “What the hell do you want from me?” Zero asked, somewhat perplexed. He was standing there doing nothing while one of the other two Mavericks could just pull out a gun and shoot him to death. That seemed the only reasonable thing. What were they waiting for? “It’s very simple,” Boomer hissed, almost seductively. “I’ll let this one go with her life…all I ask from you is that you…hold still.” That surprised Zero enough to make him hesitate in full for five whole seconds. “What the hell…?” “Yes,” Boomer’s eyes exploded with sadistic glee. “Just maybe one more second.” And then it came. It felt like a water balloon full of boiling hot water had splattered on the back of his right shoulder. He immediately looked at the wound, and was immediately chilled to his steel bones; there was a strange liquid around the entrance point. Strangely enough, his damage receptors reported, there was no foreign object, meaning bullet, inside of him. Then what…? First it was nausea, then wooziness, and then he just fell over. The chemicals interfered with the transfer of electrical rhythms inside his body, meaning that everything slowed up drastically, producing an effect similar to sleep. This sleep, however, was much deeper and he couldn’t wake up any time soon. His eyes were still working, though they were cloudy. Zero fought the encroaching darkness with all his might, though he knew it was futile. Whatever they’d shot him with was taking over. Then came the screams. The first one was feminine and it ended abruptly…and somewhat wetly. Horror flooded Zero’s mind as he looked up to see a spray of blood erupt from Kuwangner’s prisoner. Her scream remained in his mind long after it had ended, and mingled with the scream of the man who’d called out her name earlier, and mingled perhaps with one of Zero’s own. He wasn’t quite sure. The male voice was full of despair and the female’s was of tragedy, a flame gone out before its time. Even after the darkness enveloped Zero and his systems threw him into unconsciousness, the screams remained, and took on new personas, replaying a scene that had haunted Zero night after night since the Repliforce War ended. The man crying in despair was him, and the extinguished flame was Iris. The sounds never ceased, and thus began the longest nightmare of Zero’s life. ____________________ Boomer Kuwangner let Stetson’s body drop to the ground. He started to clean off his boomerang, but thought better of it, replacing it on his head. He nodded to his comrades. The Maverick holding Louis Simons pressed a pistol to the back of the young man’s head and fired. It was almost a mercy. The kid’s soul had just been thoroughly destroyed by the sight of his lover dying before his eyes. The humanoid let his baggage fall to the ground without even flinching. Kismet, however, had balked at the sight of the deaths. For all her cruelty in destroying Casey, she’d expected Kuwangner to keep his word to Zero. “Why are you upset, my dear…?” the eerie Maverick asked coldly. “They were humans…inferiors! They would have died before long anyway. Besides,” he said with a careless shrug, “it’s their kind that killed our friends back there. You know what will happen to Fang? They’ll toss his body on the scrap heaps and let it rust. That’s all there is for our people. Eternal slumber, at least until we’re recycled and used to store canned foods!” The Maverick would have spat if he had the ability. He turned to acknowledge Loader, who had leapt down from the nearby rooftop that he’d used as his perch while sniping Zero. “Good shot, my comrade.” “It was easy, what with him standing still like that.” Loader crept up to Zero’s still form and smashed one of his powerful legs into the Hunter’s chest. Then again, in his stomach. Again, and again, and again, until he was finally done. Kuwangner didn’t stop him. Maybe Zero could feel it, he reasoned. He deserved to suffer, the Maverick reasoned. Most of Kuwangner’s men were dead because of him. “We’re wasting time,” Kismet observed as the wail of sirens became notable. Kuwangner nodded and looked to the humanoid Maverick. He picked up Zero’s body with Loader’s help, and Kuwangner bent over. He locked his cutter around Zero’s waist, using only enough pressure to hold the Hunter steady. This was the Dead Lift, one of Kuwangner’s better assets. Boomer hoisted Zero up and pressed a few buttons on his communicator. Seconds later he vanished. Kismet, Loader, and the other Maverick did the same, leaving the streets of Sub-City 3 empty except for the flaming remains of a car, a van, a hovercycle, and the bodies of four guards and two young humans who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. |