Chapter Sixteen: Shining Time Station Goes Horribly Wrong Delates pressed his assault rifle tight against his shoulder while he lined up a shot, holding the weapon still even while the rest of his body was jumping up and down as he ran. This wasn’t an easy thing to do, and required a lot of concentration, but Delates—and everyone else in Unit 0—could do it. The Hunter centered the crosshairs on the weapon’s barrel on a Maverick who was guarding the slowly activating train, firing at the advancing Hunters with what looked to be an arm cannon. White-hot streaks of plasma zoomed by them without finding a mark, and Delates didn’t let them break his concentration in the least. Running ever faster, the cold night air filling his overworked artificial lungs with chilling fire, the Maverick Hunter depressed the trigger, and the assault rifle gave a loud crack as it unleashed a three-round burst. The armor-piercing shells sped towards the Maverick, but he was already moving. No one on either end knew who was targeting them specifically, and as long as they kept moving the shots tended to miss. The Mavericks were shooting frantically, trying to defend their position, and the Hunters were shooting back just as frantically, afraid of letting the Maverick contingent escape with whatever they’d smuggled. Delates’s shots thunked into the ground, and one slammed into the back of the train, leaving a small, smoldering hole. Fortunately, however, another salvo of Hunter bullets tore a hole through the chest of the Maverick Delates had just missed, dropping him quickly. Delates found another target speedily and fired at a Maverick rushing to one of the open train cars. The rifle jerked back in his hands as the shots were fired, and Delates had to briefly fight for control. They were using armor-piercing bullets for this mission rather than lasers, since they would probably need to be doing a lot more close quarter destruction, and a wide spray of Armor Renders and explosive ammo would do that job nicely. Delates’s bullets found their mark this time, and the Maverick’s back erupted into a spray of coolant and shredded metal. His front side literally blew outwards as the bullet shattered and ignited inside of him, burning the explosive coolant and triggering the explosion that destroyed so many Reploids. For a second, Delates was mad at himself, because they were supposed to take at least one of these guys alive, but there seemed to be plenty of others running around. Blackstar 5041 was beginning to take off, rumbling down the track away from the station. Trains nowadays still started out rather slow before they could get a good deal of speed going for them, but they did start up much faster than older models of trains ever had, and so even at the speed it was going now it was a threat. At this point, several things happened. The crowd of Mavericks thinned considerably, and it was immediately obvious why: most of them were scrambling to enter one of the train cars before it sped off or to climb on top of the train. The Mavericks that scaled the rail bound transport were a very big threat, because they could now open fire from atop the train, where it was much harder to hit them, and some were doing so. One Hunter, a member of Commander Zegmann’s unit, clutched her shoulder and spat a curse as one of the enemy rifle blasts—the Mavericks were using lasers—found home. There were, however, a few Mavericks who did not board the train. Of the nine remaining troops, four did not even try to pursue the train, but also did not try to shoot at the Hunters. Rather, they blended into the shadows of the station, presumably entering it. The crazy firing of the troops atop the train more than compensated for the lack of gunfire from the Mavericks at the station, and it was made infinitely worse when three separate devices shot like razor blades from high in the sky. The projectiles were box shaped yet very thin, and were crisscrossed by blades across the center and protruding at each of the four corners. One skittered uselessly across the ground, and one jammed into Shadin of Unit 17’s ankle, tripping her up. However, the Hunter merely somersaulted back to her feet, leaving the projectile in her wake. The final projectile smacked into one of Delates’s comrades from Unit 0, a heavy assault specialist named Lyon, and the pointed corners came to life, burying themselves into his body and emitting strange energy waves. Lyon gave a yelp of both pain and surprise and sank to his knees as the projectile drained his energy out of his internal generator. Zero saw the whole thing as he came dashing up behind his underling. The projectile was a “Parasitic Bomb”, Blast Hornet’s trademark. It would continue to paralyze Lyon and suck away at his energy until his internal generator failed, causing that fatal explosion. Unless, of course, someone did something about it. Angling himself towards Lyon, Zero quickened his pace, hoping his soldier would understand, and thrust his foot out as he passed. It caught the corner of the Parasitic Bomb and the kinetic force wrenched the device out of Lyon’s body and sent it flying across the ground, a useless wreck. The kick also spun Lyon around violently, and the poor guy landed in a dizzy heap as lasers continued to pelt the ground around him. However, he wasn’t in Unit 0 for nothing. As quickly as he’d been felled, Lyon gritted his teeth and shot to his feat, weaving around the hail of bullets to join back up with his comrades. When that moment of action passed, it was time for the decisive action of the mission. As the train pulled away from Cartwright’s occupied station, several Hunters charged after it, Hunters who were still running and dashing at full speed and had been doing so since they teleported to Steel Alley. Their combined firepower forced the two rear guards atop the train to pull back, one with a wounded shoulder, compensating for Zegmann’s soldier. When they were close enough, X, Zero, Vulcan, Delates, Feldspar, Scylla, and Tyclammel broke into an even more extreme run that their systems could only handle for a minute at maximum, and jumped. The velocity carried them up through the air like rocket men, and they landed on the hard, vibrating surface atop Blackstar 5041. The seven Maverick Hunters were instantly greeted with a stream of fire from the two rear guards and a Reploid further down on the track. The Mavericks were retreating back a few cars to gain better leverage while pelting the Hunters with all they had. The salvo tore into the ranks, but the Hunters advanced anyway. X turned his head back towards the station, which was disappearing into darkness behind him. “Follow Jasper!” he bellowed at the top of his lungs, and then turned and dashed across the train with his comrades. The train battle both sides had dreaded had officially begun. But that was the least of Jasper’s worries. X’s second in command had heard his leader’s final order loud and clear, and so had all the others who remained at the station. This included Jasper, Shadin, and Lariat of Unit 17, Riposte, Seamus, Lyon, and Cort of Unit 0, and the three from Zegmann’s team. Of them, Shadin, Riposte, Lyon, and one of Zegmann’s had been wounded, and while they weren’t in any form of serious condition, they probably would be at a big disadvantage in a fight. So, that roughly meant six against four, and Jasper had a few reserves if need be, wounded or no. The four hidden Mavericks planned on changing that, though. From one of the station’s second floor windows, and from the shadowy storage area far to the right of that, gunfire erupted. The lasers flew out at the Hunters, and at least three transfixed Riposte, who lurched forward, bloody holes in his chest and shoulder, but it didn’t seem like his generator would fail any time soon. Riposte choked on a bit of his blood and spat it out as he fell to the right. Cort immediately scooped him up and led him into another shadowy corner behind some crates where gunfire wouldn’t reach. “You dumb bastards!” Riposte shouted back at the station, living up to his name, “you already shot me!” For his part, Jasper—and most of the others—had opened fire at the flashes of light emitted by the Maverick firearms, and the second floor window now ceased to exist, its border dotted with charred bullet holes. It was doubtful that any of the Hunters had hit anything, since the gunfire had stopped as soon as it had started, and Jasper could only imagine that the Mavericks were repositioning themselves now that the Hunters knew where they were. It was fortunate that they’d all received the training they had, because they all knew how to handle this scenario. Jasper waved his hand anyway and they all clustered together in the lower area where the second shooter had been. There was no sign of him now, though no one expected there to be, unless it were his dead body. There were no shell casings on the ground, which meant that this Maverick, too, had used a laser rifle. This was good, because shell weapons were wide in variety while lasers were generally always just lasers; not exploding shells, not giant slugs, not poison tipped bullets, just lasers. However lasers did have a tendency to be able to pass easily though thin walls… “We can’t split up,” Jasper said quietly. “These guys are obviously assassins, from all we’ve gathered intel wise, so they have the advantage in these shadows, got it? They’d pick us off one by one.” They began to move carefully, slowly, though the darkness into the storage room. The Mavericks had shut out all the lights, which didn’t bother the Hunters that much as they were all Reploids, and capable of night vision, but their view was still slightly restricted. They moved together, so as not to be taken down individually, but they were not too closely clustered, so they could not all be taken down at once with a single well placed mine or well thrown grenade. “Cartwright’s people are on their side,” Jasper reminded them. “Don’t shoot them right away, but don’t trust them either.” The Hunters looked around the room cautiously. It was wide and large, so they didn’t feel up to putting aside their distance rifles just yet, and many crates and boxes were littered throughout the chamber. A Maverick could be hiding behind any of those. If all four were in here, there would be a dangerous predicament indeed. They were also beginning to realize, as they reached the other end of the room, that this was folly. If there was a Maverick in the room, he obviously knew he couldn’t defeat all those Hunters at once, and would wait for them to pass by and then he’d escape. If they were going to bring him down, they had to cover the whole room. Wordlessly they all conveyed this message to each other, though they already knew it, and, weapons clutched tightly in a firing position, they crept out around the massive room. It did not escape them that looking up would be a good idea, and so many did. No one could detect any threat hidden among the rafters and beams above them, but they were still wary. Lariat of Unit 17, a lion Reploid with a dark red coloration, was more than suited to this kind of hunt. He carried his own assault rifle with an almost careless air. He squinted his eyes, relying on his keen sense of smell. He definitely smelled something in here, and it wasn’t any of his comrades. He followed his nose, and found himself stalking closer and closer to a larger jumble of crates in the far left corner, near the place where they’d entered the cargo area. Here Cort of Unit 0 was already standing watch, looking outside for any Mavericks who might be fleeing from the main area. Riposte was also out there, his rifle ready to snipe. No Mavericks would get out unless they went through the Hunters to do it. Seamus, also of Unit 0, had wisely decided to follow Lariat, knowing that the lion’s smell would indeed serve them well here. As it turned out, Lariat didn’t need any backup. A low growl escaped the lion’s maw. “Come out, Maverick.” Immediately the Hunters turned to look in Lariat’s direction. From behind the crates came a soft whimpering and the beginnings of a plea. Lariat was about to dismiss the “enemy” for one of Cartwright’s boys, knowing full well it could be a Maverick playing a clever trick, or even holding the station worker hostage, but he didn’t get the chance to think things out rationally, for the station worker—for indeed that is what he was—tried to bolt. While executing this unwise action he accidentally overturned the upper crate of the two that were shielding him, and it fell towards Lariat. Honestly believing he was being attacked, the lion snapped his gun into firing position and transfixed the clumsy Reploid, who gave a startled yelp and then spoke no more. “Stupid bastard!” Seamus snapped, and Lariat growled before realizing that Seamus was scolding the dead Reploid, not Lariat. The lion subsequently looked in Jasper’s direction, meeting his superior’s eyes, but Jasper merely gave him a look that said he didn’t give a damn about the station workers, and nothing would be held against Lariat. Breathing in relief the lion slapped Seamus on the back and, with Cort following them, backing away from the entrance to the storage room after one last look outside, they proceeded further. They could enter the main station from the storage room via a compact hallway, and Jasper was not stupid enough to lead the whole gaggle into it at once, where they could all be easily blown away. Lariat insisted he didn’t smell anything else in the storage room, but Jasper still worried about an attack from behind. Cort again waited at the door, his rifle in a firing position and his body pivoting slowly to scan the whole room. Jasper went down the hallway first, followed closely by Lariat and Seamus. At the end was a short staircase leading up into the main hall of the station. Everything was dark, and as they were in close quarters, their rifles would do little good. Jasper dropped his in a corner, followed by Lariat and Seamus. The latter produced a mine and nestled it behind the three rifles. The Hunters at the other end of the hall saw this and nodded; they could leave their weapons and use their innate attacks if they wanted, and if any of the Mavericks tried to take the guns the mine would go off. Only Seamus could activate or deactivate the mine, though, and so he waited while Jasper crept up the staircase. The hallway was much wider than the one he’d just exited, and there was a long stretch to the right that probably led to Cartwright’s office. There was also a shorter corridor to his left. Jasper’s right hand sunk back into his gauntlet, which opened up to reveal a powerful arm cannon. The Hunter stepped cautiously into the hallway, making out a little niche to the left. He might as well explore the shorter area first, he figured. He darted out towards the niche in question, which was an indentation in the wall with a water fountain, and he made it without anyone taking a shot at him. Lariat peeked out of the safety of the corridor, smelling the Mavericks in the hallway, but not knowing where exactly they were. His diamond tipped claws flickered as moonlight streaming in from a nearby window caught them, and a snarl split the beast’s face as he quite suddenly darted far past where Jasper was standing. There was a sudden gasp from a room to Lariat’s right, and he dove through it quickly. Immediately Shadin of Unit 17 sprang from the corridor to go help, but gunfire erupted from behind her. She threw herself to the ground, raising her own arm cannon towards the attacking Maverick and sent a screaming ball of flaming plasma flying at him. The Maverick pressed himself against a wall, letting the shot explode into the wall behind him, and returned fire with another salvo of lasers, though he was holding his weapon with only one hand, and so the assault rifle’s rounds were scattered. Shadin twisted out of the way as best she could, though her armor absorbed a blast or two. Seamus darted out of the corridor at that moment, leaping over Shadin and charging at the Maverick. The enemy rifle’s charge was spent, and he’d have to reload the laser cartridge to fire again, and so he started to convert his own arm into an arm cannon. Seamus never gave him a chance. One of the Hunter’s energy daggers flew through the air, the laser hilt burying itself in the Maverick’s chest. Wounded and frantic, the Maverick threw his gun at Seamus and tried to run. Seamus was faster, though, and delivered a sharp kick to the Maverick’s back, sending him flying across the floor. He landed badly, and the impact drove the hilt of the knife in his chest deeper into his body, piercing his internal generator. He flailed blindly for a few seconds before the generator ruptured and blew a hole through him, ending his life. Seamus darted back to rejoin his comrades, who were now flooding the hallway. Jasper had not been idle. As soon as Lariat had charged into the room—which turned out to be a simple if not cramped office—he’d followed, but when he arrived at the door a Maverick backed out of it, holding a pistol to the temple of a rather frantic station worker. Lariat was growling fiercely at the dirty ploy, standing not two feet away from the Maverick. Jasper grabbed the Maverick by the shoulder and spun him around and then into the wall. He took hold of the enemy’s wrist and applied heavy pressure, snapping it. The pistol clattered to the floor, but the Maverick still fought, burying the fist of his good hand into Jasper’s face. The stunned Hunter staggered back, and the Maverick scooped up his pistol from the floor and leveled it at Jasper’s chest. Here, Lariat charged out of the office, threw the station worker back into it, and made it clear why he had the name he did. He snatched a long metal whip from his belt and flicked it toward the Maverick’s arm. It wound quickly around his wrist and with a quick tug Lariat spun the Maverick clear around just as he pulled the trigger. The shot—for once, a shell—buried itself harmlessly in the wall near Lariat, and the lion dove forward and slammed his powerful fist into the Maverick’s face, sending him flying back into the wall, where he crumpled up in a heap. By this time Lyon, Shadin, and Zegmann’s wounded soldier had darted over, and Jasper motioned to the Maverick and the office. Nodding, the three wounded Hunters dragged the unconscious Maverick into the office with the station worker and kept watch over both of them. The Hunters had finally taken a Maverick alive. They proceeded quickly now. Only two Mavericks were unaccounted for. They ran past where Seamus had made his kill and came to both an office building and a staircase. Lariat grunted and started up the staircase with Zegmann’s two troops following. Jasper, Cort, and Seamus went into the office. Lariat followed his nose again, definitely smelling another life form, probably the one who had fired earlier from the second floor window. His nasty whip was coiled at his side, ready to strike at anything. The upper area was a big mess of desks, papers, schedules, and even a bar. It was in the wide bar area that the trouble started anew. As Lariat and Zegmann’s troops, quiet Reploids who had both retained their assault rifles, neared the center of the room, a grenade had landed at the lion’s feet, probably thrown from one of the back rooms. Lariat roared and ran for the opposite end of the room. The other two scattered also, one heading back the way he came and the other moving to a corner opposite Lariat. The grenade went off seconds after it landed, meaning no one got all the way to safety, and the two humanoids were thrown off their feet. Flames consumed the nearby tables, and through them came lasers fired from a loud machine pistol in a back room. They splintered the wooden tables near Lariat, and one cleaved into the armor on his leg. Roaring again, the beast of a Reploid charged through the flames towards the Maverick, who, to his surprise, ran into the room with a fully charged arm cannon, and unleashed a huge green blast of plasma at Lariat. The desperate Hunter leapt as high into the air as he could, but the shot still chewed into his legs, heavily damaging their armor and the circuitry behind it. Lariat gave a howl and came down hard on his legs, which gave out quickly. Fortunately, the other Hunters weren’t quite beaten yet. One of Zegmann’s Hunters lined up the approaching Maverick in the sights of his assault rifle and sent a three round burst of armor piercing shells. All three of them hit, destroying most of the Maverick’s torso, and the Hunters congregated around Lariat. They helped the lion to his feet and started out the door back down to help the others. Downstairs, things had been equally as hectic. Jasper entered first, his arm cannon extended and ready to fire; Cort was next, and his two magnum style pistols were in a firing position; Seamus carried a deactivated lightsaber, ready to turn it on in an instant and rend anything that he considered a threat. The first person they found was hardly a threat, but he was no more liked than any of the Mavericks they were hunting. “Hands on your head, Cartwright!” Jasper hissed, training his blaster at the manager’s head. Cartwright glared daggers, obeying, but not keeping quiet, as the Hunters wanted. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You’re killing my men!” “Your men aligned with the Mavericks,” Jasper said simply. “Now shut up.” “You think we had a choice?!” Cartwright all but yelped, but Cort silenced him by striding close and pressing both guns to his forehead. “The man said shut up,” Cort said simply, in a deadly even voice. Cartwright did just that, and Seamus activated his brilliant blue lightsaber, waving it at the station manager and guiding him into a corner. Cort and Jasper went through the only other door in the office, prepared for anything. It was the absolute worst-case scenario. Illuminated by light streaming in through a wide window, the final Maverick stood, holding a rusty dagger to the throat of a terrified middle-aged man. Jasper identified him as the conductor of Blackstar 5041, who probably had no idea that his train had just been stolen, or much less why there was a knife at his throat. “It’s rotten luck, isn’t it?” The Maverick’s voice was cold and venomous, and if the Hunters were close enough to spit at, no doubt he would have tried it. There was also desperation; the Maverick knew the game was over, and in a hostage situation, it was very bad for the enemy to have no hope. “Let him go,” Jasper said evenly, without making a threat but without making a concession, “this is between us.” “Leave the room,” the Maverick said to Cort. “I’ll fight this one alone.” “Let him go,” Jasper repeated, and Cort made no move to leave. “You don’t have any room to argue,” the Maverick said simply, pressing the blade into the human’s throat. Blood trickled down the blade and onto the floor, and the man’s eyes went even wider in both pain and horror. “The next cut will be fatal, Hunter. Make your decision. I’ll die either way, but are you going to let me take this one with me?” “Cort.” Jasper kept his weapon trained on the Maverick, speaking to his comrade without looking at him. “Go help the others.” Reluctantly, the other Hunter backed out the door, closing it behind him, leaving Jasper alone with the Maverick and the hostage. “Now let him go.” The Maverick snickered, and then shoved the human to the side. He flew with his shield, tumbling to the floor as he threw the dagger at Jasper, who had not immediately opened fire as the Maverick had expected him to. The dagger clattered uselessly off Jasper’s armor, and he ran towards the Maverick, afraid to shoot while the enemy was anywhere near the conductor. The Maverick removed his hand from behind the human, and in it was a magnum similar to one of Cort’s. He raised it and fired at the approaching Hunter, who had begun to swerve as soon as he’d seen the weapon come out. Jasper redirected himself and charged into the Maverick, forcing him against the wall and head butting him in the face. The enemy cried out in fury and curled his legs up to his chest, extending them out into Jasper’s gut, driving him backwards. The Maverick raised his weapon again, but Jasper’s cannon went up first, and the bolt of plasma drilled into the Maverick’s chest armor, doing considerable damage. Grunting in pain, the Maverick dashed back away from Jasper, stopping in front of the window, and sending another round at the Hunter. This one was badly aimed, and missed. Jasper danced around the next few shots, charging his blaster all the while, until he stood where he’d stood when he’d dismissed Cort. The Maverick raised his revolver faster than Jasper raised his cannon, and grinned horribly as he pulled the trigger, already imagining the round tearing through the Hunter’s head. There was a loud click, and nothing more. Jasper grinned as a look of horror flooded the Maverick’s face: he was out of bullets. The Hunter fired his shot. The speeding flare of red plasma ripped clear through the Maverick, throwing his dying form backwards and shattering the window. The enemy plummeted down to the ground with the raining shards of glass, and while he wasn’t dead before he hit the ground, it didn’t take much longer than that. Jasper rushed over to the shaking conductor. He appeared to be all right, except for some scrapes, but he would be just fine. He left the room and greeted the anxious Cort and Seamus with a reassuring grin. Seconds later Lariat and the two others walked in, both flashing signs of victory. The Hunters had reclaimed the Steel Alley Station.