Jacket Knight: Old Wrongs Done Right

Chapter 8: No Time For Caution

 I walked down the street, my hood covering my head.

In the lit darkness of downtown San Francisco, people walked along, unknowing of the tragedy that had befallen Delilah.

I walked along, until I spotted something.

I pushed through the crowd, making a beeline for that brown ponytail.

When I thought I reached it, there was no one there.

What?

There was a guy sitting at one of the benches, sketching something. Trying to be discreet, I looked over his shoulder, and I saw a face.

The face was nearly flawless. Her skin was that beautiful caramel that I had fallen in love with, and her lips were light pink, while her dainty nose just added to her charm.

Her hair?

A chocolate-brown ponytail.

I tapped the guy's shoulder.

"Hey, you mind if I give you 5 bucks for that sketch?" The man smiled, and eagerly took the page out.

I handed him the five dollars, and I looked at the picture again.

It was a sketch of Britney Spears.

What the!?

I was deep inside downtown, and the electronic signs, which resembled the ones in Times Square, were now displaying pictures of me and Delilah.

What?

When I had to blink, the pictures had disappeared. I walked down the street, looking around, and her face...it just kept showing up.

Waves of memories kept crashing over me, but I didn't want it.

I kept running and running, trying to keep them out.

.......

I ran deeper into downtown, not realizing that I was going deeper into the Sunnyvale Projects...deeper into gang territory.

I found myself in front of an alley, and I heard voices from within.

"Hey man, you got the drugs?" I heard a nasally voice mutter, and I immediately knew what was happening.

"Of course. We don't need to tick these guys off any more. If we forgot these chemicals, man, we'd have been in trouble."

I activated the exo-suit, and I unholstered my Deagles.

Let's do this.

I ran up the wall, and I shot wildly at the thugs. They jumped away in fear, fumbling with their own handguns.

I landed on the other side, where I backed up against some boxes of...whatever it was. Holstering my Deagles, I held my hands up placatingly.

"Listen, if you guys think you can deal with crack, I'm not letting that happen," I said, trying to sound intimidating; It definitely had an effect on the crooks.

"You're-UGH!" he exclaimed as I nailed him with a direct uppercut, and his neck snapped backward.

"Stay frosty, yeah?" I muttered as I leaped toward the other guy. He fumbled with his gun, managing to aim it at me, but I managed to grab the barrel of the gun, twisting it out of his hand.

He stepped backwards, letting go of the M9, which I threw to the side, advancing on my foe.

With a knife, he tried to prison-shank me, but I sidestepped and I kicked him in the side.

He flew into the wall, and I dusted myself off, standing over him.

"Now, I want you to stay there, so that you don't hurt yourself trying to do the deal. But before I go, I want to know who you were dealing with."

The thug coughed, and he muttered something. I leaned in closer.

"Never met him. But..." Another cough. "He gave us good money. Those boxes...they have...some...Illegal stuff." I nodded.

"Figured. Now, who was supposed to meet y-"

"Oi! What ye little bastard doin' here?" I heard off to my right, and I turned to my new opponents.

A team of mercenaries stood nearby, rifles aimed straight at me. I could tell thanks to the dumb lasers aimed straight at my chest.

"Look guys, I don't want a fight, but if you insist..." I gave them one last look, but they didn't waver.

I unholstered my pistols, and fired at will.

Two mercs went down almost immediately, while the others backed away, giving themselves breathing room inside the narrow alley. Not that it helped. I kept firing, and the mercenaries were steadily picked off.

They started to get the message, and started to retreat, but I wasn't letting them off that easily. I ran after them, only to get hit in the face by the butt of some dude's carbine.

I stumbled backwards, rubbing my face, and I heard the tapping of footsteps.

I ran after the mercs, who had started to board some truck. Remembering every action movie ever, I shot the tires, making them pop. The mercenaries kept loading in, and one guy was getting a backup tire out of the back.

I shot that tire too, and the guy carrying it looked at his hands in shock. "Stop being a bunch of wuss, and fight me like a man!" I yelled, aiming my Deagles at the mercs.

"Boy, you're outnumbered, six to one, and you have no body armor whatsoever."

"You're right. Get another six of you in here, and it might be a fair fight." I said, keeping my pistols trained on my opponents.

They held their rifles unsteadily, whereas I didn't even twitch.

I pulled the trigger.

.......

I reloaded my Deagles, and holstered them.

I started to heave the bodies into the dumpster nearby, and then I noticed something.

The logo on their shoulder pads...I had seen it on the cargo crates back in the shipyards.

It was the symbol of Legion Industries.

What the hell was a military contractor doing with drugs? After dumping most of the bodies, I looked inside the van.

Inside, I found one of those computers mounted inside, and I pressed the power button. It booted up to reveal a simple login screen.

Finding a small employee ID inside the armrest, and I entered the ID in, and the computer unlocked.

Looking around, I found the Files shortcut, and I clicked on it. It opened up, and I found a file named "Schedules."

Opening the file, I found a couple dozen sub-files with months and years on them.

I clicked on the "September 2017" file, and there were even more files.

But that's when I heard the sirens.

SHIT!

I yanked the computer out, grabbed the ID, and I started to run.

To run from the pain.

To run from the crime.