Dirty Work: Volume 2

Story Seven - The Breaking Storm: Part 2 - 4

Keeping close was hard thanks as the invisible wash from Baron's car buffeted mine behind. You need something which responds well when trying to avoid gunfire at the best of times, but the instability I had then was perilous. I chased them on a razor's edge, running the line between closing in on them and in on death.

We took a turn at speed. He rose high and dropped around a bank of vaults. It looked like he was heading back to the top entrance, but of course he couldn't be. Trying to shake me off then. Where was he actually going?

A stray blast from below hit my underside. I went into a full 180, hanging upside down briefly before barrelling back round, blood whirling behind my eyes. In the spin, Baron had disappeared. I looked everywhere, keeping the kar moving at all times. Where we'd been going was a row of vaults pocketed with craters and scorch marks. The way was empty of vehicles. Down below was chaos, growing more like the end of days with every passing second.

I really wished I'd got some of that hyperadrenaline now. Regular adrenaline was still pumping around the system well enough, but wouldn't hold forever. A brief flash of memory, of that jagged hole with Z11 clawing for help before falling. Perhaps I'd imagined that last bit. Then a second memory. Flora, tied up in a warehouse.

There's nothing like a grudge to spur you into action.

My senses sharpened in that moment. Scanning the world before me, smoke drifting across my vision and snaking down my throat, I spied retreating kars. Coughing, I dove down towards the floor.

Everything blurred together. I wasn't conscious of what I was doing; in the moment, I had flowed out of my body. I wasn't controlling the car through the war. Something else was.

Hooded men and Red Rose agents alike tried to take me down but I predicted everything, even shots I couldn't see. In that trance-like state, I piloted better and faster than ever before, and possibly ever will again.

Scorched and battered, my kar arrived upon the fleeing figures. One hand on the wheel, I rested the barrel of my Alpha over the lip of the steering wheel and pulled the trigger. Someone yelped and their gun whistled through the choking air. It clattered off my kar as we scraped the bottoms of our vehicles on the ground. I shot again, this time firing between the two goons and hitting the console. Sparks showered the pair and the kar wobbled once, twice, then ripped off to the right. It barrelled and spilled its passengers before hitting two men with a Delta aimed in our direction, swept away like bowling pins.

Vayn Baron glanced at me as gunfire his other henchmen spilled around me, deflecting off the trance-forcefield I had somehow erected around me. He barked orders to the other kar, which veered off and swooped in behind me. Too close. I couldn't turn to fight it off and follow at the same time.

I got an eyeline of where Vayn was heading, then ducked as a blast ruffled my hair and hit my controls. Smoke and fire billowed into my face. There wasn't much I could do unless I wanted to end up like those I'd already taken out.

I spun round in my seat, got to my feet, and prayed. I felt the kar lose power underneath me, felt the machine lose control. It bucked and wiggled its ass. I pushed forward off the seat and ran for the holding compartment at the back. The kar lost it.

Jumped.

I landed on the front of the kar. Almost slipped off instantly but managed to hook my fingers around one of the winglets, and ended up hanging on by one hand. The driver's face bug-eyed, and I don't blame him. I gripped onto the winglet with one hand and slowly pushed up other one up. Aimed the gun at his face.

He slammed on the brakes and I shot over the bonnet, sliding through into the front of the kar, where the Red Rose man in the passenger seat elbowed me in the face. I went past him and returned the hit with one of my own, driving the butt of the gun into his nose. I felt it crunch and at the back of my brain I remember finding the feeling ridiculously pleasant.

The driver went for me and I swung my legs, still facing the rear of the kar. He ducked but I dug my feet into the seat and hauled myself somewhere near upright. Looked ahead and wrestled for the controls to avoid us hitting the wall of the room.

We bashed off the edge and I shoved the pilot's head to the side of the wall, where it ground down quickly into brains. To my other side was a gun being fumbled with, rising to my face. I grabbed the wheel and jerked it away from the wall as quickly as I could. We both spun with the G-Force, and I bashed into him with my shoulder. The gun flew out of his hand and he almost followed it. He held on by his fingertips as I had done before. I used a free hand to give his nose another crunch, making sure to my knuckles for maximum impact. He screamed and tumbled off the side, rolling into the distance behind me.

I brought the kar back into line and threw the driver's corpse into the passenger seat. The kar was moving fairly slowly now, its speed having bled off in the fight. Up ahead, a group of armed hooded men in black were coming closer. Weapons turned to face me.

I whipped the kar round again, gunned the throttle, and prayed the shots wouldn't hit something vital. Something dented, something buckled, and something ripped away. Poor kar wasn't meant for such impacts, and though I initially sped away, the volume of gunfire converging on me was taking its toll on the poor machine.

I aimed for the hole Vayn Baron had ducked in through. Looking behind me I saw one kar descending through the madness for me faster than the others. I couldn't make out who was in it, and they weren't firing at me. Still, no chances taken.

I ducked instinctively as I cleared the doorway. I slammed on the brakes and was out of the kar before it had completely stopped. It drifted into the one Vayn Baron had vacated before dashing down the corridor ahead with an echoing crunch. Nobody lying in wait. They wanted out of there quick.

I ran to the door and hit the big button to close the door so hard the palm of my hand went red. The door, like two closing sides of a clamp, took a second to get going. It only takes a second to imagine one's death.

There were gunning engines getting closer, then a kar punched through the gap by the tiniest of margins, scraping metal on the edges of the doors, before it slammed shut.

I dropped to my knee with my Alpha out. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my canister running on empty. Ripped the empty out of the top slot and went for a spare in my pocket which, miracle of miracles, was still there and wasn't leaking. It slotted back in with an audible click and I looked back up to the new arrival to find the room empty.

Then cold to the side of my head.

'You Xayne?' A woman's voice. It reminded me of Z11, but it wasn't as excitable as hers. Stronger, more confident. Arrogant, even.

I nodded, not moving my hand in case she thought I meant to try something stupid.

'Good.' The gun went away.

The figure scampered off down the corridor. Black dress, dark skin, long silver hair. Her arms were locked straight, gun held as naturally as breathing. Trained to kill; I could see that much even in my fatigued state.

I had no choice. I followed her on, limping and groaning as tiredness started catching up with me.