Hydra Heart

Chapter Eleven

Chapter 11: Intermission

The Vulture came into view. It was a quad-rotor craft, with a minigun beneath each engine. The yellow spotlight searched the golden wheat fields for Tenra, Shay, Molly, and Vesta, who were tucked away under the thick brush. A cargo bay was hanging open from the ship like a mouth, waiting to devour.

"Tenra, can you steal one of the guns off of the ship with 4sight?"

"No, not unless one of the soldiers on board is holding it. They're probably using digital controls, so it's a no-go." Tenra scratched his forehead. "Dammit. What do we do?"

"I can use Backlash to deflect some of the bullets," explained Vesta, "but, not enough to get us out of here alive. Even a full second of firing might drain me, coming from those cannons."

Molly used Inquiry to produce a pair of binoculars. "Shay, how confident are you feeling?"

"Oh, no." Shay sighed. "Look, I'm glad you've probably found a way to get us out alive, but what are you gonna make me do?"

"I need a mirror," Molly replied.

"We're gonna need a better explanation than that," said Tenra.

Molly gave it to them.

--

"Yeah, it's shiny enough, let's do this," Molly said. Vesta took Backlash back.

Tenra and Molly ditched to the left and right, respectively, and Vesta bolted forward. Shay stood perfectly still, and prepared herself. The Vulture was approaching.

The spotlight was sweeping from side to side a ways in front of the ship, and it landed on Vesta in a matter of seconds. When it did, Vesta's hands were up in surrender. The ship spotted her and froze, hovering in mid-air. The stillness created a palpable tension. When are they gonna figure it out and open fire? Vesta dreaded, but kept her thoughts to herself.

Two of the four miniguns hanging on the underbelly of the ship oriented themselves at Vesta and began to whirl. However, it was too late.

Vesta used the blade of the boomerang to reflect the spotlight back into the cockpit of the ship. The craft was only hovering, so blinding the pilot with the light accomplished little, but now Shay could see the face of the man in the cockpit. He had a subtle headset that framed a worn face. He looked tense.

Here goes, thought Shay. Now that she could see his face, she could reach him. She was suddenly aware of the two armored shoulderpads she wore, the manifestations of Curtains.

Then her SOLE and mind reached out to grab control of the pilot's senses. Under her control, he saw that he was much higher in the air than before. Furthermore, there was a projectile headed towards him from above. He jerked the controls.

The result was instant. The craft careened down and to the left. Shay still had about five seconds left before she would be unable to retain control of the pilot's mind, which was plenty of time. The ship was just over two hundred feet off the ground.

I can't kill someone, she realized.

Curtains was released. The Vulture stabilized after a second, and its two starboard rotors pulled up, around two meters before they would have scraped the ground.

"SHAY? WHAT HAPPENED?" Molly called out.

"I COULDN'T HOLD HIM!" She lied.

Alright, time to do badass shit, Tenra thought. He sprung off of his left foot into a sprint, headed straight for the craft. The bottom of the cargo bay rested on the earth, crushing the plant life beneath.

A second spotlight came on. Vesta had long since vanished into the dark, and Molly was also nowhere to be seen. Both lights landed on Tenra, who immediately ducked to the left. He continued his journey to the Vulture on all fours, obscured by the darkness and the tall wheat. The minigun's whirring finally grew into a roar, as hot lead unloaded to Tenra's right, where he had just dodged the spotlight.
The earth sizzled. Corrosive rounds, as I suspected. Tenra got back up and continued his sprint. He was almost to the mouth, which looked like a medieval drawbridge, but made of metal. Then, the craft started pulling up.

The bottom lip lifted off the ground in a hurry, just as Tenra was getting close. He doubled down his sprint and leapt.

His feet barely landed on the platform, when the craft began lifting off, almost throwing him out of the cargo bay. Before he could catch his breath, gunshots reminded him of the immediate danger. His hand reached out before his mind even processed who was shooting at him. He barely caught a glimpse of the soldier in front of him, guarding the entrance, but it was enough for him to activate 4sight, just in time.

The SMG in the enemy's hand teleported into Tenra's and was fired, all within a quarter of a second.

BANG! The KCD agent dropped before she could reach for her second weapon. Her body slid past Tenra and down the door, which was acting as a ramp. She hit the earth, which was getting farther and farther away. The vibrations of the craft rumbled through Tenra's body as he struggled for balance.

He dashed inward and quickly climbed up a ladder. He was in a room where he could see down five small halls. The first four lead to the four mounted miniguns. From what Tenra saw outside, only two of these were occupied. There was also a fifth hall that went straight to the cockpit. Tenra rushed this last hallway and shot the pilot before he could even react. The controls needed to be commandeered, so Tenra took over the pilot's seat. The craft started to stabilize, until a gunshot and a shockwave echoed through Tenra's eardrums.

He spun around to see the gunners of the two rear cannons firing their side arms at Tenra. He ducked behind the pilot's seat, which was luckily made of sturdy metal. The second the gunshots stopped, he emerged.

4sight activated quickly, and their weapons were teleported into Tenra's possession. The two soldiers supplied two rifles, both of which Tenra then wielded.

The KCD agents ducked for cover instantly. Tenra reached for the minigun controls in the cockpit and overrode them.

He pulled the control sticks, watching the screen to see where the two rear miniguns were pointed. He pulled them harder, and trained them both on the ship itself, then pulled the red trigger to begin firing. A deafening BRRRRRR came from the cannons, and the corrosive rounds began to peel the metal skin of the Vulture.

Eventually, they shredded through the roof and tore up the two soldiers. Tenra knew it was safe to land when the screaming subsided. He brought the bird down to rest in the field.

--

Molly tinkered away inside the ship, breaking everything that seemed like it could track their location. Both her and Inquiry seemed very content to work on the control panel of the craft for long periods of time.

"I guess I'll fly us," Tenra concluded. "We obviously don't have time to waste. Our enemies surprise us at every turn."

"Wait, why do you know how to fly Hirudenian aircraft?" Vesta narrowed her eyes at Tenra. "And why did you know Hirudinean military jargon back there?!"

"Know thy enemy is my motto," he answered. "Kind of makes sense when you think about my Kit, doesn't it?"

"Then..." Vesta looked down. Tenra noticed she was getting more expressive with her body language. "What does Backlash say about me?"