Convergence - The Last Science #2.2 - Heroes and Villains

B2: Chapter 29 - The Battle of Lakewood - IV

  Can't catch a single fuckin' break! "Stebbins!" Jeremy shouted through his earpiece.

  "Nothing, sir!" he called back, barely audible through the crappy cell phone connection. Jeremy wished they had a proper radio, but he had to improvise.

  "Fucker's got a black stick he uses to make the bastards! Find him!" Jeremy turned and kept moving, while the golem advanced on the other three. He yelled at the paramedics to get moving. "That thing doesn't care about you! Get out of here!"

  The ambulance shrieked away, ferrying Jessica out of the fight. Hailey, screaming in rage, grabbed up the entire front half of the truck body by its fender. She twisted around, then swung it like a massive baseball bat.

  Metal smashed against solid amorphous asphalt. The golem skidded across the pavement, cracking up the pavement as it went. Part of it was annihilated by the sheer impact—but as it turned and started advancing again, it shifted, and soon looked the same as it always did.

  "Let's just get the fuck out of here!" he shouted. "Leave that thing!"

  Hailey shook her head. She hurled the truck cab at the golem, driving it back another couple dozen feet. "I'm going to find him. Right now."

  "Hailey!"

  "They shot Jessica!"

  Hailey burst into the air, climbing two dozen feet up in a second. She twisted around left and right, and the whole place lit up with fire. A dozen spheres of withering flame erupted around her in a huge circle, illuminating the whole street. The trees on the sides of the road wilted under the sudden blazing heat. A few caught fire. Jeremy scanned the area, but he couldn't see anyone either.

  The Japanese girl with the tattoos carrying the unconscious blonde-haired white guy—Ryan fucking Walker, Jeremy realized with a start—looked up as well. She was bleeding too, but not severely. "Hales, we need to get the fuck out of here!"

  As if to echo her point, another gunshot echoed down the street. Someone screamed.

  Jeremy whipped around. That was from the neighborhood. What the fuck?

  "Stebbins!"

  "Shots fired, southeast. Somewhere in the residences. Unclear. Heavier than a pistol, sir. Rifle fire."

  Jesus Christ. "Cover us." He glared up at Hailey. "Hailey, it's not clear! We gotta move!"

  "So move!" she shouted back.

  Well, can't argue with that. Jeremy moved to grab Ryan's other shoulder, and between the two of them, they made a pretty good pace down the road toward Stebbins' position. As soon as they reached Jeremy's commandeered truck, they loaded Ryan into the back seat. He was still groggy, but coming to fast.

  "Who the fuck are you?" the girl asked.

  "Jeremy Ashe."

  "Fuck me, the FBI guy? You're with Hailey?"

  "Yeah." He glanced around. Another couple gunshots rang out, cracking down into the bushes on the right side of the road. The shots seemed to be coming from the houses along the same side, right near Jeremy and his truck. The houses were on an elevated patch of land overlooking a huge field to the north, forming a wall of buildings that started the neighborhood. The ground level of the houses was a good ten feet up on stone foundation, behind a row of tall bushes and a cheap fence. "What the hell are they shooting at?"

  "And who the fuck's doing the shooting?" the girl added.

  "Hailey!" Jeremy shouted, trying to get her attention. Hailey was still flitting back and forth over the street to the north, while a circle of fireballs provided light for her in every direction. She whipped around at his call, the fire turning in sync with her. "Grab the fucker who's still alive down there! I need to talk to him!"

  To his relief, she did it, swooping down to snatch him up and flying to their truck. She deposited him like a sack of bricks into the truck bed. Before she could take off again, Jeremy caught her by the sleeve.

  "Let me go," Hailey said, tugging away. Jeremy felt like she might break his arm if she pulled any harder, even though she was barely putting in any effort.

  "Hailey, they're armed. You fly, you're just an easier target." Jeremy got into the truck bed, and slapped sense back into the man she'd picked up. "Stay down til we figure out what the fuck's going on."

  A huge crash from up in the neighborhood, something they couldn't see. A cloud of dust blew through the air a second later. More screaming, and the sounds of people running. The gunfire picked up, now accompanied by an automatic weapon. Holy fuck.

  "Stebbins, call in some backup. Every single thing you can get," Jeremy snapped. The man nodded and got on the phone, while he got back to his impromptu interrogation. "Hey, hey you. Wake up."

  "Go... go fuck yourself."

  "Did that this morning." Jeremy slapped him again. "What the fuck is going on?"

  The man didn't respond. He just glared. Jeremy started to dig through his pockets, but the man didn't react in the slightest. He's way too good for this. They had a pro driving that thing. He doesn't care if I search him. This guy isn't one of Brian's. Sure enough, Jeremy didn't find a single useful thing in the man's pockets. Ammo, smokes, and some loose cash. Not even a wallet.

  "Who are you workin' for?" he asked, slapping the guy in the face again.

  "Fuck... off."

  The Japanese girl's face paled at Jeremy's question. "Thought he was with Brian."

  "No fuckin' way. This guy isn't some riled up civvie."

  She shook her head in dismay. "No fucking way. They wouldn't."

  "Rika?" asked Hailey.

  Rika ignored her and leapt onto the truck bed. "Hey, asshole. Hey, wake up."

  He spat onto the truck bed. "What?"

  "You know a guy named Viper?"

  A split-second reaction, which was more than enough for both of them. She slugged the guy in the chest, causing him to cough up hard and double over.

  Jeremy turned around. "The fuck was that? Who's Viper?"

  "A mercenary with a shitload of capital behind him." Rika glanced up at the row of houses. "And I'll bet anything he's the one with the guns up there. This just became a threeway. Not the fun kind, either."

  "What happened to him?" asked Hailey. "Alden never said."

  "I made a deal with him to get out of town. So apparently he's a motherfucking backstabbing bakayaro!" Rika's voice rose to a fever pitch as she glared up to the row of houses. "Asshole!"

  "—told not to touch you," muttered the mercenary.

  "Shinjimae," Rika snapped, kicking him in the chest. She winced in pain from the action, clutching her side. "The fuck do we do now?" She glanced at Hailey, and Jeremy followed her gaze.

  Hailey was looking up at the row of houses, where another round of gunfire echoed out into the street. Another muffled explosion. A second house had collapsed, throwing another pile of dust into the air behind the row they could see.

  "Hailey, wait—" Jeremy started, but it didn't matter. A rush of wind blasted his face as Hailey took off, hurtling into the sky.

  He twisted around. If she's gonna go, I'm gonna get her everything I fuckin' can. "Stebbins, where's that fucking backup?"