Elin swore as the first volley of bullets missed, immediately firing another spray towards her enemy. Again, the bullets sparked harmlessly off the walls as Natalya closed in, firing at Tito as she rushed in to closer range. Tito threw himself behind a sofa, dodging the small-arms fire.
As Dan readied himself, a rifle round slammed into his abdomen from behind, searing pain lancing up his body as blood began to flow freely from the damage he had sustained. His vision blurred briefly, before refocusing.
Tito spun at the sound of the gunshot, noticing Sy perched in the corner. Snapping his rifle up to his shoulder, Tito unleashed a spray of suppressing fire at the sniper. Despite the lack of focus on accuracy, several bullets caught Sy as the spray sped towards him. Though the damage was minor, Sy found his movement and aim restricted by the bullets.
A searing pain flared up Dan's body. He shouted out in pain. "Argh!" Quickly, his emergency overdrive came on, slowing down time like when he was programming. He looked around, and spotted what looked like another Partition operative who had fired at him. Seeing as Dan did not have dying high on his to-do list, he ran away round a corner and hid. From this position he could look up through a window and fire, but they wouldn't think he had stayed.
I haven't left, he sent in a rushed message to the commander and Tito. That person who had shot him, he had snuck up on him incredibly well. It made him suspect some kind of cloaking system. He opened up his hacking interface, and searched for it. Finding the files he was looking for, Dan faded from view.
Elin snapped her head round following the appearance of the sniper. A brief hand signal was enough to direct Tito to keep the sniper controlled, before she snapped her attention back to Natalya. With Dan having hidden, she couldn't do anything to help him, so she was forced to turn her attention to her opponent. Another burst of bulletfire lanced its way towards Natalya, who weaved between the shots, slashing at Elin as she closed. Elin twisted away from the blow, the knife blade hissing as it whipped through the air.
Syderis swore and ducked quickly back down into cover as the hand signal was gestured in his direction, but not quickly enough. One of the enemy's shots gave him a light wound in his left shoulder, passing through but doing minimal damage. He kept going though, so it would now be far harder for Sy to make his shot. He decided there was nothing else he could do, and he'd have to finish the nerdy kid off.
That was more difficult than he realised though, because he was nowhere to be seen. He could swear he'd seen him just a second ago... then he remembered the partition had a small file on this guy. According to Leo and Ravyn's fight with him, he mimicked Leo's flame glove. So he could copy implants. That son of a bitch had stolen his chameleon implant, making him extremely hard to detect - there's be a field around him that copied the colours of any surfaces nearby.
Now Sy was left with a choice of firing at Duvares, or soldier boy over here, who was still supressing him harder than society supresses women.
Duvares would take a lot of shooting before she went down, so he decided to try his luck firing on chauvinist guy. He chambered a round, took aim, charged the coils in the rifle, and fired. The bullet caught Tito in the shoulder, knocking him off balance. Recovering quickly, he returned fire. The spray of bullets caught Sy square in the chest, a series of heavy kicks hammering into him. Sy felt blood rising in his mouth, as his vision dimmed and his limbs became heavier and heavier. His gun slid from his hands as he collapsed on the floor.
Dan recoiled as he saw his friend shoot down yet another Partition operative.
It's for the greater good, he reminded himself. He walked over to the body and looked into his dying eyes in slow motion. The sniper would see a slight shimmer above him as he died. He set a quick reminder to himself to see if he had any living relatives. His file didn't describe him as a bad person, but just one who was misguided and brainwashed to join the other side. Still, it was all for nought if the bitch who killed the Captain's husband murdered them all. He was gonna need some damn good strategy to stop her, but luckily, Dan didn't need to make his own strategy, he had a program for that. Just before he engaged the program, he sent a message to Tito.
If the bitch starts bleeding, try to keep her abilities disabled, you heard what Marquese said, don't let her bring that corpse to life. And with that, he engaged the Optimal Strategy Calculaion, his joints stiffening and beginning to move of their own accord.
Elin stepped back, smirking in grim satisfaction at the sight of Sy slumped on the stairwell. She fired again at Natalya, before rapidly reloading. The bullets hit home, but lodged into the protective plates affixed into Natalya's clothing.
Natalya ignored the fire from Elin, pushing forwards towards Tito. Her knife flashed, and a spray of blood flew into the air, splattering over Tito. Natalya continued, now bleeding heavily from her left arm, and vaulted the banister to where Sy's body lay. Her hand, coated in blood, pressed against his chest, and a gurgling sound could be heard.
"...y!....Sy!... WAKE UP YOU USELESS FUCK OF A BULLETSPONGE!" Sy's vision returned, blurry at first, as he seemingly climbed out of a dark freezing pool. There was a hand on his chest, filling him with warmth that spread from the point of contact to the ends of his limbs. He could vaguely see someone crouched over him, as the pain from his wounds returned along with the feeling of warmth. Then a sharp crack as he was slapped around the face. "Alright, you limp-dicked liability. You are going to get yourself the fuck outta here before you get yourself killed again. You're in my way - I was doing just fine until you showed up and got yourself shot. Now fuck off!" Hauling him roughly to his feet, Natalya almost threw him up the stairs. The whites of her eyes were now streaked with red tendrils, and the blood that flowed from her arm now swirled ominously around her, like a protective serpent. She turned and walked back down the stairs, blocking the exit. "This is my party, and I don't recall inviting you." Pulling her lighter out of her pocket, she sparked it a couple of times, lighting a cigarette, before tossing into the far corner. Flames began to flicker as she took a deep drag. "Sorry for the interruption. Now, where were we?"
Sy coughed and spluttered, a spattering of blood leaving his mouth as Natalya brought him back to life. His heart had been stopped for seconds, and during that time he'd felt... oddly warm. He'd taken solace in the fact he could do nothing, and he'd felt peace. Now, though, he was back alive and had to do something to stop it happening again. Natalya had dragged him to the top of the stairs, and he was almost safe. He dragged himself to his feet, stumbling out of the building, until he had to stop and rest in an alley. Being nearly dead hurt, and it was scary, that he'd come that close and then let it happen, his brain had stopped caring. He wouldn't allow it next time, if there was such a thing.
After hours of stumbling and walking, he was once again in the back-alley chopshop, and the good doctor had only to take one look at him before he carefully placed the man on the operating table / dinner table and set to work.
When Sy came to, the man was cleaning up, and he looked over at Sy with just a hint of concern in his face.
"You know what, Sy? You're one of my best customers, but it ain't easy seeing a friend getting beat up constantly like this. I get it, freedom fighter, hero of the people and all that, but don't you think you're taking it a little far?" He said.
Sy looked at the man for a moment, and took a deep sigh, wondering if the doctor was right. In a way, he was. It seemed certain now that Wodan had told him the complete truth. He hadn't been sure, but nearing death had put things in perspective. It had been more effective than talking to Natalya possibly could have been.
"I've been fighting for the right ideals, Zed. Just not the right people. It's all worth it to me."
With that, Sy left, picking up his equipment on the way out. Zed had taken the credits from his implant already, he could tell.
Sy was tired as hell, if in a lot less pain. He wasn't sure what to do, but going back to the fight wasn't an option. He'd get creamed again, and Godetzka, his only way of contacting EXODUS again, would be too pissed at him to even consider helping him contact them.
He would have to go back to the partition safehouse where Raptus told him to meet. By now, he'd be hours later than the others, but hey, he'd be somewhere.
Setting off, it took him about half an hour but eventually, dog-tired, he made it to the safehouse, looking around for the others there.
Tito snarled as Natalya revived and cleared Sy from the area. Raising his rifle, he fired at Natalya, though the shots went wide as she weaved out of the way.
Dan watched in shock as the sniper was brought back to life in front of him. He silently discarded his notes to contact the guy's family. The terrorist bitch had activated her blood powers. Not good. "I was shooting you in the head." Dan replied to her sarcastic question, his voice seemingly coming from nowhere. Suddenly, something shimmered in the air next to Captain DuVares, and with a burst of blue, Dan reappeared. In one fluid movement, he swung his arm up and took a shot at the Partition operative, the bullet flying straight for her head. The bullet struck true, although a tendril of blood passed in front of its path at just the right time, the bullet crumpling against the hardened structure. "Hey, Captain." Dan said, panicking, his words slurring a little, "You got any of those healing bots?"
Elin sighed when Dan faded back into view. Slapping a hand on his shoulder, a healing burst flowed through his body as his flesh was knitted back together. Meanwhile, Natalya closed in on Tito, bladed tendrils flashing towards his body as she smirked. Though Tito twisted away, one cut deep into his leg, causing blood to stream from his leg. Crying out in pain, he collapsed to the floor, throwing down his energy shield as he did so.A protective shell encased him as he lay prone, trying to staunch the flow of blood.
Dan sighed as the healing bots flowed through his body, entering his bloodstream. However, he quickly pulled himself together as Godetzka approached his friend. "Tito!" He shouted as the blood tendril pierced into his skin. He rushed to his shielded friend's side and drew his daggers. Energy rushed through his body, and the power held in the knives was enough that you could feel the strength of it in the air. "If you think I'm going to let you hurt my friend and ally, you're in for a bit of a... shock. Bitch." He snarled, before slicing at Godetzka with the electrified blades.
Natalya sidestepped the blow, laughing mockingly at his attempt to hit her. "Aww, did I upset the little baby?" Elin cut her off with another spray of bullets, which Natalya narrowly weaved through, stepping closer and closer to Dan. "As I warned you before, this ain't the fucking sandpit kid." A solid spear of blood shot forwards, impaling Dan right where the nanobots had just finished their work, tearing into the still fresh and tender flesh. "If you don't grow the fuck up, then I'm going to beat you like you should have been years ago." The tendril twisted as she withdrew it, intensifying the pain.
Tito hammered on the wall of his shield. "DAN! Don't worry about me, I'm safe in here. Take care of yourself instead!"
Dan doubled over in pain as the tendril retracted, glancing back at Tito. He wasn't safe in there, and Dan knew it, but he was safer than Dan was.
Just a bit longer, and then I can show that bitch what's up. Bet she's never had her abilities turned against her before he thought. He ran back away from Tito, and stood behind Captain DuVares, trying to make him not her priority target. "I might not be able to grow up,
Natalya," he spat, "But at least I can see the truth. What do you hope to gain? To overthrow the government? To put in your dictator? What do you think will happen then? A new Partition will rise up and take over. You aren't doing good you idiot, you're just killing people. Just creating death." He punctuated his words with a throw of one of his knives.
Natalya casually stepped to one side, as the knife sailed past harmlessly. "Overthrow the government? Rule the people? What makes you think I give a shit about any of that? I don't give a shit whether I do good or not. All I care about is getting close enough to a certain individual so that I can rip the fucker apart slowly and painfully. Repay a little of what he did to me. Just so happens that these guys offer me the best chance to do that. Don't talk down to me like I'm a moron. Don't act all high and fucking mighty while you're hiding behind your captain. And don't spout that moralistic bullshit like you think I'm gonna care." A dark, twisted grin spread across her face. "Because I know what I want, and I'm going to get it, even if it means burning this city to the ground."
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Elin shouted, ripping off her overcoat. The large lump on her back was revealed to be a monstrous implant, heavily vented and with a large fan mounted on the back. "Initialising IN-OCX Experimental Neural Overclocker module. Clock speed max. Thermal safety overrides disable. Initialise Projectile Velocity Acceleration." Two cables snaked their way down her arm, socketing into her rifle as the fan on her back roared into life. "Complete system bridge in 3, 2, 1, 0."
Elin burst into motion, weapon up and firing at ridiculous speed. The bullets flew out of the barrel as if posssessed, a new hail of death pouncing at Natalya's throat. Natalya was forced to blink in surprise as the bullets pinged off her armour and tendrils, having been unable to react. Before she could even muster up a counterattack, Elin was pushing forwards, reloading and firing again.This time, the bullets hit home, blood spurting from fresh wounds. Elin snapped her head round to Dan. "Tuite! Graves! Evac from the vicinity of the building! I'll be out once I'm done here! That's an order!"
Natalya sniggered as the swirling red cloud that surrounded her darkened. "Well well well, seems the Institute has some fancy toys...forcibly accelerating your brainwaves huh? Can't be too good for you, can it!" This last phrase was punctuated by a large claw of three tendrils slashing at Elin. Blood splattered as the bladed edges bit in to her arm.
Tito looked stunned at what was going on, but jumped into action at Elin's command. Disabling his shield, he dashed for the stairs,limping heavily, before turning to cover Dan's approach. Once in position, he yanked a grenade from his belt and hurled at Natalya. An electrical burst engulfed Natalya, and her tendrils seemed to flicker and waver before recovering.
Dan was shocked a little at the insane speed Captain DuVares was fighting at. "Could've done that earlier.." he muttered, running up the stairs. It was tempting to stay behind to give Godetzka a taste of her own medicine but... well, DuVares seemed to have it under control. It was strange, though. Godetzka had said something about someone doing something to her. Strange. He grabbed Tito's arm as he went past, signaling that it was time to leave.
Let's stay nearby he sent silently to Tito.
The Captain told us to stay away from the building, but let's not go too far. We should stay near the floatcar and wait for her to come out. If she doesn't come out, we can't let her die in vain. Godetzka is insane. Captain may have that massive implant, similar to my own in accelerated brainwaves, not so similar in her insane speed, but I have inspected Godetzka's files, and she has some crazy shit going on.
Elin grunted in satisfaction as she saw the two leave. Charging to Natalya's blind spot, she opened fire repeatedly, the network of her disruptor field glowing beneath her skin. Both volleys of bullets hit home, but were stopped by the swirling blood cloud around Natalya.
Natalya looked around at the fires that were starting to spread. "Hey, with that thing running, you must be having trouble keeping your cool, right?" A thick heavy tendril slammed down towards Elin. When it struck, it recoiled as it bounced off the disruptor field running beneath Elin's skin. Elin merely snarled, firing again and again. This time, the bullets hammered repeatedly into Natalya's chest, blood pouring from her wounds as she coughed out yet more. With a bestial howl, Natalya manifested a crowd of blood blades and hurled them all at Elin. The spikes smashed through the subdermal field, puncturing their way through Elin's major organs. A huge spray of blood came from Elin's mouth as smoke rose from the overclocker. "I can't...die...don't want to...die....not while you...live" she croaked. "Yeah, well I wanted a pony for Christmas, so hey, life sucks." Natalya retorted, retracting the spikes and letting her body slump to the floor. "Serves you right for getting in my way, you stupid bitch." Natalya turned and walked to the exit, her blood a raging storm around her, crackling out at the nearby objects.
Dan and Tito saw her exit the house from their vantage point, before she turned and headed down the nearest alleyway. Tito turned to Dan, his face pale. "Dan, you seriously think we can take on that much power? We're better off seeing if we can save the captain and any intel from the house than running to our own deaths."
"Our priority is saving the captain." He said solemnly. "But if we can get her healing bots working on herself, I could take Godetzka's abilities. Wait." He said. "I know, OK, we set off now, we get Elin in the floatcar, healing. Then we get within range of Godetzka, silently as possible, and I copy her files. We make our own nanobots." He said, his eyes lighting up. "Come on! We've got to save DuVares!" He concluded, sprinting off.
Tito dashed after Dan as they re-entered the house. The fire was blazing intensely as they battled their way through the heat to where DuVares lay, blood pooled around her. Tito pressed his fingers to her neck, frantically pressing harder and harder. "Shit! No pulse." Tito began chest compressions with one hand whilst hooking up an auxiliary feed to the back of her neck. "Brain wave response is minimal. There's a lot of burnt tissue around where the implant is dug in, the heat may have fried her spinal cord. We need to use something now, or she's gone."
Dan slowed time to almost a standstill, not bothering to reply to his friend. He found what remained of Elin's systems, how ironic that they resisted him as he attempted to save her life. The healing bots that Elin had stored, they could save her. Now was no time to be holding back reserves, and Dan aimed to put every single one into action. He got through, but he didn't get what he was aiming for. One dose would have to do. With a quick inspection of their programming, Dan realised how sophisticated it was. It seemed to know how to heal pretty much anything, so he didn't waste energy controlling them all, and set them into motion.
Tito's relaxed as the nanobots set to work. "Brainwave activity increasing...pulse detected..." He briefly held his hand beneath her nose. "...breathing. She's alive, but she's still in pretty bad shape. Seems the bots healed all that they could, but there's a lot of damage to her periphery. We need to get her back immediately for medical treatment...and out of this blazing building. Come on." Bending over, Tito picked Elin up and rested her against his shoulder. "Let's get outta here. Fire's eaten up anything Godetzka left behind. Best make sure we aren't included in that." Tito trudged to the exit.
"Good." Dan replied. "We bring her back to the floatcar. But... do I still get to copy Godetzka's files? We don't need to engage her in combat, and she shouldn't be able to find us even if something did go wrong, which it wouldn't. Come on man." He said as he helped support Elin's weight, carrying her out. "It's what the Captain would want. Imagine if she wakes up, and not only is she still alive, but we've gathered all the data she needs to avenge her husband! We've got to help her somehow, I doubt she'll be easy to calm down when she wakes up, she'll want to go back out and fight Godetzka. What if we could make her win that fight?"
Tito shook his head. "Did you see how much power she was holding when she walked out? I reckon she could probably tear the floatcar apart if she wanted to - these things ain't exactly heavily armoured or quiet. Even if the Captain lasts that long without medical attention, it's no use if we all die.
I feel where you're coming from, and honestly I'd quite like to jam several tons of C4 down that bitch and blow it, but remember this - Elin could have ordered us to stick around and assist her. Looking from how heavily Godetzka seemed to have bled, us being around may have been enough to tip the scales in her favour. Sure, she's pretty keen on getting even, but even in front of Godetzka she thought of us before her revenge. She wouldn't want us to put ourselves in that level of danger after she risked all she's fought for to keep us safe. How do you think she would feel if she saw that?"
"I guess you're right." Dan sighed. "I guess I get too caught up in our aims to see what the best plan is. Maybe we could make some of those stealth suits that I replicated back at base? I just don't want to leave this mission feeling like we've failed, and most of all, I don't want the Captain to leave this mission feeling like she's failed. I can't imagine the kind of pain Godetzka must have put her through." They had reached the floatcar. They gently lowered her down and made sure she wouldn't be hurt. "Keep a lookout and make sure she's OK. I'll drive."
Tito patted Dan on the back, carefully avoiding his wound. "Hey, don't be so down. We survived, right? Not many can say that after meeting Godetzka. We can always come back again and have another go, but the moment we throw our lives away in a rash attempt, its game over. We did what we could. That sniper got in the way too, and we still came out of it alive."
"Yeah. I guess. One day, though. One day we will beat her. I've got a project I'm working on at the moment that could help me do something fucking useful for once, rather than just taking a few hits." He sent a silent message back to base.
Mission failed. Encountered Natalya Godetzka. Captain DuVares technically died, but we barely managed to restart her heart with her own healing nanobots. Please prepare an emergency medical team for her. Me (Agent Tuite) and Private Graves are both badly wounded from the battle too, but remain conscious. Also encountered Syderis Velos, presumed dead. We killed him but his blood flow was restarted by Godetzka.
And with that, he drove the floatcar back to base.
As the floatcar pulled away, Natalya, limping through the alleyway, looked back to the floatcar rising against the sky. Smirking, she pulled out her communicator and put it to her ear. "So, as I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted...I have the chip..."
