NOVEL NEXT XX3: Supper admist Chaos
Shards of glass cut through the restaurant's warmth. Shining bolts flew by overhead; the cold rain outside pouring in as steam and smoke filled the restaurant into a chaotic furball. Claire kept herself pressed down.
Her thin jacket took punishment after punishment as fragments of steel, glass and wood deflected off it, some jabbing into her skin. Eliza could feel both Quinn's and Claire's heartrate increased as Quinn twisted his head around. Panic set in; what's going on? She tried to move around, but Claire kept her pressed down to the floor. Smog and steam covered the restaurant floor, diffusing into the outside platform.
Claire glanced up as the hail of plasma bolts stopped, leaving an eerie silence. Stale air lingered; she looked down at Eliza. "Shit… you hit?"
Eliza shook her head, hands shaking slightly from the rush of adrenaline.
Quinn shimmied upwards, looking around on one knee as he pushed Claire to the side. It was impossible to see through the smoke. "Can't see shit in here."
Eliza glanced towards Quinn. Something fell out from his pocket… A small collection of flowers. It was neatly tied up like a bouquet, as Eliza slowly reached out towards it, Quinn snatched it from the ground. Claire slowly knelt, scratching her head.
He didn't know what to say… But Eliza nodded nonetheless. Quinn slowly smiled, nodding as he slid the flowers back into his pocket, zipping it up.
Eliza dusted herself off as Claire grabbed onto Eliza, helping her up. "Sorry about that," said Claire.
"No, no. It's fine," said Eliza. She glanced around as Claire grabbed hold of her arm, sneaking through the smoke to behind the counter. "What… what's going—"
Claire placed a finger on her mouth. The clambering of a door being smashed open was heard. She waved at Quinn, signalling him to come over. He scurried through the dissipating smoke, towards them - always keeping his head on a swivel. Footsteps were heard entering the restaurants, with the crunching of glass and wood. Claire slid her hand into her skirt pockets, taking out a small plasma-pistol, flicking the chambering mechanism with her thumb.
"You actually brought fucking gun?" jabbed Quinn, scrambling around the counter as he chugged a bottle, as Claire shoved a backup pistol into his chest. It looked old and rusty, from Eliza's perspective.
"Well, of course," whispered Claire, trying to keep her voice down as more footsteps echoed through the restaurant. The only way out was forward, through them - the backdoor to the kitchen was sealed shut. "Kaz told me to be prepared for anything."
The footsteps were slow, monotonous and heavy. Even Eliza could tell that they were probably heavily armed. "Alright, so, what's the plan?!" she whispered to Claire.
"Calm down!" hushed Claire, "Jeez, look, we can't do anything if you panic. Let me think…"
Quinn rechambered Claire's backup pistol several times, sighing. "Piece of fucking shit, don't you clean all your weapons?"
"Fuck's sake… it's my backup, alright?" complained Claire, facepalming before she peeked above the counter.
Eliza followed her lead, peeking to see the smoke fade away. Sirens wailed in the distance. Through the fog, figures clad in black armour crept and walked through the restaurant, cautiously scouring through the smoke. Dead corpses littered the room, all civilians. The figures desecrated the bodies with secondary shots to the head. The sight of falling entrails and burnt-off limbs was disgusting - churning her stomach. She twisted back down, grabbing her mouth. She felt like she'd be sick…
Claire patted Eliza on the back, trying to pry off the thought of death. "We have to go forward."
"Forward?!" Quinn asked in a hushed tone.
Eliza looked up to Claire. She nodded. She repeated herself, "Forward."
"Fuck…" Eliza trailed off. "But… there's too many of them."
"Better than getting gunned down there," said Claire, signalling to Quinn - Eliza's heartbeat rose. "When shit hits the fan, run and don't look back."
Eliza took another peak, one of them caught sight of her crimson eyes through the falling smoke, the flash of a muzzle ignited the room.
And all hell broke loose, an eruption of gunfire sending the first attacker to the ground as bolts from Claire and Quinn rained hell down on them; they tried to stagger up but were killed by a stray bolt to the head. Blood exploded across the room and Eliza cowered downwards. FUCK. FUCK FUCK. FUCK! She had no idea what to do.
As the gunfire continued, Eliza felt a tug at her. It was Claire, she was dragging her upwards with Quinn, the three rushing and storming across the restaurant. Bodies collapsed and the sound of bolts hitting armour smacked into her ears. She heard shouting, yet could not distinguish it against the litany of noises in her head.
Through the smog, Eliza saw a deactivated drone, hidden beneath the counter. She remembered back to the P-2 Incident... Maybe the controls would be the same? Eliza was hit with a surge of resolve, flicking her uplink on as she connected to the drone.
In a single moment, Eliza felt a jolt of pain gnaw at her mind! "Ack!" Eliza shrieked quietly. Was this the fatigue Sato and Archius warned about?! Still, Eliza was able to control it, dragging it upwards as the drone came to life. Throwing it forward, Eliza rammed the drone into one of the combatants, giving Quinn the perfect opportunity to land a killing blow.
Even though she hadn't laid the killing blow herself, Eliza's mind and eyes froze at the sight of blood... leaking from their head. "Haha!" Quinn chortled. "Good throw!"
"I'm... I just controlled it, that's all..." Eliza downplayed her actions. Moving, she caught her footing, cowering behind Quinn and Claire as they fled outwards, a bomb igniting somewhere as a train towing into the station collided with the platform. Sparks and explosions scattered all around. Quinn and Claire threw themselves and Eliza onto the glass-covered restaurant floor. She saw a piece of steel debris fly over her.
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She squealed, "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!" Looking up at her two protectors, she prayed with all her might in those moments that they wouldn't perish… Not here… please… She begged. And no assurances came. Both were already injured, with scorch marks littering their sleeves - but through the pain they endured…
Quinn took lead, interchanging weapons with one of the dead, armoured attackers as he exited out onto the platform, covered in smoke from the explosion. And as her ears slowly recovered, she felt blood drip down her forehead…
Shoving Eliza forward, Claire barged through a pool of blood, leading Eliza out onto the station… Shit. Shit, what the fuck is going on?! It hadn't even come to her mind that this may be an organised attack; she kept her eyes away from the dead bodies, armoured or civilians. "JUST KEEP MOVING!" replied Claire.
And Eliza complied. In the chaos of it all, she was unnerved, sweat pouring down her face as she ran. She followed Claire and Quinn across the platform, eyes forward as the visage of blood splattered with every gunshot.
Quinn was hit once, causing Eliza to freeze. He groaned in pain as he returned fire, a flurry of shots suppressing a group of attackers on another platform. "KEEP MOVING!" he said, Claire rushing and pushing Eliza forward. Eliza kept her eyes forward, through the bloodshed.
Kazuki wasn't here, nor was Archius… her usual pillars of assurance were gone… But she placed her trust in Quinn and Claire. The thought of another person dying because of her stabbed at her heart as Claire dragged her up the stairs into a walk bridge over the train tracks.
"Lazarus! Twelve-nine?" asked Quinn, joining them at the top of the bridge in a lull of the gunfire. Across the bridge was the exit out of the station. Quinn was clutching at his wounds, with Claire throwing him a Juggernaut stim-bolt to heal himself.
Claire scampered down to one of the dead corpses, latching onto a grenade. Ripping it off, she launched it down the stairs, sending an ear-piercing scream into Eliza's ears, the smell of gasoline and laundry detergent filling her nose as she felt the heat of fire creep up the stairs. Footsteps could be heard rushing up the stairs from the other platforms, while her two guards scavenged for magazines. "Negative! Epsilon, we have to GTFO and call for reinforcements!" ordered Claire, with gunfire pouring down the bridge, knocking over the hovering lamps.
Quinn took cover behind a large bin, keeping Eliza close; Claire was hiding behind a bin similar to theirs.
Kneeling down to her level, he slapped her lightly. "Stay with… us," shouted Quinn. Gritting through the pain, he injected himself with the stim.
Eliza took a peek from the bin, there weren't that many blocking their way, but they were armoured, heavily armed and in a tight corridor.
Eliza's eyes wandered, staring at the blood spilt out from both Claire and Quinn. Her lungs started to go into overdrive, exhaling and inhaling more and more air with each second, tears and fear filling her eyes. She tried to hold it back, grimacing, before letting off a muffled cry to herself. She closed her eyes… she was going to die here. Archius… Kazuki… where are you two? "Fuck… where are you?" she asked herself again hopelessly.
This wasn't behind a screen, there was no veil of artificiality to blind her from what was going on. She was in the middle of a firefight, stuck in the middle of a ruthless skirmish... With so many dead.
"Liz! Come on," Quinn tried to encourage her to go forward. "Stay with us! Don't you barf on my new khakis, just keep your head forward and let us do the fighting."
Claire grabbed hold of another grenade, lobbing it down the range. An ignition sent fragmentation all around, forming a path for her. She rushed forward, from cover to cover, using dead bodies and bins to block the bolts. "COME UP LIZ!"
Slowly, Eliza dragged her head up and down, nodding. Seeing no other way out, her logical side activated. She must follow them, she told herself - it did nothing to soothe her, however. He tapped her on the shoulder.
"Run," demanded Quinn, in a serious voice. He peeked his head and fired down the bridge. And as always: Eliza complied, her legs moving on their own as she ran forward, rushing up to Claire as she took cover beside a tipped-over cleaning cart. Eliza remained unharmed, yet the sirens were blaring ever closer, with gunfire stretching out into the skies of the everlasting city. Police drones were scanning the area, shooting down at the attacking brutes.
"Shit… these fucks are belligerent, let me tell you that!" shouted Claire, breaking her pistol by the barrel and reloading in a new magazine. The attackers were forced onto the backfoot, hiding away while the flimsy drones were shot out of the sky.
Eliza swallowed her stresses. "How… are we going to get through them?" asked Eliza.
Claire thought for a moment, smacking the butt of the pistol against her head as she thought of a plan. She had a face ripe with the words 'I don't know'. Quinn rushed forward towards them, taking cover as he toppled a bin, using it as cover from behind. "Who the fuck are these people?!"
"I dunno! Criminals?" replied Claire.
Eliza fumbled with her hands as she took her phone out, dialling Kazuki a message on Hiccup. It was panicked and poorly worded… But Kazuki read it instantly. She kept herself from hyperventilating, taking direct control of her lungs and trying to console herself. Kazuki will come and save her; he always succeeds. How is this any different?!
"Nah… NAW. I thought they were police, how silly of me!" snapped Quinn.
Eliza bit her lips, quivering as she let off mumbled words. "W—what are we, going to do?"
"Just stay behind me!" assured Claire, tapping Eliza with her boots. "We'll wait for another wave of drones to buy us an opportunity."
Heavy rain started to fall as drones flew by overhead, firing down at the attackers as they were forced back into cover, their bulky and heavy armour helping in dampening the damages.
"There's still too many…" Eliza trailed off.
"Kazuki didn't choose me for nothing!" exclaimed Claire, using the brief moment to leap over cover; rushing forward.
Without armour, Claire was fast. Faster than what she's seen on the cameras whilst overseeing or analysing the operations. And before she could even get to grips of what happened, Claire reached the attacker's cover, firing a storm of bolts down into them. Reloading, she continued, aiming for the crevices in their armour.
"GET A MOVE ON! BEFORE MORE ARRIVE! shouted Claire, as the final armoured attacker was killed.
Eliza's legs moved on their own, rushing forward. Adrenaline pumped through her; the exit was within reach. Cleaning drones washed by, trying to clear up the blood across the floor. Eliza ignited her uplink up, connecting to the robots as plasma bolts bounced off their durable frames, with another agonising jolt to her ear and mind, Eliza wheeled the robots forward, covering her as she crouched forward.
Claire's face was a hint of stress, joining her as Quinn caught up to them. "Don't tell the others... I prefer not to break out into full sprints," said Claire. Quinn covered their back as they all took cover, the door to the street outside was mere metres away.
"Oh, please! You don't sweat that much!" Quinn complained, groaning as he fired at the last remaining attackers. "Get out of here! We'll cover you."
Eliza gritted her teeth, looking towards the door, then back at the few attackers. "I..." Eliza sent half the robots backwards.
'Miss Elizabeth! Do not stress yourself out here!' Synthia, Eliza's AI Tutor, suddenly projected beside her, standing and looking down at her from one of the robots. Eliza grunted in acknowledgement, but shoved the robots backwards, giving Quinn and Claire some cover.
"Thanks!" Claire shot over. Glancing back at Eliza, Claire continued, "Hey! Don't get cold feet now; run. Exercise will keep your body warm!"
The words of slight encouragement were enough. Rushing the robots aside, she felt a gasp of relief wash over her brain as she disconnected. She's always been so useless; but she's no contractor, no fighter. She understood that and bit her tongue, having helped in some form or another. And she ran.