Everyday Stresses of Kazuki - Sci-Fi Action/Intrigue Webserial

XX4: Tangos in the Sub-Levels



The churning of flares sprang the shuttle to full attention. A cascade of harrowing eruptions crackled around the shuttle as well-timed chaff blocked the rockets. Vibrations ruptured through the air and into the shuttle, kicking it into full gear as Karl pulled down on the accelerator.

"Tangos on our six," Karl reported. "Don't they know who we are?!"

The combatants in the shuttle calmly geared up for a fight.

"Well, let's give them a good fight!" Quinn remarked. "Think they'll have anything good on them?"

Martinez replied, "If they did… I don't think they'd choose this profession."

Kazuki took a glance out of the door. Plasma bolts whizzed through the air, smacking into nearby buildings and bouncing off the shuttle's steel hull. Evasive moves weakly shook Kazuki, but he stood firm against the squirming of bolts all around them.

'Arbiter! The fuck's the plan now?' Martinez jived calmly. 'Just highway muggers, right?' He chuckled before locking and loading his assault rifle.

'I'll try and shake them, Kazu!' Karl shouted back into the passenger compartment. Dragging the controls, Karl sent the shuttle sideways.

Kazuki scoffed at the criminals. A rocket whizzed an inch away from Kazuki's face. 'Archius. They're not criminals, are they?' he asked.

'They're Blood Contractors!' Sato responded. 'Reinforcements are being sent your way, a QRT – ETA in twenty."

'I... was going to say that,' Archius murmured. 'Try and lose their tail, buy as much time as possible and head due north.'

Blood Contractors. The dread instantly set in. These were Freyja's men, Kazuki thought out loud. "Fuck."

The sight of bloodshed reared its ugly head once again.

The skulls, skin, blood… That dancing harlot… Kazuki's vision was halved for a moment as he saw through the past. The blurry visage of buildings flying by and floating platforms whizzed through his mind. Then, Kazuki found himself enamoured by his memories.

Quinn grabbed the machine gun by one of the doors and looked up at Kazuki, snapping him out of it. "You want to gun them down or wanna let me have the honour, Arb?"

These were the same people who caused the massacre all those years ago… Back when Kazuki was not a Contract-Breaker, nor a leader, but a recruit. An initiate.

If that was the case, Freyja might be with them. The single thought of fighting her once more stuck Kazuki in place. Both mind and body refused to contemplate such a situation.

Because all calculations led to defeat, yet they must be done. "Freyja... Damn you..." Kazuki muttered under his breath.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. Martinez shook him awake. "Let's keep the planning and star dreaming to later, Arbiter," he shouted. Kazuki nodded back.

Quinn was still looking for approval.

"Shoot away," Kazuki responded, before turning back to Paulus and Martinez.

Breaking into a small compartment beneath the seats, Kazuki dragged the grenade launchers out for them. Martinez grinned whilst grabbing his, whilst the cautious SPTU commander snatched it from Kazuki's grasp. He then rushed to hold onto the shuttle when Karl dove it downwards.

"Show those Bloodies how we do things."

Martinez immediately went to Quinn's side, launching air-burst grenades to slow the tide of steel upon them.

More rockets and bolts screamed through the Sub-Level's neon-lit air, the trio of shuttles speeding up. Adverts flew by in the dozens. Kazuki was able to catch them, but most of them seemed suspicious. Wait… No, that one's a brothel. Correction: they were all sketchy.

Quinn's suppressive fire nearly took out one of them as they shifted in place. The shuttles rotated around, allowing for their injured one to lick their wounds. "Hahaha!"

These aren't average criminals. They're veterans, bloodthirsty ones at that. Good at killing, better than most...

At their top… was the She-Wolf, that damned woman. The thought of fighting her sent another freezing shiver down Kazuki's exospine. The idea to move was refuted. Kazuki's body merely refused.

Vividly, Kaz knew he couldn't beat her. All that he knew and could see led to one conclusion. Victory… Ultimate Victory over the Blood Contractors? Kaz fathomed it not – for the She-Wolf was in his way.

Kazuki had stirred up the whole hornet's nest. He created chaos where none was needed. But justice always brought true colours to light. If so… Let justice be done, Kazuki justified to himself. Paulus eyed up his new weapon. 'Can't say I've used them a lot, except during the Nasseri riots back in the day.'

Martinez chuckled, patting Paulus on the shoulder under the burst of plasma fire from Quinn. At least someone was enjoying the fighting.

'Unlike you officers, we got the fun guns in the army!' Martinez said, walking over and opening the rear ramp, when Karl turned a corner.

With precision and speed, Martinez pulled the trigger, firing at the perfect trajectory, destroying the first lead shuttle with a single grenade.

'Not your best shot,' Kazuki remarked. Martinez shrugged, with the pursuing shuttles continuing to gain speed on them.

'Sadly, we're not allowed to bring grenade launchers to hostage rescue operations,' Paulus said, firing off his shot.

Raining bolts and explosions rippled across the Sub-Level. Stray civilians and pedestrians became… statistics. Kazuki gave it no more thought. What good would it be?

Joining in on the firefight, Kazuki crouched down before firing off another burst of grenades. A blanket of airburst munitions warded off an assault shuttle as it crashed into a building. But then, to everyone's dismay, more shuttles flew out from around them.

Quinn tried to lay down suppressive fire, only for a splatter of plasma to nearly take his head off. Pulling back into the shuttle, he lugged his machine gun off its pod. 'Outta the way!'

Martinez and Paulus retreated as a sea of plasma bounced off the ramp. Quinn grunted, rearing forward before letting the beast of a machine gun loose from the ramp.

Just then, something slammed into the shuttle. All combatants dragged at something as the shuttle came tumbling... It kept tumbling.

Fuck. Shit! 'KARL!' Kazuki shouted. 'What hit us?!' Kazuki was holding onto the door. The shuttle slowly stabilised.

'They fucking rammed us with another shuttle!?' Karl sounded confused, as Kazuki saw a shuttle rear off away from them. Shit, it came in from above?

At that very moment, the shuttle came in once again, levelling to Kazuki, who unleashed a flurry of bolts from his pistol. A few returned fire, but were cut to pieces as they fell from their shuttle.

A heavy machine gun unleashed a string of bullets right at Kazuki. Dragging his shield up, Kazuki blocked the first of the barrage before ducking out of the way.

Once again, they moved in for the killing blow – levelling. But this time, they blundered. Karl grinned before unleashing a hail of sideways countermeasures. Missiles and plasma were unleashed from the shuttle's battle systems. The boarding shuttle was cut into pieces before diving down into the platforms below.

As the shuttle rocked, Quinn nearly tripped up, dropping the machine gun before clutching onto the ramp. Kazuki rushed forward, dragging Quinn back into the shuttle whilst Martinez covered him.

'Too fucking close!' Quinn said. 'Agh... My hand fucking hurts!' Back on the shuttle, Quinn was coughing and heaving for air. He grabbed his Shot-Axe from his belt, looking at Kazuki. 'How many do we have to kill for them to FUCK OFF?!'

"More," Kazuki replied coldly.

More shuttles came down upon them, several small ambushes that kept pushing Karl to dive the shuttle into deeper waters. The light of the sub-levels dimmed as they approached the industrial waste of factories and pipelines. Each evasive move swung the occupants to cling on for all their worth.

Out of the blue, a new shuttle skidded in from the front. Ramming into the shuttle, it blew up before falling to the sea of steel below. Instantly, Kazuki froze when hearing the sound of boots above.

Martinez peered upwards, looking at Kaz. 'You going to deal with that, Arbiter?'

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'Epsilon, with me!' Kazuki said. 'You two. Cover us!'

Quinn grumbled and sighed. He knew exactly what Kaz had in mind. Kazuki peered out the shuttle, grabbing onto the door handle on the outside. A bolt pinged off his armour and shield.

'You follow up after me! On the other side!' Kazuki pointed to the other door, all the while the moving and shifting shuttle nearly unsteadied both him and Quinn.

Quinn nodded. "Gah! Fine!"

Kazuki leveraged himself against the handle, preparing. The time came when Karl shifted the shuttle the other way. Kazuki jumped up onto the shuttle's roof. He tackled a Blood Contractor who was trying to make his way to the cockpit.

Twisting around, Kaz threw the Contractor forward, into the fire of his comrades.

Using the already dead sack of armour and steel as a shield, Kazuki pressed forward, rushing down the shuttle's length before igniting his shield and barging into the midst of the boarding team, whilst weaving and ducking to avoid kill shots. The first of the Blood Contractors came crashing off the shuttle before Kazuki weaved beneath another's overhead swing.

Bolts and plasma kept swinging all around him as Karl engaged in more manoeuvres.

'Epsilon?!'

'They're covering us pretty badly!' Quinn replied. 'It's too hot, Arbiter!' Shit. Kazuki could faintly see the spurts of plasma sent down to keep Quinn pinned inside the shuttle.

Fuck... Karl was the only saving grace to this. 'Overwatch, this is Arbiter. Reinforcements?!' One word was enough to convey the lethality of the situation.

Kazuki bashed the last one off the shuttle, whilst gunning down the rest. When Karl dove the shuttle to the side, Kazuki latched onto a handlebar along its ventral hull.

'We're trying to get to you! Your incessant moving isn't helping!' Sato replied.

Archius shot back, 'Wow! It's like they're trying not to get shot, you ever thought about that?'

Whilst they were bickering, another shuttle slid up and over them. Martinez shot down a few hanging Contractors, their bodies falling and splattering across the concrete down below.

A few jumped down, facing Kazuki with rugged and hand-crafted guns. Kazuki opened fire; his bolts blocked by shield and thick assault plates.

Kazuki kept up the fire, advancing and clutching forth. Etching close, Kazuki bashed one into his shield, lacerating their tendons before throwing them into another.

The other ducked, before landing a hit on Kazuki's upper shield. The explosive bolt splattered heat towards Kazuki's cheek. "Tch…"

Even as Kazuki continued to pour munitions into their armour, they refused to relent, the whole squad of them. Raising his railgun, Kazuki grunted as he fired a straight bolt.

An eruption of electromagnetic energy exploded across the Sub-Level's frozen air. Heat and steam singed through the air as Kazuki took out a pursuing shuttle… as well as deleting the torso of one of the Blood Contractors.

Sliding his railgun back into its holster, Kazuki dove forward against the remaining Blood Contractors. However, unlike common criminals, they weathered the storm and charged.

Ducking to the side, Kazuki allowed the leadman to tumble off the shuttle. Karl dove the shuttle forward, knocking a few off their feet as Kazuki latched onto another handle.

The last three Blood Contractors held firm, firing at Kazuki as they all hung for their lives. When the shuttle steadied, the four combatants rushed to their feet.

The Blood Contractors churned their Exoskeletons… And with that added speed, they rammed into Kazuki. Kazuki kicked the first one off before weaving the second. The third caught him, tackling Kazuki to the roof of the shuttle.

A knife slid past Kazuki's defences. The scuffle between him and the Contractors turned into a red mess. Kaz stabbed back. The three men had grizzled beards and stained eyes.

Kazuki spoke harshly to these veterans, "You should have died with the rest."

No hesitation was needed to send them to peace. Slashing at one of their necks, Kaz threw their gargling body into the other two.

Ducking and weaving, they tried to shove Kazuki off the shuttle. He fought back, slamming his shield against them.

Igniting his exospine with energy, Kaz felt a reprieve of adrenaline. It was painful. Very painful. Ripping the steel reinforcements off with steam, Kazuki's body moved.

It stung to high hell.

'Hold on, Arbiter, they're finally letting up! I'll try and get up now!' Quinn reported.

Kazuki's muscles endured slashes, ripping their shields off and shooting plasma from his wrist. The bright purple flames slammed one Contractor back, tripping and latching onto the shuttle. The last Contractor tackled Kazuki, slamming the butt of his rifle into his head.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Kazuki endured, his body fights on. Continuing with strength, Kaz drew his knife and punched straight through their armour.

Blood seeped out onto his hand as the Contractor kept fighting, holding onto dear life. He was screaming, but kept fighting. Kaz kept stabbing, pushing them off him.

Kazuki ended their suffering. The last Contractor finally clambered back onto the shuttle, raising a shotgun directly at Kazuki's head.

Buckshot felled them. Quinn had rushed in, wielding the Shot-Axe he 'inherited' from Leon. Loading in a new round, Quinn helped Kazuki up, throwing him a stim. 'I'm not Claire, but uh... it'll be fine, right?!' he asked.

Kazuki injected himself. His muscles relaxed with the painkillers. Kazuki then grunted. 'You seem to be enjoying your new toy,' he stated.

Quinn nodded. 'It's a shotgun and an axe!' He shouted. 'Vallé told me that marines in the olden days treasured war trophies like this!'

Karl steadied the shuttle as the Blood Contract Cult's assault wavered in the face of their losses.

Another shuttle rammed forth, dropping a small team onto the shuttle. Kazuki's aug-glasses caught glimpses of them. Instantly, the two AGENTs dived into the fray, cleaving through the boarding party.

Cleaving through them, Kazuki ignited his WRIST-SHOT, the scorching plasma igniting a fuel cell in the hostile shuttle. It flung away, careening into a building.

"Haha!" Quinn chortled.

'Get the hell back in, we're nearly in the clear!' Karl shouted. Quinn leapt over the rubble and bodies, getting back onto the shuttle. Kaz and Quinn grabbed opposite handles and swung themselves back into the shuttle Interior.

The inside was littered with empty casings and plasma cartridges.

Paulus looked at Kaz. 'You have any magazines? We're nearly out!' he said. The captain used the small moment of respite to tie back his auburn hair into a small ponytail.

Kazuki opened his mouth to speak, but a spark of anxiety rushed down his spine. Kazuki's body moved on its own, shifting to view out beyond the shuttle's doors. A burning shuttle, overclocked engine... It careened right out from behind a building, slamming directly into Karl's shuttle.

'MAYDAY! SHIT! WAS THAT AUTO GUIDED?!' Karl shouted. Everyone grabbed onto whatever they could. Hitting the deck, Kazuki latched onto the container handles beneath the seats.

Karl flew the shuttle into a large tunnel made for shuttle travel, pursued by a new wave of shuttles. They blasted forward with plasma, hitting the hull of the shuttle in such a tight space.

Kazuki ran up to the rear ramp, taking a few bolts of plasma. Despite that, he threw the rear ramp closed, turning to Karl.

'Karl, you must have something for this,' Kazuki bit off the pain, hiding the burning sensation across his vest-plate and chest.

Quinn peered back through one of the open doors. That wasn't auto-guided, that had to be man-guided! Suicidal idiots!" he sighed.

Karl shrugged, turning back to the crew. 'I have one idea... Martinez might know it.'

'Huh?' Martinez raised an eyebrow, pulling out more containers to find extra magazines stashed away. 'Wait... no. No.'

Kazuki turned to the two of them. 'What's the success rate?' He frankly didn't care if it was dumb and stupid. He only cared if it provided the results he wanted.

Survival.

'It's this uh... Manoeuvre that I used back in the war! Helped me get behind enemy interceptors in a pinch,' Karl explained. 'Karisilia Spin.'

'Just because they named the damn move after you doesn't mean you can replicate it with a shuttle!' Martinez shouted. A vein bulged on his arm, already tensing in preparation for the move.

Paulus looked out a porthole. 'They're getting closer!' More plasma bolts blasted through the rear ramp's hull, nearly penetrating straight through.

Steam and beeps kept piling out from the Shuttle.

They had to land. Where? Doesn't matter. This thing was a death casket...

Quinn said, 'Better something than nothing right now?'

Sound logic. Best they gamble lest they die. Both Martinez and Quinn looked to Kazuki, seeking his approval.

Karl merely gazed back. 'We're coming near the exit! Strap in!'

Doing nothing guaranteed death. Doing something is not a guarantee of life. The odds are in Karl's favour. Turning to Karl, Kazuki nodded. Karl returned with a grin.

'Strap yourselves in and don't sick all over my shuttle,' he said.

Estrapped into the shuttle's seats. Within the bright lights of the Sub-Level, Karl's shuttle started to splutter. Martinez was muttering something under his breath. Quinn had his teeth gritted. Paulus was praying. Kazuki remained still.

The shuttle left the tunnel. Gravitational energy and whiplash immediately kicked in. The Inertial Compensators were offline.

Karl turned off the shuttle, nearly plummeting whilst yawing the nose upwards. The following shuttles came bursting from the tunnel, all seemingly flying down, expecting their shuttle. Karl twisted the ignition; the shuttle exploded to life, burning upwards.

Karl dragged the stick up and down, yawing the nose back down to the shuttles that passed them. They didn't have time to respond. A barrage of rockets and plasma took out the pursuing shuttles.

All were turned to burning wrecks. Karl steadied the shuttle before fleeing through the factory landscape. Martinez let off a sigh of relief. 'What's the status on the Shuttle?!' he turned to Karl, unbuttoning his seatbelt. Karl shook his head.

Not good news, Kazuki assumed. He stood up, grabbing hold of the handlebars. Peering out the doors, Kazuki watched the shuttle careen down through the Sub-Levels. The freezing wastes of pipelines and factories slowly turned into a molten mess of core generators.

They were steering up the planet's arteries as Kazuki peered out into the distance, seeing the dozens of pipelines churn out lava and heat. Steam clashed with condensed frost.

'We're going to have to land! Archius! Sato! You guys got any LZs?' Karl shouted, flying the shuttle through narrow crevices.

Archius responded, 'Industrial district... There should be a few emergency landing pads near the lava channels. Can you find any?'

'They might be flimsy!' Sato retorted. 'Plus, areas like these were practically abandoned, so who knows what kind of state buildings here are in?'

'Well then... Better fucking hope they're made of reinforced concrete!' Karl shouted. The shuttle slowly descended as it started its crash.

Bubbling heat spewed up a little as the shuttle neared the lava. Everyone held to the walls as the shuttle crashed into solid concrete...

It skidded, with a screeching metal noise bouncing back to Kazuki. Ow... Kazuki groaned as the shuttle came to a stop...

He turned back to the rest of the people present. 'All good?' he asked.

Quinn remarked, "Fucking boiling!" He tied his coat around his waist. "Arbiter, you think they'll find us?"

"Eventually." Kazuki led the team towards a mess of a factory complex connected to the landing platform.


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