Repercussions Page 2

  He leapt from the wall as the missile impacted beneath his feet. The suit protected him from the heat of the blast, but he still felt rubble from the wall bouncing off his back.

  The blast threw him forward, and he flipped in the air, landing face first in the dirt. "Argh! How come other heroes and spies make it look so graceful?" he muttered, getting to his feet.

  "There he is! The defiling scum! Try your best to capture him so we can send him to the torture master!"

  Phoenix had never met a torture master, and he didn't think this was the time to meet one now. As he got to his feet, more shouts and gunfire came from behind him.

  He took off at a run, straight towards the palace gates. He could see that they were starting to shut, but that didn't concern him in the least. What did was the tank making its way towards him from his left. As its turret turned his way, he sprinted for the gates.

  Guards jumped in his way but he bowled them over. He could see more men coming out of the guardhouse. Phoenix brought his left hand up and fired a net their way, tangling them all together. They tried to fight their way out of it, but their efforts didn't last long as an electric current from the net swept through their bodies.

  He could see the turret out of the corner of his eye. It was trying to get a fixed target.

  "Saoirse, tell me why we can't use deadly force again?"

  "Because if you want Florin to take us seriously and work with us, then we must act like a respectable outfit. An outfit with honour!"

  "Oh... So we are working with him now. Because last time I looked, it seemed that we were working for him. Just...you know, he paid us that lump sum of credit. And he keeps asking us to do stuff, without taking any of our suggestions on board. Plus the fact that--"

  "You agreed to this," Saoirse hissed in his ear.

  "No, I agreed to help him when he needed it. If it fitted in my travel plans. Lately it's been one mission after the next."

  "Your travel plans?" Saoirse asked, sarcasm dripping from each word.

  "Yes! My travel--" Phoenix ducked as a missile from the tank flew meters above his head. It travelled through a wall to his right, blowing the statue of the king to pieces. Phoenix got back to his feet and sprinted for the gate. He slid through on his back, sparks flying as his battle armour scraped against the gate.

  He looked over his shoulder and saw that there were now two tanks, three hover pickup trucks, and three bikes that would look at home on any dirt track on Earth. Phoenix took out two metal discs and slapped them onto either side of the gate.

  A bright red light began to emit from the discs, which made him turn away. They would do their job of fusing the metal together, making opening the gate next to impossible.

  He took off at a run down cobbled streets that housed cars new and old. Some hovered and others had tires. Wherever he looked the old and new clashed in a never-ending battle for dominance.

  Obudal was another planet he would have loved to explore more, but this mission hadn't allowed him to do so. Beautiful gothic stonework interweaved with the architecture of the buildings, and gas lamps hung from the corner of each street, giving off just enough light to see.

  An explosion made him look over his shoulder as the gate to the palace flew forward. "Well, so much for that idea." A rumble from the palace told him everything he needed to know.

  Trouble was on its way.

  4

  The battle suit armour made Phoenix fast, but there was no way he was going to outrun a hover truck and some bikes. He twisted and turned down alleyways, sprinting along one after the other. His only hope was that he could lose them among the maze of back streets.

  Drunks and the homeless stumbled in his path, slowing his pace. Phoenix thought the back streets would be empty, but as people poured out of bars and shops, which had no business being in some dirty backstreet, his pace began to slow.

  He pushed and shoved people out of the way to the sound of yells and shouts of anger. Breaking free of a group, he bumped into a large green bouncer who made Plowstow look small.

  Phoenix stepped back as the bouncer looked down his nose at him. The man slapped his partner on the arm and nodded in Phoenix's direction.

  They looked identical. Green, big, angry, and stupid.

  "Would you be so kind as to move?" Phoenix asked.

  With a squint of the eyes, they both looked at him then back at each other. Phoenix knew the punch was coming before the first bouncer even cocked his hand back.

  He rolled his eyes as the mammoth fist made its way towards him. Phoenix sidestepped the blow and stepped into a hip toss that threw the bouncer into a large crowd behind him. The crowd crumpled under the weight of the bouncer as he landed on top of them.

  His partner uttered a shout of anger as he rushed Phoenix.

  "I don't have time for this shit!" Phoenix said, kicking the second bouncer in the chest.

  Aided by the power of his battle suit, the bouncer flew backwards and smashed into a brick wall, cracking it upon impact.

  Phoenix took off once more as shouts for his head grew louder. He could hear feet thundering after him as he jumped down a flight of stairs, scattering a group of boys playing at the bottom.

  "How is the mission proceeding?" Saoirse asked in his ear.

  A brick flew past Phoenix's head, exploding against a wall in front of him.

  "Err...it's going good. You know, blending in with the local culture. Not causing a scene." Phoenix ducked as a drunk swung a pipe his way. "Not at all bringing attention to myself or the mission."

  Phoenix saw a group of men sitting round a table playing a board game. They were so engrossed in the outcome that they didn't see him thundering towards them.

  He wanted to stop but he had no time. He could hear shouts and sirens in the distance.

  Leaping over the men, he startled them and they fell backwards. Phoenix looked over his shoulder as the board game and all its pieces flew into the air.

  More shouts came his way; more people were added to the chase, as the players joined in the group pursuing him.

  "What is that noise?"

  "What noise?"

  "It sounds like you are being chased. Are you sure that everything is all right?"

  Phoenix stopped at a junction where he could go forward, left, or right. All paths seemed clear. He took a step forward and the wall before him exploded into fragments. The turret of a tank blocked his way.

  The crowd chasing him halted in their tracks, pushing each other out of the way as they back-pedalled the way they came.

  "Err... Saoirse, I'll get back to you on that. Just make sure that the engines are up and running."

  "Phoenix, what--"

  Phoenix didn't hear the rest of the sentence as he cut off the connection to the holocom.

  "All right, big boy, here I come," Phoenix said, running towards the tank.

  The tank tried to move back and forth, but it was stuck amongst the rubble that it had created. Phoenix sprinted towards it as a small hatch opened from its top. The guard inside began to level a gun at Phoenix, but Phoenix was the quicker draw as he shot him between the eyes.

  Phoenix climbed on top of the tank and dragged the guard out of the hatch with one hand as he threw a stun grenade into the hole. He ducked down as it went off.

  He could hear coughing and shouts as smoke bellowed from the hatch.

  Phoenix swung himself down through the hatch and was greeted by two guards on their hands and knees, coughing their lungs up. He kicked the first one in the face, knocking him out cold. The second raised a pistol, but Phoenix twisted it out of the guard's grip and pistol-whipped him across the temple.

  As the smoke cleared, Phoenix moved towards the controls of the tank.

  The controls would have been alien to him, but thanks to Freyan he had been implanted with a chip that allowed him to read most languages. They were labelled like an idiot's guide to driving a tank.

  Phoenix closed the hatch and walked towards a big leve
r that moved the vehicle back and forth. Cameras gave him the view to the rear.

  He yanked the lever back, causing the tank to rumble as it shook itself free. A small wheel turned the vehicle around. Phoenix looked at all the HUD screens around him and saw something that made him smile.

  An enemy tank was coming his way, escorted by two hover trucks. Voices erupted from a radio to his side, which he ignored.

  Phoenix turned the tank around and waited patiently for his escort to reach him.

  "Reco! Have you spotted the defiler? He has stolen files that were important to the palace," said the radio.

  Phoenix moved towards a joystick and looked through the turret scope.

  "Reco! Answer me. Have you seen the defiler?"

  Phoenix steadied his breathing and picked up the radio mic. "Yeah. He says hello," he said, his fist smashing down on a big red button.

  The tank turret spat out its shell, which exploded against the approaching tank, engulfing it in flames. The two hover trucks on either side of it banked hard right and crushed into one another, turning the vehicles into wreckage.

  Phoenix was launched forward as an explosion rocked his tank. He looked up at the HUD's around him. Many of the screens only showed static, but the ones to his rear showed another tank coming his way. Phoenix punched the lever up, jetting his tank forward as another shell exploded behind him.

  The force of the blast lifted the tank's back end up, and it came back down to the ground in a bone-jarring shunt. Another hit and he would be toast.

  Phoenix spun his turret around and fired.

  The shell went wide, exploding next to the tank but not causing any real damage. Phoenix pushed the lever and rounded a corner, waiting for the enemy to come into range. He had one shot; he had to make it count. His tank couldn't take another hit.

  He waited with bated breath, closing one eye and looking down the scope with the other. Phoenix thought he could hear the tank thudding towards him, but he realised it was just the sound of his own heartbeat.

  The turret emerged first, and the enemy tank rumbled into view. It turned the corner and swung its turret Phoenix's way.

  Phoenix fired first but the crew in the other tank anticipated his move and backed up.

  "Shit!" The shell went wide and exploded at the base of the corner building next to the enemy tank. Phoenix began to move backwards, as the other tank moved forward. "Shit, shit, shit!"

  They should have fired upon him when they had the chance, but they must have wanted to take him in to see the torture master. That was their mistake.

  A loud crack echoed through the air, and Phoenix watched openmouthed as the building he had hit came tumbling down. The enemy tank tried to get out of the way but it was no use. The building collapsed upon it and buried it under rubble.

  Phoenix opened the hatch and coughed as the dust from the building entered his lungs. He rubbed his streaming eyes and slapped himself on the chest.

  "Oh, this ain't good," Phoenix said, taking in the destruction around him.

  As the black smoke from the burning tank mixed in with the dust from the collapsed building, the scene around him looked like every action disaster movie he had ever seen.

  "Oh, Saoirse isn't going to like this."

  Distant sirens pierced the silence, reminding Phoenix that his night was not yet over.

  5

  Saoirse sat in the captain's chair drumming her fingers against the armrest. Lips set in a firm line, she watched the ship's viewing screen intently. It showed the main city of Obudal in all its glory.

  "Midnight, I'm sure that everything will be all right," L said, sitting at one of the bridge's consoles.

  Saoirse said nothing but tapped her foot against the floor.

  "Come on! How long is this gonna take?" Plowstow asked, his feet resting on the desk in front of him.

  "The last time I checked, Plowstow, feet went on the floor," L said.

  "What are you talking about, woman?"

  "Get your filthy feet off my console!"

  Plowstow looked at L with a raised eyebrow, before closing his eyes and leaning back in his chair. The wrench that hit him in the head nearly had him out of his seat.

  "What the fuck!"

  "Get them down, now!"

  Plowstow's eyes narrowed to slits as he lowered his feet. Still rubbing his head, he uttered a groan. "This is so boring. How come Phoenix gets to leave the ship and the rest of us have to be stuck in here? It's been weeks--"

  "Don't exaggerate. It's been a handful of days, a week at most," Saoirse snapped.

  "Still, ain't no one fed up with the constant chasing around? I mean, what's so important about finding this one location?"

  "Well, if you were listening when we were having our meeting instead of sleeping, you incompetent oaf, you would know that there has been a point to all these missions," Freyan said, walking onto the bridge.

  "Yeah, bro, we don't just chase leads for no reason," said Kai. "But...just for Plowstow's benefit...why have we been chasing up all these leads again?"

  "Just for my benefit, huh?"

  Saoirse looked at both Kai and Plowstow and rolled her eyes as she muttered under her breath. Her attention back on the viewing screen, her foot began to tap once more.

  "Kai, holocom him again," Saoirse said.

  "We tried two minutes ago--"

  "Try again."

  Kai give L a look but said nothing as he tried to holocom Phoenix. He looked over his shoulder at Saoirse and gave her a shake of the head.

  She said, "He should have been here already. What is taking him so long?"

  L walked over to Saoirse and placed her hand on her shoulder. "It's Phoenix we're talking about. How much trouble--"

  A red flash flared on the viewing screen as an explosion went off in the city. There was silence on the bridge as everyone watched the screen anxiously.

  "That could be anyone," L said with a wave of her hands.

  Two more columns of smoke rose into the air as two more explosions went off.

  "Well, I mean...."

  "Get the ship up and running, we're going to the city!"

  Plasma bolts scorched the ground behind Phoenix. Shouts and curses bounced off the gothic walls.

  Fuck! They're gaining on me.

  Phoenix moved with all the speed the suit offered him, but it wouldn't be enough. It would only be a matter of time before they caught him.

  A motorbike up ahead caught his eye. It looked similar to a street bike back on Earth, but that was where the similarities ended.

  It was long and sleek; its back tire was bigger than the front. Glowing red rims added to its beautiful curves.

  "Hi!" Phoenix said as he ran up to the owner. "I need to commandeer your vehicle."

  The owner's brow knotted in confusion and he shook his head. "Whatever for?"

  "Because the fate of the world--no, the universe--depends on it."

  "Piss off, peasant! My family is good friends with the royal family, and if anything happens to--"

  Phoenix delivered a punch to the owner's jaw that knocked him to the ground. "I was being nice, but as you wanted to play it like that, I'll just take it."

  Phoenix straddled the bike and looked at the controls, at a loss for what to do. Shouts at his back indicated he needed to learn--fast. "Hey! What makes it go?" Phoenix asked the groaning owner.

  "Fuck--"

  Phoenix stepped back off the bike and walked towards the owner.

  "Okay, okay. Twist the left handle to make it go, stomp on both pedals to make it stop."

  "There he is, the defiler!"

  Phoenix brought his pistols up and shot a guard off the bike heading his way. The bike flipped through a shop window, and Phoenix hopped on the one before him.

  He twisted the throttle till it opened up, releasing a roar from the engine shooting the bike forward. Phoenix manoeuvred the bike in and out of moving traffic as flashing lights reflected in the bike's rear-view mirrors. Phoenix kept his
profile low to the bike.

  As he sped past a junction, two hover trucks joined the pursuit close to his tail. Phoenix dodged left and right as the men in the trucks opened fire on him. The stray plasma bolts and bolt rounds struck the traffic on both lanes of the road. Vehicles crashed into one another as they attempted to escape the chaos.

  An oncoming car smashed into a metal pole, which flipped it into the air, nose to trunk, as it made its way towards Phoenix.

  "Shit."

  Phoenix turned the bike sharply onto its side, sliding underneath the oncoming vehicle. A spray of sparks flew as the car brushed his metal suit on the way past. With a flick of the back tire, he got the bike straightened out as the car smacked into one of the hover trucks behind him.

  The truck erupted into a fireball and the guards' screams filled the air.

  Phoenix looked up towards the sky as a sonic boom disturbed the atmosphere. The beautiful red and black underbelly of the PH1 flew past him. He touched the side of his ear, turning his holocom back on.

  "Hey, I thought I told you to wait for me."

  "We would have done, if you had your holocom on," Saoirse said.

  "I have things handled. I was just--"

  "Just what? Blowing half the city to pieces?"

  Another hover truck pulled alongside Phoenix. Its occupants tried to steady their aim as they pointed their rifles his way. Phoenix stomped on the brakes, allowing the truck to speed past. Twisting the left handle, he moved in close behind it. He pulled out his pistol and fired into the back of the truck, hitting the guards inside.

  The truck swerved and crashed into a street light, throwing bodies forward with reckless abandon.

  "So you thought bringing the PH1 was a good idea?" Phoenix said, pulling away from the wreckage. "You thought bringing a warship into a city was the best thing you could do?"

  "What other choice did you leave me?"