by Mel Odom
His commlink twitched for attention and he knew he'd pulled back within the range offered by the on-armor units used by the BattleTac systems. The sat-link was no longer operable, so he didn't have the mapping utilities and locations of his team, but communications were a definite improvement.
He accessed the commlink. "Summertrees, this is Argent."
"I hear you." Summertrees still sounded distant and far away.
"You've got a pursuit team on your hoop." Argent rocked to the side to avoid a patch of loose rock that would have been treacherous under the Harley's tires.
"I don't see them."
"Have you got a drone out?" The rigger had outfitted the Devil Rat with two Sikorsky-Bell Microskimmer was capable of transmitting aud and vid back to the LAV-98. He was also able to control the drones from the APC.
"I've got one out front to vid and transmit everything back to me so we don't run into any nasty surprises." Summertrees said. "I was saving the other one in case the first one got fragged."
"You need it." Argent said.
"The drone's been popped." the rigger said a moment later. "Frag, but keeping track of two drones and the Rat isn't fun at all in this enclosed space."
Riggers accomplished miracles, Argent knew, but the run through the mine shaft was pushing the envelope. They were speeding through the tunnels faster than a south-of-the-border inspired enema.
"Got them." Summertrees said. "Looks like two, no, three units. MPUVs. I've don't have any whammies packed on-board the Microskimmers."
"Dane." Argent said, "if you've got some armor-piercing rounds left for the Barrett, you can shake them up."
"Can do." Dane replied tightly.
"And I have yet one more trick up dis old sleeve." Laveau said.
"Where are you, Argent?" Archangel asked.
"Coming up fast. I've liberated a Harley as my transport." Argent accelerated again, this time picking up a ghost of a dust haze from the vehicles ahead of him. In another heart beat, he saw the red lights of the MPUVs. He reached to his vest and removed an HE grenade, pulling the pin and slipping the spoon. He kept a thumb locked over the plunger to keep the fuse from igniting and twisted the accelerator again.
The first MPUV had a heavy machine gun mounted on its rear deck, the tarp pulled down so the weapon pointed across the vehicle's hard top. The gunner blasted the frag out of the Devil Rat. A Vanquisher mini-cannon mounted on the last MPUV's rear deck belched flame as it fired a round at the APC. The cannon round slammed against the Rat's ablative armor in a crescendo of flame. The wrecked section of armor peeled away from the APC and whizzed through the air to collide with the tunnel wall.
The Rat's tracks dug into the stone floor with renewed zeal, tearing drek out of the floor as Summertrees weaved back and forth in the room available to become a harder target.
Argent roared up beside the last MPUV before the driver or the crew knew he was there. He tossed the HE grenade into the MPUV's interior and accelerated again, jockeying around the vehicle.
They saw him for a split second, and the machine gunner twisted his weapon toward the speeding Harley. Then the grenade went off, unleashing a fireball of orange and black flames inside the MPUV. The vehicle swerved left suddenly and impacted against the wall. In the next moment it flipped end over end, the flames continuing to cling to it.
The Rat cut to the right without warning, blocking off the lead MPUV's attempt to come up along side.
Then Argent got a brief glimpse of Harrison Dane popping up from the Rat's rear hatch. The Barrett sniping rifle was in his hands.
The lead MPUV slewed out of control and went turtle, flipping upside down.
The second MPUV sped around it, swerving to barely miss it.
Leaning into the Harley, controlling it as much with his weight distribution as the controls, Argent whipped around the wreck as well.
Heavy machine gun fire lanced from the second MPUV, streaking across Dane's position in the open hatch. Dane jerked back, bleeding profusely from the head. His body draped loosely across the Rat's back, starting a downward slide toward the ground.
One of the Travers twins reached out of the APC and seized Dane by the vest with a big hand. Straining, he managed to get Dane back inside just as the heavy machine gun fire cut through the space where the elven sniper had been.
"Dane?" Argent said, and felt as cold inside as he had the day Toshi and Hawk had died.
"He's breathing." Jesse Travers replied over the comm-link. "Hurt bad, but he's breathing."
Argent closed on the remaining MPUV, spotting Iron-axe in the passenger seat at the same time the VaulTek CEO saw him. Ironaxe waved, yelling to the driver. Immediately, the MPUV came across to the right, cutting off Argent's path to the Rat. The gunner on the rear deck brought the machine gun around.
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Knowing that if he attempted to back off he'd only remain a target, and that getting around the MPUV in the narrow confines of the tunnel was impossible, Argent sped toward the rear of the vehicle. The machine gun blasted flame and rounds over his head, filling his cyber-ears with the thunderous roar.
Before the gunner could shoot again, Argent grabbed the weapon by the barrel and stepped onto the rear of the MPUV. The Harley dropped away, out of control, turning quickly into a pile of twisted wreckage.
The sensor feedback in Argent's cyberhand let him know the weapon's barrel was hot enough to burn normal flesh and blood. He kept it away from the rest of his body and straight-armed the gunner with his free hand, hitting the man in the chest.
The secman flew from the MPUV's rear deck with a yowl of pain.
Bullets chopped into Argent's armor as he turned his attention back to Ironaxe. He couldn't bring the captured machine gun up because the area was too confined. Reaching out before Ironaxe could train the assault rifle on his unprotected head, the big shadowrunner bent the barrel.
Trapped, the next half-dozen rounds exploded, turning the rifle barrel into a collection of shrapnel that thudded into Argent's armor and razored his face. Blood streamed down over his left eye, partially blinding him.
Ironaxe erupted from his seat, using his cyberware to rip through the MPUV's hardtop and knock it away. Panicked, the driver swerved to the left and right, striking both sides of the mine shaft, seeking desperately to dislodge Argent.
Setting himself as best as he could, Argent met Iron-axe's fist with a blocking arm. It wasn't enough to completely shrug off the blow, though, and the VaulTek CEO' s fist grazed Argent's chin.
The big shadowrunner drew back, staggered, his senses reeling. Instinctively, he blocked Ironaxe's next attempt to crush his head with a punch.
"Who are you working for?" the VaulTek CEO roared.
Argent slapped another blow away, his vision and senses clearing.
"Who sent you here?" Ironaxe grabbed the remaining support struts for the MPUV's missing hardtop and braced himself to kick at Argent's chest.
The man had been trained in the martial arts as well, or chipped for it, Argent knew from the skill displayed. Ironaxe's foot slammed into the center of his chest, enough strength and weight behind it to knock the big shadowrunner off his feet. He fell backward, rolling over the edge of the MPUV's deck, dropping toward the ground.
He flailed with a hand and caught the edge of the vehicle's rear deck. His legs slammed against the ground, dragging hard along the rough stone. Pain flooded his synapses as the armor buckled in spots. He knew from experience when his shinbone broke over a large rock. His leg started going numb and swelling almost immediately. Blood started filling his boot.
Ironaxe stepped into the MPUV's rear deck as Argent tried to crawl back onto the vehicle. The VaulTek CEO leered down at the big shadowrunner. "Did your hands lock up on you?" Ironaxe shouted over the noise of the racing combat vehicle. "Are they going to hang on while the rest of your body falls to pieces?"
Argent struggled to keep his body limp, to keep from taking any more damage than he had to. But the beating h
e was being given shuddered through his whole body. Thankfully, the pain had already progressed past the point of cognizance. He was operating on adrenaline and stubbornness.
But a part of him briefly considered giving in. His body was battered and torn more than at any time he could remember. Escape seemed a million klicks away. And the light blossoming behind him revealed that more of Iron-axe's people had driven down into the mine shaft.
Death had been such a constant companion for so long, and he'd kept his life so small since Toshi and Hawk had been flat-lined, that it wasn't unsettling to think about at all. And to die, all he had to do was let go or hang on. It would be simple.
"Who betrayed me?" Ironaxe demanded. "Tell me who hired you and I'll let you live."
Death would be easy. Only Argent knew he couldn't take the easy way out. He'd never been given anything easy. Working for Brynnmawr, being brought up with all the lies, finding the few truths he actually knew to be deep within himself and recognizing that he'd never be able to walk away from them without losing himself had been hard. So had walking away from Brynnmawr and Sencio when that had become impossible to avoid.
But those were the fundamentals that had built him.
Argent was a crucible, and he'd been in fires that had shaped him to be more than a man. He couldn't take the easy way out; he would never be able to. He'd been born to go down fighting, his battle or someone else's. Maybe that was one of the things Brynnmawr had seen in him all those years ago as well: that inability to give up or admit defeat.
"Mr. Johnson hired me." Argent said, shouting to be heard over the MPUV. Moving swiftly, wringing everything out of his cybersystems that he could muster, he grabbed the front of Ironaxe's protective vest and yanked.
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Off-balance from the swaying combat vehicle, the Vaul-Tek CEO tumbled from the rear deck. Argent released his hold on the combat vehicle and fell on top of Ironaxe. He guessed the MPUV was doing somewhere near sixty or seventy kph, fast enough to do a lot of damage even to someone who'd been as heavily cybered as Ironaxe.
Argent stayed on top of his opponent, using the man as a buffer against the harsh surface of the mine shaft floor, riding him like a sled. Ironaxe screamed in agony as the rocks smashed against him and ripped his flesh.
They came to a stop in a tangle of arms and legs, smashing up hard against a boulder. Dust plumed up around them in a cloud, interfering somewhat with Argent's low-light vision.
The shadowrunner rolled from his opponent and took a deep breath, amazed at all the places that hurt. It was suddenly incredibly easy to tell where the cybersystems began and ended.
Silent, moving quicker than Argent would have given the man credit for, Ironaxe rose to his feet. He cocked and twisted both hands, unleashing forearm blades that jutted well out from his wrists.
Favoring his broken leg, aware of the headlights closing from the other end of the mine shaft, Argent forced himself to his feet, ignoring the explosion of pain that accompanied the movement.
Blood ran down Ironaxe's neck. His face on the right side had been torn away, revealing the dermal plating and synthferrous reconstruction work that had been done. His cybereye peered pure hatred, moving in the bared orbital compartment that housed it. "Going to die, you son of a slitch." Even his voice had been damaged, coming out hollow and inhuman.
Unable to move well because of the injured leg, Argent stood his ground as the man attacked. He twisted, avoiding Ironaxe's left-hand thrust, then blocked the right-hand-thrust, knowing he was only going to get one shot. His left hand smashed into Ironaxe's torn and bloodied face, caving it in to the back of his skull.
Even with the cyberware, Ironaxe's neural systems shut down, sending his corpse into spasms. The dead man dropped at Argent's feet.
Breath rasping hard, burning against the back of his throat in spite of the improved circulatory respiration provided by not needing to provide for the flesh replacements, Argent limped to one side. The MPUV Ironaxe had been riding in streaked back toward him. Beyond it, the Devil Rat had come to a stop a hundred meters away, dust boiling around the tracks.
"What the frag are you doing?" Argent demanded over the commlink. "Get out of here."
As he watched, the Travers twins bolted from the rear hatch and raced toward him. "Not leaving without you, omae." Jesse said.
"Depending on you to help us finance the bar with some more wiz work in the future." Jason said. "That would be hard—"
"—if you were dead or got noosed tonight."
Argent looked around as the MPUV bore down on him at 30 kph at least and rising, but there was no place to run. He braced himself, depending on his cyberware and move-by-wire systems. As the combat vehicle closed, he took a couple limping steps directly at it. Senses alert, the move-by-wire thrumming inside him, he placed both hands palm down on the MPUV's front end and vaulted over it.
There was a moment of vertigo as even his cyber-systems struggled to keep the pace. Argent flipped, barely clearing the top of the vehicle. He came down fast, the MPUV already past him. If he hadn't been injured as badly as he had, he could have landed on his feet. He'd managed it before at other times. But he knew the broken leg wouldn't support him, and any serious attempt at a standing landing would have aggravated the injury even more.
He came down in an undignified sprawl, but managed to control the fall well enough to roll and come up on his good leg. As he limped around to look back at the opposite end of the tunnel, he saw a phalanx of approaching vehicles. Ruby laser sights were starting to lock onto his position as well as the Rat's.
"Fraggit, Summertrees, clear the Rat from the LZ." Argent ordered.
"A moment more, cher." Laveau said calmly over the commlink, "and we shall all be on our way."
"I can't make that far quick enough even with help from the Twins." Argent said. He tore a grenade free from his vest, knowing he was too close to Ironaxe's MPUV to use it safely, but knowing too there was no choice. "Get clear."
"Patience, cher." the mambo said. "You forget dat you are not alone in dis. You chose good people. Believe in dem."
As Argent watched, Laveau levitated up from the darkness around the Devil Rat. Her body ramrod stiff and showing signs of the Ogoun loa possessing her, she made a series of intricate gestures.
The MPUV in front of Argent came around, gaining speed. The driver lifted an assault rifle this time, the laser aiming sight glowing ruby.
Before Argent could use the grenade, the ground opened up in front of the MPUV and swallowed it down whole. In seconds, only a weak glow shone through the thin layer of mud covering the red taillights.
Then that was gone.
Autofire opened up from the approaching line of Vaul-Tek sec forces. But they were quickly erased by the avalanche from the roof of the cavern that pulled a wall of rock and earth down in front of Argent. A few pebbles and a handful of dirt spilled across the shadowrunner's boots.
"Come on, cher." Laveau called weakly. "It is time to go."
Bending quickly, the sound of cannonfire echoing from the other side of the earthen wall, Argent rigged a quick leg brace out of his combat vest using straps. The leg still hurt like bloody frag, but he used it long enough to jog back to the Rat.
Sencio stood in the rear hatch, looking worriedly at him. She offered him a hand up and he took it. Her strength wasn't enough to aid that much in getting his heavily cybered body onto the Rat, but the gesture meant a lot.
Once on top, he peered down into the Rat and saw the rest of his team and Sencio's people. And Harrison Dane, bloody and small, lay sprawled on several of them. Crimson pooled from a wound at his temple, but Archangel placed a fresh compress on it from the APC's medkit.
"He's wiz." Archangel told Argent.
"Like fragging hell." the elven sniper snarled. "My head's pounding like a sybaritic troll's whanger in rutting season. And I've got sweeps coming up during the shows I'm going to be making in the next few weeks. You owe me, Argent."
"I'll
be there." Argent promised. "I always pay my debts." He laid back across the rear deck of the Rat and tried in vain to find a comfortable position for his broken leg. He left the boot on so it would contain the swelling spreading down to his foot. It was still a long ride to where Summertrees had stashed the T-bird that would take them back to Denver.
"I'm glad you came." Sencio said low enough that only they could hear.
Argent remained seated on the outside of the APC along with the Travers Twins. "Null sweat." he told her. And he reached out to take her hand, surprised to see the tears that gleamed in her eyes.
"Argent." she said softly. "I had to call. I didn't have a choice. I just don't want you—" Then her voice failed.
"It's okay." he told her. "I understand." And with his gaze, based on all the years they'd had together, he let her know that his understanding wasn't just about the exfiltration. She wanted him to know that calling out to him didn't mean she was changing her mind about why they were apart. But he was comfortable with that. This way, his life remained intact as well, without compromise. It was the only way he could live it.
Epilogue
[Chip file: Argent
Security access: ******—12:16:57/10-20-60]
BEGIN UPLOAD Location: Denver Safehouse
"So what happened?"
I looked at Archangel sitting across the table from me in the UCAS district in Denver. We were having lunch at the Cafe Giovanni on Market Street. The restaurant was small, dark, and intimate, which fit my mood at the moment because I was worn out and feeling empty and wanted quiet around me.
She was the last one of the team remaining in Denver. Laveau had shipped out first, headed back for New Orleans. Summertrees headed back into the T-bird crowd after we negotiated the sale of the Banshee. The Travers Twins had gone back to Atlanta three days ago, and Harrison Dane, patched up at a street doc who specialized in plastic surgery reconstruction, went back to Dallas. I knew Archangel had stuck around for her own reasons.