Bystanders

by Phillip Murrell

  They rush nearby guards and eliminate them with a combination of brutal strikes and takedowns. They also use the position of their targets to shoot each other.

  Bravo moves, and the man taking aim at him puts three rounds into another guard coming to butt stroke the android. There’s a helicopter on the roof of the house. Votary flies straight for it, getting two men with mini-guns to blow each other into chunks of steamy flesh in the process.

  Votary lands on the roof and grabs the tail rotor of the helicopter. He pulls it off with ease and throws the blade at a guard on the ground. The rotor blade cleaves the man into two equal pieces.

  Votary then grabs the tail boom and lifts the helicopter.

  He flings the helicopter across the yard and smashes it into the ground. He finishes his actions on the roof by shooting a massive purple barrier that surrounds a substantial portion of the compound. It doesn’t get everything, but it does encircle many of the closest buildings. This also keeps the police out. Team Votary is free to really cut loose.

  Alpha dispatches a guard with his staff and flies over to the crumpled helicopter. He picks it up and throws it through the armored garage door. The impact doesn’t completely remove the door, but it does push it in.

  Several armed guards wait in the garage. They have rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns.

  “Damn!” a guard curses as he dodges pieces of a crumpled helicopter. “Get ready. Nothing gets past us. We end it here.”

  There are murmurs of shock and agreement from the assembled guards.

  Yuri is half running and half being carried through his home. He holds his recovered cell phone.

  “Where’s my surgeon?” he demands.

  Jerry responds, “We’ll meet him at the safe room. He’ll work on you there.”

  “You really believe we have a safe room?” Yuri questions.

  “Well--” Jerry starts.

  “It was rhetorical, idiot. We need to get to the helicopter.”

  “Sir, I’m getting reports that The Opposition destroyed the helicopter. They’re finishing off our guards outside and forcing their way into the garage.”

  Yuri unleashes a flurry of Russian curses. “Idiots. What the hell do I pay you all for? Ah!” Yuri grabs his ribs. “Just get me to the safe room. Make sure the tram is warmed up.”

  “I’ve already given the order, sir. It’ll be ready.”

  “Good.”

  Yuri and his closest guards continue to make their way through the majestic home.

  Benji paces outside the purple barrier looking in at the destruction. He punches the barrier, and it wobbles slightly, but with no intent of letting him in.

  “This is utter bullshit! It’s a slaughter in there! I’ve lost count of how many vigilantes there are killing beyond this gate!” Benji looks up at the sky. “What are you trying to prove?”

  Sergeant Love approaches him.

  “Where the hell is everyone?” Benji asks.

  Sergeant Love shakes his head in disbelief. “Scattered from here all the way back to the Gala Dining Hall. We have traffic accidents, injured bystanders, and people who just aren’t calling in.”

  Benji scoffs. “Let me guess. Smith?”

  “Among several others.”

  “Like who?”

  Sergeant Love lists the missing on his fingers. “I’m missing Mendez, Pecos, Reid, Kellum, Henderson, Robinson, and Twileager. And, they’re just the ones I know of.”

  “Damn. This is beyond one of those nights.”

  “You said it. So, what do we do?”

  Benji shrugs. “I guess we set up a perimeter and wait for this shit to disappear.”

  “Agreed.”

  “We just need to make sure we keep an eye on those gunmen. We don’t need any more of our own going down.”

  Sergeant Love looks inside the purple dome. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

  “Why not?”

  “Look.”

  Sergeant Love points, and Benji follows his finger. The armed guards are all dead except for three. The vigilante holograms disappear.

  “I can’t take this magic show anymore,” Benji says.

  Each member of Team Votary singles out one opponent and approaches for the coup de grace.

  Votary walks up to his man. The guy fires a shotgun at him in a futile effort until it runs out of ammunition.

  “Come on, guy. I give up,” the man begs. The shotgun man throws his weapon onto the ground. “See? You win, man. Take me in.”

  “Not this time,” Votary responds.

  His modulated voice places additional fear into the man, just as Votary intended.

  “Ah hell!” the man screams.

  The shotgun man turns and tries to run. Votary throws an escrima stick and hits him in the center of his back. There’s a loud crack, and the man’s legs fall out from under him. Votary steps over him and picks up his weapon.

  “They’ll take care of you.” Votary gestures toward the cops and starts to walk toward the partially destroyed garage.

  Bravo just runs straight at his target. The man empties his sub-machine gun at Bravo. He misses with most every shot because of his obvious terror.

  Bravo jumps into the air and comes down with his elbows on each side of the man’s neck. The blades spring out of Bravo’s elbows and enter the man’s chest cavity. He instantly dies, and the blades pop back up into Bravo’s arms. Blood trails down the length of his forearms.

  Alpha flies high into the sky, and his man tries to track him with a pistol.

  “Die, you bastard! Just die!” He shoots at Alpha and misses miserably.

  Benji comments from the safety of the excluded. “It doesn’t look good for that guy.”

  “Nope,” Sergeant Love agrees.

  Alpha comes back down and lands behind the man. The pistol man tries to spin around and target Alpha, but Alpha hits his hand with his staff.

  The man drops his pistol. “Aww. Damn!”

  Alpha whips his staff around his own shoulders, then uses it to choke out his target. The guard struggles to get words out and air in. He swings his arms frantically to get a hold of Alpha’s neck.

  He finally gets fingers around Alpha’s neck and squeezes. He attempts to choke out Alpha, but the android does not breathe. His eyes bulge as he’s slowly suffocated. The man dies, and Alpha lets the body drop to the ground.

  Votary looks at the police staring at him through the purple barrier. He amplifies his voice for most of them to hear. “You’re welcome.”

  With that, Votary, Alpha, and Bravo rip the door off the garage together.

  Benji and Love watch as the three go inside the garage. They immediately hear explosions and several automatic weapons.

  “Jesus. What the hell is going on in there?” Benji wonders.

  Sergeant Love solemnly shakes his head. “I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m glad this purple shit is keeping us out of there.”

  “There’s no shame in admitting that. I’m thinking the exact same thing.”

  The gunfire continues to roar from the distant building.

  Team Votary slaughters the guards waiting in ambush in the garage. The fight is over much quicker than the one outside.

  Smoke rises off Bravo. He was hit with several consecutive rounds from a mini-gun. He’s self-repairing, but it isn’t instantaneous. There are limits to Team Votary’s durability.

  “Run diagnosis,” Votary instructs Bravo.

  Electronic bleeps and whirls sound from inside Bravo’s chest cavity.

  He responds in a masculine robotic voice. “Hull integrity at seventy-two percent. Repair length estimated at two point two hours.”

  “Continue mission,” Votary decides.

  “Roger, continuing mission,” Bravo responds.

  The three smash in an oak door and enter the main mansion.

  Yuri safely arrives at the door of his safe room. It resembles one that would secure a massive bank vault.

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sp; He slumps against it. “I need another break. My chest is killing me, and my lungs feel like they’re on fire.”

  Jerry urges Yuri to keep moving. “Sir, we can’t wait. The Opposition is inside the building. It won’t take them long to get here, and we only have a dozen or so guards between them and us. That’s also assuming they’re fighting and not fleeing.”

  Yuri is distressed, but he understands the urgency. He forces himself to stand. “Okay. Get it open.”

  Yuri does what’s necessary to unlock the door, and his five-man detail opens it. His surgeon attempts to treat him whenever he gets the opportunity.

  The door opens, and the assembled run inside. The vault door is promptly shut behind them as they can hear screams and gunfire coming from down the hall.

  The safe room has all the state of the art equipment in it. It’s lavish and has plenty of food, water, and power for the long haul.

  The safe room also has a six-passenger tram car, that travels down a secret tunnel to a location that only Yuri knows.

  Yuri has spared no expense in planning his escape.

  “Sir, the tram is almost ready,” Jerry informs. “Just a few more minutes and we can leave.”

  “Understood. Give me a moment first.”

  Jerry and the rest of Yuri’s security shift anxiously after hearing this request. Several are startled by each distant sound of gunfire. It’s always slightly closer than the shots before.

  Yuri reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. He sighs and dials Tina’s number. The phone just rings and rings.

  “Does anyone have Miss Sanders’ office phone number?”

  “Yes, sir. It’s right here.” Jerry shows Yuri the number on his smartphone.

  “Thank you.”

  Yuri dials Tina’s office number. It rings a few times, then Tina answers on the other end.

  “Hello? This is Dr. Sanders.”

  Yuri brightens up a bit and forgets the pain in his chest while his doctor tapes up his injured ribs.

  “Hello?” Tina repeats.

  “It’s me,” Yuri answers.

  “Who?” Tina asks.

  “It’s Yuri.”

  Yuri doesn’t anticipate Tina’s response. “You son of a bitch! Why the hell are you calling me?”

  “Tina, please calm down. I don’t want to fight.”

  “No? You could have fooled me with that path of carnage you left behind you. What the hell were you thinking? Do the rules not apply to Yuri Osaka? I guess not.”

  Yuri is distressed. The abandoned Soviet orphan slowly rises to the surface. “Please calm down. I just wanted to tell you that I was okay.”

  “I couldn’t care less. I did, when you were heading to the hospital, but I’ve been watching the news. I saw what you did, you psychopath!”

  Tears form in Yuri’s eyes. “What? What did I do?”

  “Oh, I don’t know, just a little thing like nearly get my son killed! You miserable piece of shit!”

  Yuri thinks back to his escape path and realization dawns on him. He drove through Tina’s neighborhood.

  “Tina, I swear to you, I never fired a shot. I was just trying to save myself. You said so yourself, that man is a villain. He was out for blood. When he didn’t kill me at the Gala Dining Hall, he tried again in the garage. When he missed me there, he came at me with his minions.”

  “Why should I care? I saw how little you thought of everyone else. All that mattered was Yuri Osaka was safe. Do you even know what you’ve done to this city? How many cops you’ve murdered? Could you possibly care, or are you a complete sociopath?”

  Yuri fights back his rage. His guards become increasingly nervous. His doctor finishes wrapping up his ribs as the sounds of death in the hallway grow closer to the safe room.

  Yuri attempts to save the relationship. “Please, don’t say that. I really like you. I want to make you happy. I can fix this. Just give me a chance.”

  “No.”

  “Please?”

  “No.”

  “Do you really want to upset me? Do you think I’m the kind of man who takes rejection lightly?”

  “I don’t think it matters. It sounds like in a few minutes I won’t have to worry about you. Villain is going to take out the trash.”

  “So, now you’re on his side?”

  “My son has always believed in him. Maybe he was right all along. I just know that you’re the true villain. You deserve to die, and I hope it hurts. I hope it takes agonizing minutes. I hope the last thing you see is an empty room with a bunch of phonies.”

  “Stop it!” Yuri screams. His tears pool in his eyes.

  “And, I hope you cry.”

  Yuri does cry. His guards turn their attention away from him.

  “Tina, I like you. I’ll give you one last chance to take it all back. Take it all back and all will be forgiven.”

  “Screw you!”

  “Are you certain?”

  “I wish that Russian orphan had frozen to death. I guess the Japanese pulled another Pearl Harbor by raising you.”

  Tina just crossed a line. Yuri is no longer upset. He’s now in a murdering rage.

  “You talk very tough from your presumed safety, but you made a mistake when you brought my parents into this, you racist bitch,” Yuri chastises. “I swear to you that I’m going to get out of this. And, then I’m going to get more of my soldiers. Then, I’m going to make it my mission to ruin everything you hold precious.”

  Tina stands in her office with the phone in her hand. She shakes with a mixture of rage and fear. She can hear the change in Yuri’s voice, and now she’s terrified. She realizes too late that she pushed things too far.

  She attempts to placate Yuri. “Fine, you win, Yuri. I take it back. I take it all back. I shouldn’t have said that about your parents, and I’m sorry.”

  Her heart races as she listens to Yuri’s cold response.

  “Oh, it’s far too late for that, Doctor Sanders. I’m going to make you pay. I’m going to send people to your home and have them gang rape you for days. I think I’ll have them do the same to your son.”

  “No!”

  “Oh yes,” Yuri gleefully continues. “Then, I’ll have them kill your son and feed him to you.”

  “Please no,” Tina says between incomprehensible sobbing. “He didn’t have anything to do with this. Punish me.”

  “I intend to. I’ll punish you through your family. Your friends at work, like Mr. Folsen, Mr. Williams, and Mr. Singh. They’ll get the same treatment before dying. Everyone will suffer greatly until I get tired of hearing them beg for death.”

  Tina puts her trembling hand to her mouth. Why did she have to go toe to toe with Yuri Osaka?

  Yuri continues describing his intended torture. He now sounds fully in control of his emotions. He speaks calmly. “You’ll just be beaten, once the boys and girls are done having their fun with you. I’ll personally make you a cripple, but then I’ll spend every dime ensuring that you have a long life. You’ll live decades knowing that you’re a poison who ruined everyone that you ever encountered. You better not make friends with your caretakers, or I’ll begin the process all over again.”

  Tina cries uncontrollably. Yuri laughs. Tina can hear a banging sound through the receiver.

  The security detail personnel pile into the tram, which has been ready for some time. They desperately try to get Yuri to board as well. The sounds of The Opposition beating on the vault door are quite loud. The door is holding, but not for much longer. It’s almost as if The Opposition is playing with Yuri.

  Yuri is still engaged in his phone conversation. “Hello? You still there, bitch? Oh, well, that’s the sound of your hero missing his man. I’ve gotten away. I’ll see you soon.”

  Yuri snaps the antiquated phone in half and throws it against the wall. He then immediately grabs his ribs.

  “Damn bitch! I’ll kill you, Julie Tress! It’s all your fault! She hates me because you had to choose tonight! You’ll get the sam
e thing that’s coming for Tina!”

  Yuri stares at the door and shouts to The Opposition.

  “Do you hear me, Julie? Do you hear me? You failed!”

  Yuri finally sits down and straps in. There are only six seats and seven people. The doctor looks nervous. He’s the sole person without a seat.

  “What about me?” he asks.

  Yuri looks at one of his bodyguards and gestures with his head. “You, get up and let the doctor have your seat. Once he’s strapped in, you can sit on his lap. And, hold on for dear life.”

  The guard dutifully obeys. He makes the switch.

  “Thank you,” Yuri says, “let’s go.”

  The door shuts, and the tram shoots off. A solid, thick steel door falls into place behind the tram.

  The banging continues, and is followed by the screeching of metal as the vault door is slowly torn from the wall. The door is heavy, but several armored hands peel it away.

  Eventually Alpha slides into a small opening and looks around.

  Alpha speaks in a feminine robotic voice. “The room is empty. They’ve escaped.”

  More banging resonates on the vault door from the other side.

  The cops all stare at the compound. They’re not as alert as they should be. Most seem complacent in their boredom.

  The purple barrier finally goes down, and all the police quickly stand up with weapons held at the ready.

  “Alright,” Benji starts, “don’t rush into anything drastic, people! We still don’t know what to expect.”

  “Probably something like that,” Sergeant Love says as he points to the sky.

  The vigilante flies away with his reinforced, light gray shoulders. There is no sign of the other two vigilantes.

  “I’m going to take that as a sign that not too many people are still alive in that building,” Sergeant Love says.

  “I’m guessing no,” Benji agrees.

  Tina sits like a crumpled mess on the floor of her office. She seems nearly catatonic.

  Mike runs in and finds her. “Where have you been? We need you now. Come on.”

  Tina doesn’t move. She just sits on the floor and mutters to herself. “What have I done? What have I done? I’m so sorry.”