The Way of Death

by James Von Ohlen

  “Welcome, Commander. Please scan retina for full access.”

  Reiji cut the straps weaving in and out of Corina’s hair and his belt, holding the head up the scanner while trying to keep one of its eyes open with his other hand. After several seconds, someone began yelling behind them. They’d been noticed.

  “Please hold still,” the same female voice spoke from the machinery as Reiji looked back. Men in the courtyard were pointing in his direction and word seemed to be spreading. The cadre of heavy foot were taking notice. A bad thing, as far as he was concerned.

  “Please hold still,” the voice repeated as he looked back.

  “For fuck’s sake,” he muttered as Tod began to nervously shift his weight from one foot to the other. Reiji looked back to see the heavy footmen breaking into a slow run. If they made it before the door opened, he had no delusions of what would happen. Even if they were poorly trained, they would be nearly invulnerable against shitty weapons like these. And their numbers would win them the fight in short order.

  “Thank you Commander,” the machine finally spoke. “Access granted.”

  The garage door opened so quickly that it caused Reiji to jump back. Without hesitation he moved into the room beyond, throwing Corina’s head away behind him. The lockbox had been a mechanic’s garage at one point in time by the look of it. The APC dominated the room, surrounded by piles of boxes and tables bearing various tools. A hydraulic lift sized for a vehicle stood on the opposite end of the rectangular room, now being used as a shelf.

  “Rage, they’re almost here!” Tod said quickly and Reiji looked back to the courtyard. The formation of heavy infantry were gaining momentum and had covered more than half the yard. Close the fucking door, he told himself.

  But how?

  His eyes darted back and forth. There, he thought, seeing a control panel set to one side of the door. Reiji ran to it and pushed the first button he saw. Nothing happened. He pressed another.

  The lights in the garage went out.

  “Fuck!” Reiji yelled as he ran to the other side of the garage door, a panel alive with dim, green lights was barely visible there as well. He chanced a look into the courtyard. The heavy infantry were impossibly close, the first ranks raising their weapons and girding themselves for the initial, and likely only, strike.

  At a full sprint Reiji dove and punched at the control panel. The door shrieked as it dropped shut with a speed even greater than with which it had opened. Thuds sounded as men in armor too heavy for them to stop in time slammed into the other side of the steel door. Cursing and groans followed from outside as Tod hit the other panel, turning the lights back on. Hard blows began to rain down on the door, likely both fists and weapons. But it held, turning them aside.

  “What do now, Rage?” Tod asked excitedly as he passed his blade from hand to hand. To Reiji the answer seemed obvious. Fire up the APC, run some motherfuckers over, and smash through the gate on their way to freedom.

  But then again, he thought, the first part was easily achievable. But the second, perhaps not so much. If the garrison of Fort Houston Tower Two had reset the stone blocks they had used to block the APC’s progression, then exit from the fort would likely be impossible.

  This might require something a little more hands on.

  “Listen to me, Tod,” Reiji began. Making sure he had the boy’s full attention before continuing. He detailed how he expected to get the both of them out of Fort Houston alive and in one piece, as well as keeping their ride.

  The combat exoskeleton might be able to sustain Reiji for the remainder of his journey through the desert, but he had no interest in finding out. And on foot, it was unlikely Tod would last very long. The APC would be vital for both of them to survive.

  “Do you understand?” Reiji asked Tod when he finished. The boy nodded once and turned and ran to the APC. Reiji opened the driver’s compartment with a touch of his hand, letting the boy in. A moment later the engines began to rumble.

  Reiji grabbed a box full of tools and then moved to the doors to the rear compartment of the APC. Once upon a time, it had been intended to shuttle heavily armed men through potentially dangerous areas. Likely abandoned here when the Coalition Colonies Government had left Lexington behind. Now, it served a similar purpose. Very unlikely one that could have been foreseen by its designers and builders.

  Housing a single combat exoskeleton armed only with a single giant blade, and tasked with carrying it close enough to its enemies to use that weapon. As Reiji opened the doors, Onryo glared down at him through angry eyes above a snarling face. Despite the fierce appearance, the Oni sat still and easy. Like an old man in a hammock.

  The rear doors closed behind him as he entered. Reiji dropped the box of tools and turned back to Onryo. On its own accord, the chest of the combat exoskeleton opened to allow him entry. As if the Oni could sense its owner. Probably something to do with the neural interface implant, Reiji thought as he looked at it. Or maybe there was something to the stories of vengeful spirits and demons he had been told as a kid, and the combat exoskeleton was demonically possessed.

  He laughed at the second thought, as he stepped into the suit. Un-fucking-likely he thought. The protective shell closed around him, enveloping him in an invincible alloyed womb. There was a moment of darkness and then his senses flared to life in a way that never ceased to stagger him with sensory input as the suit connected to his neural interface.

  All of Onryo’s senses became Reiji’s, a feeling of strength surged through him as the smallest details in the rear compartment of the APC jumped out at him. Rivets he hadn’t noticed before. The sound of the LEDs illuminating the hold. A scribbling of graffiti boasting of the weaklings crushed during some campaign Reiji didn’t recognized the name of.

  Even through the armored vehicle and the stone and steel of the lockbox’s walls, the Oni identified a score of potential hostiles. Covered in non-powered armor of steel alloys and carrying blades. No significant threat, it concluded, though their posture and rudimentary biometrics indicated a hostile response.

  That news was nothing new to him. No significant threat. But Reiji didn’t care if they couldn’t hurt him. In fact he preferred it that way. It meant that the show he was about to put on could be more dramatic. Have more psychological impact on the men who witnessed it. When he finished here, no one left in Fort Houston would dare stand before him.

  Reiji notified Tod that he was ready. Tod responded by turning the APC and aiming it directly at the garage door. The armored vehicle paused for a second as the engines began growling. Suddenly, the APC tore forward, smashing through the garage door and driving over the middle of the group of men gathered outside.

  Sensors scanned and reported that eight men lay dead and dying behind the APC as it continued forwards and smashed into one of the fire engines, still battling the blaze consuming the garrison commander’s quarters. Water lines were severed and began to spray pressurized liquid high into the air, bringing a rare rain to the dusty courtyard. Tod backed the vehicle up, crushing a few more men, before bringing it to rest in the center of the courtyard. Aimed at the long tunnel that led to the outside gate of Tower Two.

  Radio chatter filled Reiji’s ears. Intercepted by the APC and Onryo. Cent-Sec extraction team inbound. ETA less than five minutes. He had no idea what an extraction team consisted of, and he had no intention of finding out. This would be over with long before their arriaval, if he had any say in it.

  Reiji waited, secure within Onryo’s grasp. Watching and counting. The APC’s sensors reported the number and exact positions of the men rapidly surrounding it. Some fifty men, including the survivors of the heavy infantry who’d chased him only moments before. A good showing, he thought.

  One that the survivors and witnesses would be unlikely to forget.

  The rear door burst open and Onryo stepped forth. Slowly. Dramatically. With a harsh growl of some beast about to attack. It towered head and shoulders above even the largest man n
ear him. The Oni emitted a demonic roar, Reiji’s scream warped by the combat exoskeleton’s speakers to achieve maximum psychological effect. Lights like fire shone in Onryo’s eyes.

  The effect was immediate and devastating. The men that the Oni was surrounded by froze with fear, unable to even run. Before they could attempt to do so, the huge Claymore struck in a wide arc, hewing men to the ground like a scythe through grain.

  Another roar, and the men sprang into action. About half ran while the other half surged forward uncertainly to avenge their fallen friends. The heavy infantry who had given chase to Reiji and Tod only moments before formed the bulwark that the others rallied around.

  Some dozen men or so, in heavy plate and with two-handed weapons, approached Onryo in a broad line. They were supported by a smattering of unarmored men with broadswords. The APC behind Reiji began moving again and there was a loud crash as it plowed into the side of another fire engine.

  In Reiji’s mind, it wouldn’t do to have his enemies come to him. He strode forward, taking the ground between their line and himself in two steps. A lightning fast kick flattened one man in heavy armor, crushing breastplate and breast beneath alike. He gurgled loudly as he struggled to breathe, rocking from side to side as he attempted to rise from the ground.

  A two-handed sword struck at Onryo, seeming to move in slow motion. Reiji did nothing to block the attack or move out of its way. The men here needed to see that they couldn’t hurt him. The blade smashed into his thigh with all the force the man holding it could muster. It bounced away harmlessly with a loud clang. Reiji laughed through Onryo. He lashed out and pulped the head of the man who had swung the offending blade with a single punch. Blood spouted from the ruined mound of flesh and the stricken man stumbled backwards, dead before he hit the ground.

  Like lightning spreading over ancient creatures trapped in amber, Onryo struck. Weaving among the men before him and around him. With each step, another man fell, utterly destroyed by the strength of the Oni and the mass of its blade. The last few he wounded badly. Enough to kill them, but not enough to kill them instantly. Their deaths would be drawn out, painful affairs filled with screaming and blood. All the greater impression it would make on the witnesses.

  The last man turned to flee, and the Oni cut his legs from underneath him. Shearing them off just below the knee, both taken with a single stroke of the huge sword. Onryo lurched forwards, stomping on the fallen man’s right arm, mangling it beyond repair. Another stomp and the left arm was similarly destroyed.

  The Oni placed the huge sword it carried into the custom holster Reiji had added across its back. Both hands would be needed for this.

  Onryo knelt down and grabbed the severely wounded man, holding him aloft so that his cries might carry better to the ears of his friends. His screams sounded above even the roar of the inferno, echoing throughout the courtyard, as Onryo closed his other hand around the man’s head and squeezed. With a loud pop, the skull gave way and its contents shot out the top of the remains of the man’s head.

  The men remaining in the courtyard of Tower Two were frozen in terror once more. They simply couldn’t look away.

  Until one by one, they began to look up.

  A harsh light shone down on Onryo from somewhere far above. The Oni began issuing warnings to Reiji. Potentially hostile aircraft incoming. Downwash from engines began to kick up dust in the courtyard as Reiji looked up. The Oni highlighted some type of military gunship in his view. Partially obscured due to camouflage and stealth tech.

  A stream of technical data passed through Reiji’s vision as he looked at the gunship. He’d never seen one this close before. On the rare occasion he’d seen them in the past, they had always been buzzing around somewhere in the distance. Dropping soldiers and bombs on rioters, or anyone who happened to have pissed off Cent-Sec for that matter.

  According to Onryo, the jet engines that were standard for this model of gunship had been removed, leaving only anti-grav for propulsion. Just like all of the gunships currently in service to Cent-Sec. Something about Overlord not liking the energy signatures of some types of jet engine. And rockets for that matter.

  Another spot light came to life, so intensely bright that the Oni’s vision dimmed to protect Reiji’s eyes. The pair converged on Onryo, standing amidst the mortal remains of the men he had just slaughtered without mercy.

  “Attention, fugitive. This is Central-Security Airborne. You are in possession of stolen Central-Security property.” A static laced voice from above washed over the courtyard, echoing from the walls. “Dismount the combat exoskeleton and surrender immediately.”

  Doors opened on the sides of the gunship. Reiji wasn’t about to wait to see what was going to happen next. Onryo threw the dead man’s body away and began sprinting across the courtyard. He considered throwing the Claymore at the aircraft, but it would likely dodge. And even if he hit the gunship, which he noted had been stripped of guns (what were you supposed to call a gunship without guns?), it would be unlikely to do any damage to it.

  In the garrison commander’s lockbox there had been a discarded axle from some heavy wheeled vehicle. That seemed to have enough heft to do the trick. The problem would be getting the aircraft to hold still long enough for him to put the boots to it. Or the axle as it were.

  It was worth a try, he figured. There didn’t seem to be any other way to knock the gunship from the sky. And as long as it was there, with whatever crew it might have, then it would be a threat to life and limb.

  The gunship moved quickly, reacting to Reiji’s motion. It circled around the courtyard and come to a stop, hovering some three or four meters off of the ground. In between Onryo and the gaping ruin of the garage door leading into the lockbox.

  Dust thrown up by the passage of the gunship formed a cloud that partially obscured Reiji’s vision. That was annoying, he thought, but at least they would make it easy to destroy the gunship. It was directly in front of him, closer by the second, and within striking distance. He wasn’t sure how he was going to do it, but driving the Claymore through the first anti-grav generator he saw just might do the trick.

  Reiji’s right hand reached up and grabbed the handle of the massive sword. The target was practically being served up to him. Just as he had practiced hundreds, if not thousands, of times with the ancestors, he would draw the blade and strike in one motion. Laying yet another enemy low. A drop in the bucket of the violence done over his life.

  Things seemed to slow down as he approached the gunship. Men moved inside of it, their forms obscured from view by some type of cloaking that Onryo couldn’t penetrate. Steel flashed, weapons or armor it was hard to tell. The gunship banked hard to the left, putting distance between itself and the Oni.

  Just when Reiji thought it would take back to the air, it banked hard back to the right. As if it was trying to intentionally hit him. Reiji didn’t miss a step, continuing his advance, the handle of the massive blade gripped firmly in his right hand. He might only get one shot at this. Better not fuck it up, he told himself as he ran.

  A huge form took flight from the open doors on the gunship’s side. Immediate threat warnings flared across Reiji’s vision, outlining the huge suit of armor in red and identifying it as a Coalition Colonies Government issue combat exoskeleton.

  The exoskeleton was airborne with the combined momentum of the gunship and its own leg drive, looking like a huge reclining fat man made of steel. The operator drove its legs forward for a kicking strike with both feet and reached back with both hands to draw a formidably sized blade of its own.

  For a split second, something in Reiji’s mind told him to get the fuck out of the way. But his initial plan won out in the instantaneous debate with himself. Onryo pulled up short, avoiding the kicking attack of the other exoskeleton as it hit the ground hard. The Cent-Sec machine began to draw its blade, pulling hard with both hands in what would become an overhead strike down at the Oni’s collarbone. Onryo stepped diagonal and to the right, a
voiding the strike all together while drawing his own blade and driving it down in what became a two-handed blow of his own, with all of the combat exoskeleton’s enhanced strength behind the attack.

  The Claymore slammed into the exposed neck of the Cent-Sec exoskeleton with a thunderous clang that filled the courtyard with explosive echoes, reaching above the sound of the gunship’s engines and the spreading flames. The huge sword that Onryo had carried since even before Reiji had found the combat exoskeleton, shattered with the impact.

  Shards of the fractured blade took flight along with bits and pieces of the sundered armor beneath its edge. A warped screeching noise immediately began pouring from the Cent-Sec exoskeleton’s external speakers. It tried to rise from its crouching position, the same it had landed in when it had failed to attack Onryo. Metal grinding on metal rose with the exoskeleton.

  The Cent-Sec unit took a wobbly step and tried to raise its arms as Onryo moved. The Oni spun to the left, continuing with the motion of the initial attack. The Cent-Sec exoskeleton moved sluggishly and continued emitting static and a screeching noise from its speakers. Onryo completed the spin and brought the pommel of the destroyed blade down onto the back of the other exoskeleton’s neck, still gripping the weapon with both hands.

  The Cent-Sec unit began falling straight down and Onryo stepped forward and delivered a hard knee-strike to the side of its head. The Cent-Sec unit sprawled face down into the dirt of the courtyard, unmoving. The exoskeleton appeared to have suffered significant damage.

  None of which couldn’t be repaired. But the man inside the suit was another story. Onryo reported to Reiji that the pilot was already dead. A broken neck combined with massive head trauma.

  Reiji didn’t miss a beat, scooping up the fallen warrior’s weapon. Another massive two-handed number. As he turned back to the gunship he could see the face of the pilot, slack-jawed with disbelief at what he’d just seen, nearly pressed against the armored glass view port at his side. The aircraft had descended to just a meter or so off the ground. Men moved within the rear section of the gunship, hurrying to close the door before Reiji could board.