[FIC] First Impressions (part 5)

[dd]

The small titanium ball bearing rolled to a stop.

Sousuke looked down near his foot, taking note of the erstwhile projectile. There were plenty more where that had come from.

“Kaname.”

He had missed his shot at the leaping Arastol. When it drew too close to his girlfriend, he couldn’t risk another shot. It then did something to Kaname that had her going limp, moments before it picked up her unconscious body and ran down the ‘up’ escalator.

Following, he was ready to use other means to stop the robot, before it met up with others of its kind. He never had a chance. Reaching the bottom of the people mover, he caught sight of six of the metal and plastic machines, standing in a broad row.

The Arastols had their arms linked, forming a barrier. None had their arms extended, weapons at the ready. Sousuke had almost been too late in figuring out what the robots intended. He was too busy worrying about Kaname.

“Damn”

Blood seeped through his sock. He had not come away totally unscathed from the suicide action that the Arastols had used to cover the escape of the other robot and its captive. That action had not been unique, as a number of detonations further down the terminal suggested.

Limping over to one outside wall, now devoid of all glass save for a few jagged hangers on, he watched as robots ran towards police cruisers and fire fighting equipment. Any vehicles or people in the vicinity of the fleeing robot were attacked by the tenacious machines.

He still had a clear view through the scope on his rifle. Laying down, he forced his breathing to slow, and then took a deep breath. There was no other choice. He had to risk this shot. Who knows what might happen to Kaname if she were abducted successfully. Awake or not, she was depending on him.

He fired.

The shot flew true, taking out what would be the buttocks on a human figure. The Arastol fell, but did not destroy itself, as its directive was to capture and protect the target girl.

There was no time for self-congratulations. Two more robots sped to Kaname’s prone form. One was holding the front door of a 747, using it as a shield as it and the other robot backed away.

“Stupid robots!”

Sousuke knew that they were anything but stupid. They had correctly ascertained his line of fire, and had arrived at an effective deterrent. This was going to be difficult. He needed to make the shots before the machines passed from his sight. There was no way that he could move quickly enough to find another vantage point before they could disappear amongst the numerous vehicles on the tarmac. And, they might well be clever enough to commandeer one of those trucks or tractors.

He was also perilously low on 25mm ammunition.

His next shot penetrated both the door and the first Arastol. When it fell to the ground, he had a shot at the second robot, but it had wisely begun to move in quick random dashes, varying its speed, and jumping sporadically. The next two shots missed.

“No.”

Getting up, and running along as quickly as he could with the heavy gun, he tried to find some other place to fire from. He had lost sight of the robot. Wait! There it was. What was going on?

He fired again, as the robot had stopped. The Arastol jerked, and then fell heavy to the ground, laying atop Kaname. There were no other robots in her general vicinity. But, there didn’t need to be. The reason for the robot’s action became evident.

A large area of the air above Kaname wavered, looking strange in the sunlight. The ECS system of a medium-sized helicopter was disengaged temporarily as a number of darkly-clothed men jumped out and ran over to move the inactive machine off of Kaname. As some stood with rifles at the ready, the others carried the girl aboard the rotary aircraft.

Sousuke cursed. The enemy was brazen, trying something like this. Worse, it looked as if their gamble was about to pay off.

He only had one shot left for the XM109. He knew exactly what to do with it. He could not make out the form of the pilot, given the light reflecting off of the cockpit glass. But, he knew where he would be seated in that craft, an obvious derivative of the Soviet Kamov Ka-60.

His shot put a hole through one glass panel. There was no explosion or serious damage, but he had not been expecting that, as he had not brought along any explosive rounds for the anti-ordinance rifle. Just the same, it was easy enough to judge his success. The helicopter began to list to one side, its blades coming close to the ground.

Unfortunately, some other person must have taken over control of the helicopter, as the machine righted itself, began rising, and disappeared from view again. Wind blowing his hair, Sousuke could hear the sound the craft made as it turned and began picking up speed.

“This is Urzu 7 calling. Come in….”

Dejected, and wincing from the pain of his various injuries, Sousuke reported in. He was told where to wait, and when to expect the arrival of the Mithril van that had been sent to the airport. He in turn gave notice of the transponder frequency that Kaname’s tracer was emitting, hoping they could track the helicopter somehow before someone realized that Kaname had been bugged.

After taking one last long look at the cloudless sky, Sousuke headed back inside, gun slung over his shoulder. He would need to retrieve his weapons bag, from where he stashed it during the fight.

Paying little attention to his surroundings, he had no concern about being approached by security personnel, if any were left alive or mentally coherent. Finding his bag where he left it, he stowed his rifle, not wanting draw more attention than was necessary. No doubt there would be camera crews on the scene, or would be soon enough.

“Sousuke?” It was a girl’s voice. Young. Familiar. “SOUSUKE!”

Ayame came running up to Sousuke. She looked uninjured. A streak of black discolored her shirt, likely oil or grease of some kind.

Sousuke turned and looked at the girl, knowing that she wanted to find out where Kaname was. The look on his face must be terrible, since she took a step back, her eyes going wide.

“S-S-Sousuke…… did you see Kaname? Where…… where is Kaname?”

“Yes, where is my daughter?” Shunya caught up with his daughter. He too looked alright physically. “Is she safe?”

The man was the last person that Sousuke wanted to talk to. He knew that he was being emotional, but didn’t care. To be fair, Shunya Chidori’s decision to bring Kaname here today probably did not magically prompt some enemy operation. It merely hastened things, changing the venue.

“Y-Y-You’re bleeding again,” Ayame said, looking at Sousuke’s camouflage shirt, and then seeing a creeping red stain down at his pants cuff.

“Affirmative,” was all that Sousuke answered, looking down at his watch.

“Where…… is…… Kaname?” Shunya clenched his hands into fists, his face looking anguished. He still couldn’t believe everything that had transpired. “What happened to her?”

“She was taken aboard a helicopter. No doubt, one belonging to Amalgam, or someone with access to their remaining resources and equipment. They have left the area.” His voice did not crack. Despite the pain he felt inside, his voice sounded lifeless.

“Why didn’t you stop them?” Shunya’s voice was accusatory. “I thought you were her protector!”

Souske froze. Not one to fly off the handle, he had to fight the urge to curse Kaname’s father. Instead, knowing he was being melodramatic, he unzipped his bag. Taking out the XM-109, he tossed it to Shunya, who bobbled the rifle before letting it fall to the ground.

The three of them all looked down at that gun.

“I lost count of how many Arastols I stopped,” Sousuke said with a cold voice. “Perhaps, being wiser and more seasoned than a maniac boy such as myself, you were able to keep track of how many you stopped.” He fought down his anger. “Unless you think that this is all some kind of stunt that I pulled….” He frowned. “Weren’t you the one who forbade me to see Kaname off at the airport?”

Ayame looked ready to cry. The news of Kaname’s abduction was too much to take on top of everything else. She ran to her father and wrapped her arms around him.

“I….” Shunya was temporarily at a loss for words. “But…” He straightened his shoulders, remembering who he was. He had always been good in a crisis. It was time he came to grip with things as they stood. “What are we going to do?”

Sousuke shook his head. He bent over, retrieved the rifle, and put it away.

“There is no ‘we’. You made that quite plain before.” Those words sounded childish in his own ears, but he didn’t care. “I am still ‘that boy’, am I not? I suggest you do whatever you would have done had the robots been waiting for the group of you in New York.” He began to walk away, and then stopped.

The young soldier looked over at Ayame, her face wet with tears.

“Ayame, I will do what I can to rescue your sister. We have been through these things before.” He met her eyes. “I promise to do my best. For Kaname, if no one else. As before, however, there can be no guarantees.” He took out his receiver unit noting the digital readout. The numbers were still changing. The helicopter was still on the move. “There is still hope, while she and I both live.”

“Th-Th-Thank you….” Ayame buried her face in her father’s dress shirt.

“I….” Shunya wrestled with his pride. “Please….”

“It would be advisable to find a way out of the building, before the roads and transportation systems are tied up. I doubt that there will be any flights leaving today. Hotels will no doubt fill up quickly, as well.” Sousuke paused in his walking, not turning back again. “No matter what happens, someone will contact you.”

The young soldier made his way towards the lobby at the front of the building. The security guard that told him to remain in the building took a brutal chop to the neck, falling to the ground incapacitated.

Waiting outside, Sousuke began to feel incredibly tense. Grinding his teeth together without knowing, he watched as JSDF troops began dropping off of trucks. Police cruisers were parked all over the place, some at crazy angles suggesting that their occupants had arrived in a great hurry. He wondered how many were still alive.

“Bad looks good, when things get worse…”

Someone had Kaname. He had been unable to protect her. The only hope anyone had rested with a tracking device he had added as an afterthought at school. He prayed that the kidnappers would ditch the helicopter soon after launch, thinking they would be able to slip away in some kind of nondescript land vehicle. It’s what he would do.

An approaching white van wove between various cars and army vehicles. The front lights flashed on and off repeatedly, a signal. Hefting his bag over his shoulder, Sousuke went and opened the passenger side door.

“Looks like it might rain,” the man behind the wheel said, a password.

“Yes, do you have any spare umbrellas?” Sousuke countered.

“Seven,” the Mithril drive said, in clear reference to Sousuke’s call name.

The young operative nodded, through his bag in, then took his own place in the van. Closing the door, he watched out the window as they drove away from the airport.

“The report I received was cursory, Sergeant.” The driver had close-cropped hair and a visible tattoo on his neck. He had been a member of Mithril longer than Sousuke had, but was new to the Pacific Branch. “I take it that Miss Chidori has been abducted?” He glanced over at his fellow soldier. “Will any of those wounds need immediate attention?”

“Negative. Cleaning and bandaging will suffice for now. Your assumption is correct. They escaped with the girl.” Sousuke gripped the door handle, squeezing tightly as he scowled.

“Arastols? I’ve read the previous dispatches on those bad boys….”

“Affirmative. It is possible that there will be more. Before we head to whatever rendezvous point we are assigned, I will need to re-supply at the safe house or my apartment.” Sousuke wondered just what kind of situation Kaname found herself in.

“Here, you place the call….” The driver handed Sousuke a large handset. The device had a direct satellite connection to the Operations Management Team aboard Da Dannan. They in turn would be in contact with Merida Island. “The bag in the back is for you. It looks like someone in the SRT anticipated your needs.”

Sousuke reached back, hooked a long strap, and pulled the bag to him. Opening it, he felt a brief moment of satisfaction. There were a number of clips for the XM109, among other necessities.

When Sousuke called to speak with the O.M.T., he was given an update on Kaname’s current location, based on GPS coordinates. She was still within Japan…… somewhere down in the general area of the Port of Kisarazu on the eastern shore of Tokyo Bay.

Tessa came on the line at one point, needing to provide Sousuke with specific details

“Da Daanan has been moving at full speed towards the launch window in the East China Sea. We are now within range, and have Arbalest loaded and ready for delivery, should we get a green light.” The young Captain’s voice had gone quiet. She had to clear her throat. “Sousuke, I’m sorry. We’ll do what we can. I just hope that things go better than last time.”

“Yes,” Sousuke said, not wanting to think about his last encounter with an advanced Amalgam Arm Slave. “I take it that you are too far away to send Urzu-1, Urzu-2, or Urzu-6.”

“No, we can’t do that,” Tessa admitted. “Not if we want to strike quickly. While there will be a small number of operatives at your disposal, you will essentially be on your own. I wish…… I wish that there was more we could do….”

Sousuke spoke briefly with Lt. Commander Kalinin after that. When he hung up, he passed along the pertinent details to his fellow operative.

“Things seem to get exciting wherever you go, don’t they?” The driver ran a hand through his hair, speaking with a slight drawl.

“Yes,” Sousuke said, sighing. “I’m lucky that way, I guess.” He looked out the window, and then closed his eyes. He pictured Kaname’s face.

“Well…… that’s not the word I would choose….” The man held out his hand. “I’m Sergeant Marc Verwilghen, by the way. I’ve read your dossier and Miss Chidori’s. The two of you have become quite legendary, you know.”

“Yes,” Sousuke said, absentmindedly. “She seems to have even greater fortune than I do.” He shook the offered hand.

“Hey, we’ll get her back.” Sgt. Verwilghen slapped Sousuke on the knee.

“I hope so,” Sousuke said.