Base Attacked

Yuto was surprised when they met back up with an injured Mamoru and fox girl. They quickly explained what had happened, and the white-haired man replied in a steady tone.

“Training’s cancelled, we need to get back now.”

The trip back was hardly quiet, with Mako eagerly looking at everything that had been invented since she first holed up inside the temple, which was just about everything.

“Oh, young master, that ca-ar looks much different from the one we’re in. It flies!”

“That’s a plane, Mako.”

“Why, it doesn’t look plain at all!”

Mamoru began to go into the unnecessary detailed history of planes; he had a soft spot in that area.

It was fortunate that the fox girl was so chatty, it filled the space that would have otherwise been dead silence. Yuto was locked onto the road, and Yamiko distracted herself with fashion websites on her phone, but the quietest was Hikari, who just stared off into space.

Before they started driving, Mamoru had managed to ask if she was okay, and she only gave a cryptic reply.

I always had this odd feeling, like I was still doing stuff in a material sense, but I thought that was crazy, my body would have rotted by now. I thought at least….

She didn’t say anything else since. It felt strange for the first time in a long time having his thoughts all to himself. He wasn’t sure what to do with them, so answering the fox’s questions was perfect.

When they finally returned to the resistance’s hideout, Hikari spoke up again.

We shouldn’t come here; she’ll hunt us down at this place.

Mamoru felt that he agreed, but he at least needed to explain to Mirai what was going on before up and leaving. After quickly mending his injuries, the girl in question paced back and forth across the television screen where the Honda’s had been gaming the first day Mamoru was there. The others crowded around in the small room.

“So, Marlin is off world you say?”

“Verily so, my master is you might say out of touch.”

Mirai hummed to herself and entered deep thought for several minutes. When she broke free, she looked around at the group.

“It seems, our plans to have Marlin assist will not help, still, our objective remains the same. We will take down Subarashii, and that will start with an operation to get Mamoru’s sister out of there.”

“What?”

“We’ve let her be locked up there too long, I was hoping to finagle something while you two were getting trained, but it seems we need to rethink our plans.”

It was finally happening, he could charge into Subarashii without care and save his sister. Mamoru felt elated, he couldn’t wait to see the dumb look on the Suba employees faces.

Mirai began to bark off plans to the other members until the sounds of spinning blades cut her off. Everyone was silent for a moment as something not quite like a helicopter, but with the rhythmic motion of blades hovered overhead their base.

The puppet Hikari crashed through the ceiling into the center of the room. She looked back up and quickly locked onto Mamoru.

It’s too late, she is after us. We led them right to here!

From the hole in the ceiling, several shock troopers with Suba logos plastered on their chests and helmets descended on ropes and began to battle with the members of the resistance. Mamoru ducked to dodge a blow from the puppet, and the wall behind him crumbled. Mako kicked their opponent across the room, glared in the direction of the ghostly Hikari for a moment, and turned to Mamoru.

“Young master, we must flee, it seems it is after us.”

Mirai shouted from the TV, “Mamoru and Yamiko get out of here, we’ll take care of thin-” A shock trooper shattered the screen before she could finish. The high school boy didn’t wait any longer. He grabbed a nervous Yamiko’s hand and pulled her out of the room. The Resistance had been nice enough to house his bike and keep it charged, and he quickly yanked the cord away and fired it up. Attacked or not, he wasn’t about to change his goal, he was going to get his sister.

Yamiko nervously squeezed him from behind, and Mako sat on it sideways without care that she might fall off. He zipped out of the base into the chilly night. Behind one of Suba’s new air bus vehicles floated menacingly overhead. About half a dozen propellers spun to keep the drone-like shape afloat. Though air bus was a misnomer as several guns opened fire on the motorcycle riding trio. Yamiko screamed and Mako made an amused hum while Mamoru swerved to avoid getting hit.

They sped down the street and the air bus pursued after, easily flying between buildings with steady movement. Bullets streaked past the bike as Mamoru adopted a weaving pattern. Other cars crashed and people screamed as they flew by.

“Hang on!”

Mamoru tilted his bike low to one side and went around a corner. The flying vehicle easily pursued, unbothered by flying in between increasingly tall buildings. More bullets carved a path just to his side. Yamiko screamed the most, holding him tightly. Mako made an amusing laugh and lobbed a fireball at the bus. It zipped sideways, barely avoiding slicing a building with its propellers, and the attack passed by.

“Mamoru!” Mirai’s voice came from under them. Her face flashed on the bike’s small display. “We are pulling out, but I think that woman is after you, she stole one of our vans.”

Another flurry of bullets fired, and this time Mako had to catch them. She curiously eyed one of the rounds while dropping the others onto the street.

“Do you have a way to deal with that thing?” Mamoru shouted back.

“It seems to have an AI in control, I can interfere, but it would crash into someone or something before I got control.”

“Well, we can’t like let it chase us forever!”

“It is a most amusing toy; thou should steal it!”

Mamoru felt Yamiko’s grip tighten around him, then it loosened.

This can’t be good; the witch looks like she has an idea.

“What if, you had someone like pilot it while you took control?”

“What are you thinking?” Mamoru shouted.

Mako threw another fireball at the air vehicle, and it zipped out of the way again. She laughed to herself.

“I can, like, float up there while Mirai does her thing.”

More bullets littered the street below. Some bystander’s cars, and possibly them, were caught in the crossfire as he sped past. Mamoru gritted his teeth. He felt Yamiko let go of him.

“It’s too dangerous!” he shouted, but she had already lifted into the air. The giant drone might have tried to avoid the girl, but Mako shot two streams of fire on either side.

Yamiko grabbed onto a side rail and screamed bloody murder as she pulled herself close to the bus. The door slid open with ease, and she disappeared inside. At once the vehicle shivered in the air, and its lights began to strobe between red and blue as it lost velocity.

Mamoru gritted his teeth and spun around the next bend. Strength Tower was just up ahead. He pulled his sword free and blew the front doors in with a burst of wind. People inside the tower screamed as his motorcycle burst inside. Mamoru turned it to the side, and slid sideways across the lobby into a quickly evacuated open elevator.

All seemed still a moment, as the people in the lobby stared at Mamoru and the fox girl. He poked the floor 16 button with the tip of his blade. The door slide shut, and Mako gasped at it.

“My, what a fascinating contraption!”

You certainly made an entrance.

Mamoru couldn’t help but smile. He just had to get his sister, then go to the top where he could take out the boss and figure out how to free the physical Hikari from her puppeted state.

The ghostly Hikari looked at him with shock. She made a soft smile and a softer—Thanks.