Fateful Meeting

High explosive shells began to fall like rain on the roof above. The cold touch of fear had taken hold of everyone in the room. The first floor of the dome was a small cylindrical cramped room filled with crates of unused weapons and explosives, and reminded Miyuki of the entrance to a grand mansion. A single painting sat on the left side of the room, crudely hung up on the wall with rusted nails. A staircase in the back of the room led up to the second floor. Outside, the sounds of death still lingered. One of the gang members began to scream in terror.

‘We are so screwed. It’s over for us man! We need to surrender.’

Another of the gang members turned to the the screaming gang member.

‘Jimmy, calm the heck down. Nobody’s gonna surrender. Chaudary would have all our heads if we did.’

‘He’s right. Sergeant, give me a status update.’

A voice boomed from behind as a man dressed in a leather jacket and worn out blue jeans walked towards them. The man towered over the rest of the gang members, his leather jacket struggling to contain his enormous rippling muscles. The smell from his cigar flooded the room.

‘Err sure. Well sir the enemy has taken control of the surrounding area. We’re trapped inside the dome. ‘

The cigar’s light faded as the gigantic man crushed it under his boot, then noticed Miyuki standing in the corner. His face twisted into a snarl as each of his steps shook the ground beneath him as he marched towards her.

‘You. Don’t recognise you. Are you a new recruit or somethin? Puny dog. ‘

The gigantic man turned around to address the rest of the gang members.

‘I want one of you to tell me right now who the hell this bitch is. You got that? ‘

The man who had given his status update earlier began to speak up, his shaky voice filling the dead room.

‘S-Sir, um I um saved her sir. Yeah, I-I saved her from the missile strike outside. ‘

The gigantic man was not pleased with the answer he got given as his eyes began to stare down Miyuki.

‘Boy what in the AllFather’s name were you thinkin! She could be one of THEM. Did you stop for a second to consider that? Shit we needa get rid of her. Open that damn shutter door. We’re throwing her out of here!’

‘But sir! You can’t do that!’

‘Boy you want me to bring you to Chaudary? Tell him you brought one of the enemy into our sanctuary? Let’s see if you can keep up this defiance when he’s skinning you alive! ‘

‘N-No sir!’

‘Good! Then it’s settled then. Open the shutter door. NOW!’

The gigantic man gripped Miyuki’s shoulder and began to drag her towards the shutter door as it slowly creaked open. Debris flew inside as the sound of missiles hammering The Outeryard became louder and louder. The gigantic man turned to the gang members, throwing Miyuki to the floor and picking up a rocket launcher and destroying a Cyntech dropship as it flew above, then watched as it plummeted downwards in a fireball of destruction.

‘The rest of you! Get out there. We’re taking the fight to them!’

The rocket launcher made a clatter as it was discarded and replaced with a fresh one. Rockets continued to strike down other dropships until what was left of the surrounding area was littered with debris. The radio in Miyuki’s pocket began to crackle as it came to life again.

‘Spectre 1! Something is knocking our troops out of the sky! What is it! ‘

‘Ma’am. Spectre is gone. I say again, Spectre is KIA. ‘

‘Roger that. All units fall back to refuel and re arm! I say again, I am issuing a tactical retreat. All forces have 20 seconds to exfil! Any remaining troops will be left to the mercy of the enemy!’

The loudspeakers began to crackle.

‘All of you who are still alive hunt down the fleeing enemy. I will personally award $10,000 to the man who brings me the head of the enemy commander. Chaudary out.’

Miyuki got to her feet and raised a finger to her earpiece.

‘Hanan. It’s Miyuki. Come in.’

‘Lady Miyuki? We’ve been monitoring the assault on The Outeryard. It’s not looking good down there.’

‘No, it’s not. Listen, I-‘

‘Lady Miyuki have you found Chaudary? ‘

‘No, Hanan I- not yet. It’s complicated. ‘

‘How complicated?’

‘He’s offering a bounty for the Cyntech commanders head. He’s going to deliver it in person.’

‘I see. This could be your one and only shot at getting to him Lady Miyuki.’

‘Exactly. Do you still have remote access to the Nighthawk?’

‘Yes.’

‘Good. Use it to scan for the commander. I need to find and kill them before they get away. Or before someone else gets to them first.’

‘Understood Lady Miyuki. Scanning… got it. ‘

‘You did? Where are they?’

‘Being escorted onto one of the shuttles. You better hurry, theres only a few minutes left on the clock. ‘

‘Got it. Thanks Hanan.’

The shutter door had opened fully. The remaining gang members ran outside, mercilessly executing the Cyntech troopers staying behind. Miyuki ran outside and watched as a fleet of dropships began to lift off as troopers rushed inside them as gang members began to go on the offensive and rush their positions. More rockets flew through the air as the gigantic man roared with laughter as mire dropships fell in a plume of smoke and shrapnel. Soon, only 3 dropships remained. Miyuki guessed the ship in the middle was the command ship, as most of the troopers began to run towards it. Suddenly, a trooper dressed from the others encased in white armor began to issue orders as they ran inside the dropship. Miyuki immediately darted for the white coloured trooper, picking up an assault rifle from one of the dead Cyntech troopers and opening fire, killing the two troopers guarding the tailgate. As the dropship began to lift off, Miyuki grappled onto the tailgate and held onto it as she was suspended into the air.

‘Target spotted! On the ship!’

One of the Cyntech troopers stepped on Miyuki’s hand as she struggled to hoist herself up. With only one hand free, she reached into her back pocket and retrieved her knife, the blade making a satisfying incision as it buried itself in the troopers neck. Miyuki watched as his body comically rag dolled out of the ship and onto the ground, then pulled herself up and into the ship itself as the tailgate closed behind her. The ship itself could carry 12 soldiers into battle, was equipped with dual seats for gunners, and the cockpit could hold up to 3 people. The sliding door from the cargo hold to the middle of the ship opened up, revealing 10 troopers all hunched in their seats. Miyuki threw a grenade into the room and watched as all 10 troopers were vaporised by the blast. On the other end of the crew quarters led to the gunner seats. Miyuki readied a grenade as she opened the door and lobbed it inside. A brief voice silenced itself after the explosion rocked the ship, having destroyed one of the ammunition belts. Finally, the cockpit was in sight. Having used up all her grenades, Miyuki readied her sub machine gun as she opened the door to the cockpit, which was met with a hail of gunfire. A voice from inside barked orders.

‘You! Go check it out, make sure she’s dead.’

‘But sir!’

‘I don’t want to hear it soldier. Get out there now. I’m still trying to get the other ships to send backup.’

Miyuki grabbed the trooper as he entered the gunner’s area and used him as a human shield as she ran into the cockpit.

The pilot immediately got up and started shooting, his bullets burying into the soldier’s body. Miyuki opened fire, shredding the pilot to pieces before shooting out the glass and throwing her captive out. The terrified commander began to frantically scream into his radio

‘Cyntech Tower Command, we are being boarded! I say again! We are being boarded! My crew is dead! Open fire on dropship 1-A! Say again! Open fire on dropship 1-A! We are being- ‘

Miyuki smacked the radio out of the commander’s hand and grabbed him by the throat, then decapitated him in one swift motion. Clinging to her prize, she jumped out of the window and watched as the ship flew into the Lower Quarter expressway. Down below lay two more smoking piles of wreckage as the other dropships had fallen. She activated her wing suit and began to fly back towards The Outeryard. The wings made a satisfying zip as they folded away into her suit as she touched on the ground holding the dead commander’s head. The loudspeaker crackled again.

‘Ah, it seems we have a winner. Come up to my office. Slackjaw, escort her up here. As for the rest of you snivelling cowards, stock up and begin to refortify the joint.’

The gigantic man stepped forward towards Miyuki and extended a hand, introducing himself as Slackjaw, Chaudary’s lieutenant and second in command. He began to escort her inside and into a secret elevator hidden behind a weapons crate on the first floor, a direct line to Chaudary’s office. There was a few brief moments of silence as the two stepped into the elevator, before a sharp ping signalled their arrival. Chaudary’s office was located on the 5th floor of the dome. Above, the ceiling had almost collapsed as light pierced through the shafts of decomposing wood and metal. Blood dripped ever so slowly from the roof as more than one body had been left as a brutal display of war. The entire 6th floor had been levelled by the missile strike, and was now reduced to a pile of scrap and debris. After stepping out of the elevator, a narrow corridor greeted them, with a single door at the end of it. The door to Chaudary’s office lay straight ahead. Two guards stood in front of the door, their weapons trained on Miyuki. Slackjaw dismissed the guards with a signal, and both proceeded to grab the two large door knobs and yank it open. Chaudary was waiting for them in his office, sat on a black leather chair. To his right, lay a row of computer monitors overlooking the entire compound. A strip of crude red carpet guided the visitor to his black marble topped desk, with a single gold plated pistol sat atop it. Behind him, a balcony provided an about as good a view as you could get of Devils Park and The Outeryard. In the left corner of the room, a dead Cyntech trooper lay strapped to a chair. He had been killed not to long ago, his blood glowing crimson in the harsh light. Chaudary himself was a man in his mid thirties, his jet black hair infiltrated by white strands as his youth began to escape him. A scar embedded itself vertically through his left eye socket, which was missing an eyeball.

‘Leave us, Slackjaw. I wish to discuss business with this woman.’

‘Of course Sir.’

Slackjaw left without saying another word and quietly closed the door behind him.

‘You’re the first person to grace this office in some time. You should be honoured.

I take it you have come to claim the bounty, yes? But, we both know money is not why you’ve come here. No, you’re looking for someone arnt you?’ Could it perhaps be me?’

Miyuki held up the head and placed it on his desk, then began to speak.

‘I need your help.’

Chaudary gazed at Miyuki before holding back his laughter.

‘What do you need MY help for? And more importantly, why should I help you? As you can see, I’m dealing with another grave issue here.’

‘Cyntech wants you. I want to know why.’

‘Cyntech?’

‘Yes. I’ve come here because you were tagged as a priority target for them.’

‘Cyntech wants me because we’re at war. They want everyone implanted with those cybernetics of theirs. The people upstairs might be fools, but we are not. I’ve seen firsthand what those Cybernetics can do. So I rejected their plans. Now, they want me dead. We’ve been at war for ages but it was always small. Kill a few men there, blow up something here. When this corporate war began we killed their foolish CEO. Then, another took over. ‘

‘Bennatyne?’ Miyuki inquired

‘Yes.. Bennatyne. My agents inform me that he’s dead too. Someone else is running the show over there now. But we don’t know who. And whoever they are, they’re certainly not playing around. This is the first time they’ve launched a full scale assault on us. I’ll cut you a deal. You help me by taking out Cyntech’s new CEO, and I’ll help you. But know this – if you try to con me or lie to me, I’ll kill you. Understand?’

Miyuki nodded.

‘Good. Now get the hell out of here. Call me only when the job is done. I’ll have a vehicle waiting to take you to Cyntech Tower.’

The door slammed shut behind Miyuki as she took the elevator downstairs to the 1st floor. The door to the elevator made a satisfying ping as she walked out of the elevator and through the open shutter door. A blue van pulled up and the driver signalled for Miyuki to get inside. Slackjaw held the door open for her as she walked inside and sat down, the light flashing for a brief moment on her face as the doors slammed shut ready to deliver her to Cyntech’s doorstep once again.