"Who's there!" Seven shouted out, his rifle now at the ready, his shoulder stinging but unharmed. The armor seemed to have nullified most of the bullet's impact.
"CEBA operative! I order you to quietly surrender yourself and the useless garbage you're carrying for my investigation!" A woman's voice shouted back. Seven reached for the rifle and readied himself. The sounds of multiple heavy footsteps, and the rattling of gear could be heard as soldiers blocked the main escape routes.
"That's gonna be… inconvenient." Seven replied. A ping resounded as a bullet ricocheted off the metal crate. Followed by a dull clack as it buried itself elsewhere.
"The next one goes through the crate—and you." The CEBA woman threatened. Seven could tell she meant it more as a promise.
"Well, gung-ho it is." Seven muttered as he jumped up and began firing in the general direction of the woman's voice and then dropped and grabbed Skyra, dragging her through a maze of crates and shelves to get to a better vantage point. His blind fire only bought him less than a minute before the sound of alarms, and soldiers began flooding the warehouse. Seven stopped next to the brick wall of the warehouse and sighed.
"I knew it was going too well." He looked at the number on the rifle, he was down to seven bullets. A measly number, and not his favorite either. Bullets began peppering the wall around him and he dropped to the ground and attempted to make it to cover behind more crates.
"You're quite mistaken if you believe you'll survive this!" The woman called out. She was hot on Seven's ass, less than twenty feet away roughly, based on the clarity of her voice. Seven readied the rifle again, but before he could blind fire the last few rounds, an explosion rocked the warehouse, followed by a second, larger, explosion. Dust began to rain down, glass shattered, the smell of smoke began to fill the stale warehouse air.
The air itself vibrated with the power released by the explosion, and Seven felt the tremors in the foundation beneath his feet. A third explosion knocked shelves over with resounding clamor, some struck walls and others hit the ground. The yelling of soldiers and their cries could be heard as many were trapped beneath the debris.
The wall near Seven began to crumble as the already weak, old mortar gave way under the extreme shock of the explosions. The direction of the explosions happened somewhere in the near middle of the warehouse, close to the rightmost side. Seven took the opportunity to grab Skyra and rush out through the now crumbled wall. Bullets buzzed past him as he ran out, one connected with his lower left side, causing Seven to wince as he ran forward.
As he ran out, Seven darted right and headed for the gate. He remembered that those weird vehicles were parked near the front gate while he and Melrod entered the premises.
"Impact detected: Lower abdomen quadrant. Seek immediate aid. Left kidney/large intestine likely damaged."
The suit warned Seven. Seven noted the warning but kept moving until he reached one of the strange vehicles and dumped Skyra in the passenger seat before running around and hopping in behind the wheel. The entire dash was lit up with weird symbols, switches, buttons and lights. Next to the steering wheel on the right was a button that said 'START' on it.
"Convenient." Seven muttered as he pushed it, nothing happened. He tried again, still nothing, then a message popped up on the dash that read, 'Depress BRAKE and push START button'. Seven sighed and did as he was instructed. There was a silent whirring as the vehicle started and Seven pressed the gas, going nowhere.
"Right... gears." He muttered as he looked for whatever would be the gear levers. In the middle was a simple short protruding lever, smaller than his palm that had 'D' and 'R' on it.
"Gross." Seven put his foot on the brake and shifted towards 'D' and the vehicle slowly moved forward as soon as he lifted his foot.
"Alright, now it's a party!" He exclaimed as he slammed the gas and shot towards the front gates. Soldiers immediately turned their attention to the vehicle and began peppering it with gunfire, but it was already too late, Seven was out and on the streets to freedom.
"Alright Melrod, please tell me you slipped out somehow..." Seven looked in the rearview mirror hoping to see Melrod running after him, but only the burning building and firing soldiers could be seen. Seven looked away and continued driving, hoping Melrod found his own way out.
As Seven shot out of the entrance to the warehouse town onto the rocky roads, the tires spun gravel and threw rocks as they attempted traction. In the dim light, Seven spotted a horse and rider on the road in front, the rider was wearing a soldier's uniform, and the horse was the dull creature from earlier.
"No fuckin shot! MELROD!?" Seven shouted as he pulled up to the horse and rider. The soldier looked over at Seven and laughed.
"You clever bastard! I knew you'd figure out an escape plan after I detonated those bombs!" Melrod exclaimed.
"Shit, I really thought you were still in there. You are one slippery weasel." Seven laughed.
"As are you my friend, cunning like a fox as always." Melrod returned the post-escape insults. But their celebrations were cut short as a spotlight lit up the vehicle, above them in hot pursuit was the hovering carrier and behind them were quickly approaching vehicle lights.
"Well, so much for that." Seven stated as he looked at the intimidatingly large aircraft.
"Now what?" Melrod asked. Seven pondered the next move for a moment.
"Take the target. You can evade them on the horse by going through the woodland paths." Seven grabbed Skyra and dragged her over his lap as Melrod reached in and pulled her the rest of the way. After he situated her in front of him, he looked at Seven, though Seven couldn't see his face, he knew under that helmet was a look of deep worry.
"Don't. Get the hell away from me and deliver the package you fuck!" Seven turned the wheel hard right onto an off road that led east into the grasslands. Melrod peeled off to the left and into the woods. Luckily, none were interested in the horse and rider, only the vehicle.
Seven pushed the vehicle to its limits, not thinking of anything other than leading the enemy as far away from Melrod and the woman as possible. The vehicle was not made for dirt and gravel roads; the shaking and rattling were enough to vibrate Seven's vision.
"STOP THE CAR, THIEF, AND HAND OVER THE LEAD SCIENTIST ALAINA SKYRA!" A voice called out loudly over the speaker from the carrier.
"Heh, get a load of this dude. Isn't even aware of the swap. Even more reason to prolong this ride!" Seven pushed the vehicle even harder, increasing speed only slightly due to terrain.
The vehicles on his ass caught up and bullets began peppering the vehicle. "FINE, HAVE IT YOUR WAY! FIRE!" The voice was recognized as the C.E.B.A woman. Shortly after she declared fire, a bolt from the carrier shot and obliterated the path in front of Seven, and the vehicle dropped in and bounced back out with a resounding crashing and crumpling sound as the left wheel was torn off and began to dig into the dirt with a metallic grind and plastic crunch. Seven was now a sitting duck as the vehicle ground to an abrupt halt.
"Well fuck me sideways!" Seven looked around the vehicle and saw a familiar weapon in the back seat. It was the weird sun beam firing weapon.
"Melrod you sneaky bastard, when did you throw this in here?" Seven snatched it up and stepped out of the vehicle. He was now surrounded by soldiers; the spotlight beamed down on him as the carrier hovered above.
"DROP YOUR WEAPON!" Soldiers began shouting. Seven smirked, this was it. His last miserable moment in this life. The weapon he was holding did nothing more than blink colorfully with lights. Now that he had the suit on, it clearly stated that there was no mana core detected, whatever that was, on the holographic screen.
"It's too late you arrogant punks! No bitches here, only my sexy ass!" Seven raised the weapon up and pointed it at a soldier, expecting to be shot, but instead they just lowered their weapons and began laughing as they closed in. A woman descended from the carrier and laughed as she did so.
"Stupid lowly city thief. Did you think you'd be able to utilize that? You don't have any mana; our scans clearly said the core was depleted! So, what will you do now? Curse us to death?" The woman was dressed in all black from head to toe, a handgun drawn and pointed at him.
'Mana detected in the nearby vicinity. Please connect the MP connector to the MS-42 Shotgun.'
The suit provided the answer to the woman's question. On Sevens right forearm a slot popped open and a thick tube with a connector slid out. Seven looked down in confusion and a blue highlighted area on the weapon showed in his vision. Seven grabbed the connector and popped it into the slot.
'Loading mana into inserted core... warning, Mana Reserve detected immeasurable. Error, by-passing core, connecting reserve directly to charge cylinder. Crown Overload eminent.'
The suit began to glow, vein red lines lit up all over the suit.
"What the-?" The woman backed away as the suit and weapon began lighting up.
"Well gee, I do wonder what to do?" Seven pointed the weapon upwards and pulled the trigger. What happened next, could not be explained in any terms Seven knew. The weapon was silent, yet it whirled with a pitch so high, it was inaudible. The colors went to pure white as the catalyst overloaded.
A bright, fast, hot beam of concentrated energy burst from the barrel of the gun, getting larger as it went, turning the barrel end of the gun red hot. It connected with the carrier, flowering the metal. Melting as well as breaking through the shell. The carrier exploded, metal rained down with deadly shards of melted steel. It fell quickly to the ground as it lost all power.
The sound was deafening, like a bomb went off in everyone's ears. The soldiers scrambled, but some were engulfed by the exploding carrier. Some crushed instantly by the debris field, others were impaled and screaming, yet more were burned by the engulfing flames of the twisted wreckage.
Seven turned and ran, the weapon in his hands was glowing dangerously hot. The holographic screen read 'Error: Over-Charge'.
"You can't escape me!" Seven heard a scream followed by shots and impacts in his back, three successions. Seven stumbled and fell. He struggled but couldn't lift himself. He reached for the weapon, but the woman kicked it away, disconnecting the weapon in the process. The woman kicked Seven hard and turned him over. The look on her face was one of hatred.
"You... you... AHHH!" She grabbed the helmet and yanked it off Seven's head. Seven hadn't realized it until she took it off, but he had spat up enough blood into the helmet to cause it to splatter across the air between the two . Like a red mist one would see at a fancy fountain, or the ends of a cascading waterfall. Seven stared at the woman weakly and defiantly. She was pretty, blue eyes, black hair, pale white skin and a full set of red lips. Her eyes full of hatred and rage, a burn Seven could feel as it glared into his own.
"Aw, di- did ya get all dolled-up f- for little ol' me?" Seven laughed weakly, refusing to give any indication of surrender.
"You still dare laugh? Where is the woman you kidnapped? TELL ME!" She screamed as she pressed the barrel into Seven's forehead. It was warm, both by the ever growing flames and the bullets she fired into his back as he ran.
"Sh- she's about half-way to g- go fuck yourself!" Seven spat in response. His mission was completed, and his misery was near its end. He wasn't going to give this Agent anything but the biggest middle finger and fuck you he could muster.
"Do you know what a clearance code is, rat? One line from me and your district turns into a test site." The woman dug the barrel deeper. The metal cut into his skin as it was jammed forcefully.
"You practice that in the mirror… or was that your HR coaching you?" Seven began to find it harder to feel, breathe, or see.
"Banter? Really? You still think this is all jokes and fun? Fine. Joke on this asshole." The woman grabbed Seven's mouth and forced his jaw open before shoving the barrel into his mouth.
"I'd ask if you had any last words, but I'm tired of them." The woman sneered, but before she could pull the trigger, a loud roaring bray resounded through the night, the sound of large hooves thumping quickly and steadily accompanied. The woman sat and looked up just as said large hooves, donkey kicked her in her chest and sent her speeding away. Seven shortly after, looked up and into the eyes of the horse he set free.
"Okay, definitely not the hero I expected." Seven muttered weakly. The horse nudged Seven up, using its head and neck to lift him to a kneeling position before seemingly getting on its knees and waiting for Seven to weakly lay across its back. Then the horse got up and raced away at full speed, leaving the chaos behind quickly. That was the last thing Seven saw before slipping unconscious.