Three Square Meals Ch. 083

***

As Raijin took a step towards the three girls lying prone on the bathroom floor, he heard the sound of fighting in the corridor outside. The noises came thick and fast, in a confusing maelstrom of disturbing sounds: a splintering crack, howling wind, and a strangled scream that was distorted into a hideous metallic screech. He turned to glance back at the doorway in fear, then stared in shock at the eerie white fog that was now seeping under the door. Whatever was happening out there sounded horrific and he could tell by the abrupt end to the cybernetic status link they shared, that one of his team members had already been slain in the corridor outside.

There was a throbbing whir of anti-grav cyclics outside the window, informing him that Sarutahiko had arrived in the hover-van. Seconds later, a synthetic cry of fear reached Raijin's ears, and he realised he only had seconds to act. Activating his speed enhancer with a low hum, he whirled around and rushed for his target, ignoring the other two women lying on the floor. She was his primary objective after all and he had run out of time to dispatch the others. Behind him, the cyborg's screeching death wail was abruptly cut off, just as Raijin scooped his target up and dived through the window, into the waiting van beyond.

"MOVE!" he snarled at Sarutahiko, but his driver was already pulling away, having also sensed the remaining team getting slaughtered via his status links.

***

The Invictus roared towards the city, plunging through the cloud banks and leaving white plumes in its wake. Faye focused the ship's sensors on the Enigma building where she had dropped off the girls earlier that evening. A black pall of smoke was now rising from the building, a gaping hole blasted in its side from the explosives that had been detonated. She felt pangs of fear as the white battlecruiser raced closer, worrying that she'd be able to make it in time.

Faye saw a hail from Flight Control, but simply ignored it, all her spare processing streams busy flying the Invictus, studying the sensor data, or manning the ship's weapons. As the Invictus drew closer to the tower, she spotted movement on the road outside the tower, the huge dark-green shape visible even at this distance. Her eyes momentarily widened in surprise, knowing that there was only one possible explanation for the appearance of that hulking beast.

Watching the creature intently as she approached, Faye realised that Jade was fighting something... although whatever she was being attacked by, was too small to be seen at this distance. Opening a comm channel, she called Sakura on John's watch.

As soon as the Asian girl answered, Faye blurted out, "Jade's in danger! I'm on my way and I'll be in range in ten seconds!"

Sakura didn't respond for a moment and when she did, she sounded very distracted... and very afraid. "Alyssa says: 'Wait for Jade's signal'!"

"Signal? What should I look out for?!" Faye asked anxiously.

Sakura shook her head, her expression fraught with worry. "I don't know, Faye. That's all she said..."

***

The scores of cuts along Jade's flanks were tiring her now, the painful stabs and slashes starting to take their toll. She whipped her long tail around, then lunged at the assassins with her fang-filled jaws, but her attacks were getting slower and even easier for them to dodge. One by one their alacrity boosters deactivated, returning them to normal speed to prevent their systems from burning out. However, their cybernetic enhancements had served their purpose, allowing them to wear down their foe while avoiding her attacks.

Jade spotted a glint of white in the night's sky, knowing that the time was nearly upon her. One of the assassins leapt up onto her back, running up her body as his glinting blades raised high to plunge into her head. Closing her eyes, Jade focused her will and unleashed every last bit of psychic energy she had, channelling it all into a single massive electrical pulse.

The attacks abruptly ceased, the ninja on her back toppling off to land with a heavy thud, just as the other two assassins were temporarily stunned by the shocking blast of electricity.

Gathering the last of her strength, Jade bounded forward, shifting as she did so, her body shrinking rapidly so that she was not much larger than a dog. The dark-green cheetah tore away, accelerating up to seventy miles-per-hour in the space of less than three seconds.

***

From the awkward position he had fallen, Izanagi stared skywards, his cybernetic body locked up by the crackling pulse of electricity that had scrambled his systems. He expected the monstrous dinosaur to turn around and bite him at any moment, but as his systems came back online a couple of seconds later, he remained unscathed. Feeling a surge of relief as he regained the use of his limbs, Izanagi was about to flip to his feet when a gigantic white leviathan seemed to fill his whole field of view.

He recognised that shape.

He saw eight huge cannons pointed in his direction.

Izanagi's face contorted in terror, his hands held skyward in mute supplication.

Faye cared nothing for his pleas for mercy, for he'd had the temerity to hurt one of her friends. Eight incandescent blue beams unleashed their ferocious firepower, the Invictus' Beam Lasers utterly obliterating the three assassins as they blasted a huge glowing furrow in the ground.

***

John sprinted up the loading ramp into the Raptor, carrying a gravid Jehanna wrapped in a sheet, the girl fast asleep in his arms. Alyssa was only a few strides beside him as they rushed into the waiting gunship.

As they reached the top of the ramp, Alyssa suddenly stumbled in an entirely uncharacteristic display of clumsiness. "No!" she cried out in horror, clutching at John for support.

He whirled around to see her fear-stricken face, her expression sending shivers of dread up his spine. "What is it?!" he demanded in alarm.

"Sakura... she's found Dana and Rachel..." Alyssa replied in a tortured whisper.

John's heart lurched in his chest and he swayed unsteadily. "Not them..." he groaned, feeling cored out at the cavernous sense of loss.

Shaking her head frantically, Alyssa shook him to try and make him understand. "No, they're fine! It's Calara! They've taken her!"

***

The black hover-van turned off the skylane, following the trail of floating nav-buoys that guided the flow of traffic towards the starport. Like all such centres on Terra, this one was heaving with traffic, the facility acting as the terminus for hundreds of spacebound flights from the capital of the Terran Federation every hour.

Sarutahiko followed the directions to their desired docking bay, being careful to stay under the posted skylane speed to avoid any entanglements with the ever-vigilant traffic police. The hover-van turned right and dropped down into the boarding tunnel that would lead to the parking facility directly under docking bay one-two-nine.

"We'll be arriving in two minutes," he called over his shoulder to the last remaining member of Team Hitotsu. Shaking his head, he sounded shocked as he muttered, "The loss of thirteen... I had not thought such a thing possible..."

Raijin nodded grimly, then turned to brush Calara's dark-brown hair from her face as he said, "We have accomplished our primary mission, Sarutahiko." His eyes narrowed as he stared at the sleeping woman. "Mikaboshi has plans for this one..."