Chapter 8: Skirmishes

"Pow! Pow! Pow!"

Lisa fired three shots from her arm gun in quick succession at the military vehicle. The first struck the automatic turret dealing some damage to its armored plating and exposing the circuits underneath. The second shot hit the back window cracking its bulletproof glass to resemble a spider's web. The final shot hit the vehicles right back tire, causing a loud popping sound and the Hummer skidded to a halt blocking the dam’s road.

The automatic turret immediately pointed her way and opened fire! The bullets were fired with such speed that it was impossible to count the number of rounds. Lisa jumped behind the wall guarding the edge of the dam as cover to avoid the vicious onslaught of bullets. As the hail of bullets abruptly stopped, she heard the soldiers shouting as they exited the Hummer and set up a defensive position.

Lisa took a quick peek from behind the wall only to be met with a feeling of disappointment. The turret had to have been equipped with heat vision sensory equipment, otherwise it couldn't have reacted so quickly and found her location. She was going to have to move fast if she wanted to capture that officer.

Normally Officers in the American Fascist Regime (AFR) would be accompanied by far more military personnel instead of just the two guards that were with him. If she did not act now, she might never get a chance like this.

From her leather jacket Lisa pulled out her sheathed, dull black katana. Then giving a quick sweeping motion, she unsheathed the katana to stop at a meter's length. Holding it in her left hand, she gripped it tightly with anticipation. Taking a quick breath, she mentally planned her next move.

Lisa thought to herself, "Probably the best way to end this quickly would be to take out that turret first."

Lisa then pulled off the jacket and tossed it aside. Underneath her leather jacket was a skintight faded black bodysuit, of which the design was what a surfer's spring suit might look like. However, this was no ordinary suit.

Forged by the military long ago, the suit was comprised of densely packed Kevlar fibers, ceramic, and other sci-fi like shock absorbent materials; perfectly capable of taking on most small arms and rifle fire. If someone were to look closely at the suit, they would see a hexagonal pattern of the materials molded together, adding both flexibility and impact absorption technology.

Lisa jumped out onto the road while purposefully rolling as the turret locked onto her heat signature once more. Bullets sprayed out at Lisa in repeated bursts as she rolled multiple times to evade them. The bullets zipping behind her were just millimeters from ending her life!

Lurching up, Lisa dashed as quickly as she could across the dam’s road towards the opposite side of the road. Then she jumped behind the wall on the other side of the dam road and the sounds of the turret shooting instantly stopped.

Lisa calmed herself and regained her breath as a wiry grin spread across her lips. "Well, now that I have the timing of the turret reactions memorized, let's take it out."

Lisa reappeared from behind the wall rolling like before, however, this time instead of running straight across the road, she charged at the Hummer. Bullets flew at her in angry hot bursts, but every time there was a pause in its fire rate, she changed direction zigzagging like a snake. Closing the distance in no time, she suddenly leapt high into the air above the turret.

The turret rotated upwards following the woman's erratic movements but by now it had quit shooting in bursts and resorted to automatic fire. Every shot trailed just behind her as she dropped like a meteor from the sky. Landing with a heavy clang on the turret's metal armor, her dull blackened katana embedded deep into the exposed armor she had shot off before. Giving her katana a quick twist upward she pried the turret off from the Hummer's roof! Bolts and electrical wiring screeched loudly as she completely tore the turret apart, fully disabling it!

Officer Hawkins was at first shocked seeing the speed and power of the attacking woman. Yet as soon as she was tearing apart the turret, he snapped out of his daze and yelled at his guards to shoot her. In the process, Hawkins also whipped out his pistol and took aim at her head.

"Pa-Zoom!"

The sound of a laser zipped past Lisa's cheek, much to close! She could feel the heat searing her cheek as it passed by her. Reflexively she let go of her katana’s handle and raised her arm up to cover her face. Immediately both of her prosthetic forearms mechanically opened and spread out to create a shield to defend her face!

"Ping-ting! Ping-ting!"

Laser projectiles streaked upwardly at her from the two guard's laser rifles, every shot intended to kill. Her arms were military grade metal armor and deflected every shot, save for one. The bullet slipped under her arms to strike her in the stomach! The force of its impact knocked her off the Hummer roof and she tumbled out of sight.

"Circle around and finish her off!" Hawkins ordered quickly. The two guards immediately circled each side of the vehicle with their guns ready.

As soon as Lisa had landed on the ground she looked down at her stomach. Smoke was rising from a blackened mark in her suit of which managed to absorb the laser. The spot hurt badly, and she was slightly winded too, but no blood showed. However, now was no time to rest for upon hearing the officer's command, she knew she had to act fast.

Crawling swiftly, Lisa scrambled towards the back of the Hummer and saw the feet of one of the guards moving towards her. As soon as the tip of his gun poked around the edge of the vehicle she attacked.

Lisa grabbed upwards at the gun barrel with her left hand and swung at his head with her right. Even though her power was greater, he still blocked the attack at the expense of nearly breaking his arm. He then countered with a knee aimed at her stomach, but she blocked it with her right hand. Stepping back the guard tried to pull his gun free to shoot, but she grabbed his arm, twisted upwards, and pulled the gun from his grasp.

At that moment, the other guard circled around behind her. He was unable to get a clear shot at her with the other guard so close. However, he took a chance shot at her legs but missed. Before things might get worse, Lisa grabbed the first guard's uniform and chucked him with unbelievable strength overhead at the second guard. Dumbstruck, the second guard was unable to dodge and the two collapsed into a pile against the dam's wall.

Then shouldering the stolen laser rifle, Lisa shot both soldiers right in their heads killing them instantly. She quickly turned and dashed around the Hummer to take aim at the lone Officer. Yet he was already waiting for her.

"Pow!"

Fortunately, he shot just a tad too soon and his laser deflected off the Hummer's side window. Lisa quickly ducked back behind the end of the Hummer and waited.

"I know you're ex-Military. That much I can tell." Officer Hawkins called out while keeping his aim on the Hummer’s rear. "What's your reason for betraying the AFR? Not that it matters anyway. We will reunite this land. Why can't you just submit?"

"I know you are stalling." Lisa called out. She could now just barely hear the blades of a helicopter approaching in the distance.

"Perceptive." Hawkins spoke aloud. "I'll find out who you are eventually. When I do, you are finished!"

In seconds, the helicopter had risen over the crest of the mountain behind the Officer. Lisa couldn't risk exposing herself to shoot at the Officer now or she would be immediately targeted by the helicopter's guns. The laser rifle she took wouldn't have the power to take down the military helicopter anyway. So, she decided to stay put, ready to run if she needed too.

The helicopter landed behind Officer Hawkins, tossing dust and bits of trash in every direction. Hawkins walked briskly backwards with his pistol raised and ready, before then climbing into the helicopter's side door as it slowly rose into the air.

Lisa sighed. She had let him escape and lost a chance to find out why the AFR was here. She stayed hidden until the sound of the retreating helicopter disappeared over the mountain.

Lisa then walked over to the open doors of the Hummer to loot it for anything of use. To her utmost surprise, the scanner was laying on the floorboard. She picked it up and found the officer had foolishly left the chip still inside. The blueprints were hers!

"Finally, a little luck has come my way." She chuckled to herself before continuing to search the Hummer's interior.

…

The rioters had surrounded the Marriott Hotel the Black Rats gang had been using as their main base. The rioters' numbers had risen from eighty people to roughly four hundred. The gangsters had barricaded the lobby and other exits, but they wouldn't hold for long.

Nathan Dees was leading the assault up at the front swinging an axe at the barricade. Others threw rocks and furniture parts to smash windows with the intent to get inside. Someone had found an oily rag, lit it on fire, tied it to a rock and chucked it into a second story window. It must have landed on something flammable, for soon smoke was billowing out of that window. The flames quickly spread too, as smoke had started coming out of another window moments later.

The encroaching mob was in an uproar now. Indiscriminate yelling and screams raged from the rioting below as the boss of the Black Rats looked on from a safe height along with only twenty-two other gang members.

Pulling his shotgun barrel back inside, one of the Black Rat's lieutenants, Terry, turned nervously to address the gang's boss, "Boss, what are we going to do? There are too many of them!"

The boss, Garret, a thickly muscled Germanic guy, grimaced as he spoke. "We're going to have to make a break for the boat dock and get onto our ship. We'll have to come back later to find out who is responsible and kill the b******."

Terry gulped nervously, “What about our loot? Won’t abandoning all that cash be a bad idea?”

Garret smirked, “These idiots will never find our stash.”

Garret then started to push his way through the gangsters clustered around the room. Then flinging open the door to the hallway, Garret turned around to look at them with an exasperated look, "Are you coming? Or are you waiting for an invitation?"

The gangsters were immediately broken out of their nervous state by Garret’s tough tone, and they all hurried into the hall. They headed down the winding staircase and into the back of the hotel where the number of protesters outside these locked doors weren't as numerous as by the front lobby.

"All right, you two, get ready to open the door. As for the rest of you," Garret said with a smug look on his face. "Get ready to fight!"

The men gave a half decent, nervous cheer to show they were ready to go. A couple of gangsters readied their guns while others gripped their hand-held weapons.

"Attack anyone in our way and head straight for the boat. Ready? Go!" Garret shouted as the doors were flung open.

The rioters were surprised for a moment when the doors swung open. But their surprise turned to fear once the gangsters came pouring out with guns firing and weapons swinging. The gangsters easily broke through the unexpecting rioters and quickly thumped down the wooden docks towards a large fifty-foot pleasure boat docked in the middle of the boating slips.

Someone from the rioters in the back quickly ran around to the front yelling that the gangsters were escaping. Nathan heard this and pointed his axe high yelling for the rest to give chase. The mob slowly moved in mass around the hotel. By then, however, it was too late.

The gangster's boat was already pulling out of the docks and onto the open river. The gangsters were waving their guns and throwing taunts at the people on shore. One even mooned at the people on the docks! One rioter tried chucking a rock at them, but it fell short, and the gangsters laughed wholeheartedly at the meager attempt.

Nathan grumbled aloud, "It's not over yet." Then turning towards the crowd, Nathan yelled as loud as he could. "This is our victory!! The cowards are running away!"

The mob cheered as they happily waved their random handheld weapons or whatever they had been using to riot with. Nathan, however, was not finished yet. He knew they had to stop the gangsters from regrouping.

"They might have escaped onto the river, but they have to land somewhere. So, some of us need to keep following them.” Nathan said before raising his axe high. “As for the rest of us, we know there are other Black Rats in town, let's get them!"

The mob cheered once again before starting to disperse down the roads and throughout the town. A few of the rioters stayed with Nathan. One tall scraggly man with a thick beard came up to him.

"You are the one that started this riot?" He asked with a gruff voice.

"I am." Nathan answered flatly.

"Well now you're our boss and have my support. We need someone who can stand up to those gangsters and unite this town." The old man said as two dozen others behind him also voiced their agreement. “Will you be that person?”

Nathan felt a twinge of excitement inside of him. “I will try my best, sir.”