Chapter 17 Unwanted company part 1
An ATV with the size of two trucks combined was doing 180 in one of the roads of the western quadrant of the capital getting pursued by a row of three hovercars with their purple magi-paint glittering like a mirage in the evening sun; three mages that were flying with the help of magical artifacts that were like the wings of a hawk ; tens of police cars were on it's tail trying to surround the ATV; but any unfortunate car that came in it's path was cut apart by a wedged ram in it's front bumper;— it's four turrets spewed slugs after slugs at that mages and the hovercars; and standing immovable like a statue in the ATV's roof was a man with a rail-gun firing everyone he wanted to blow up; while a transparent barrier kept blocking all of the spells, and slugs thrown at him from all sides.
The number of offenses this ATV had made were enough to send them in the Callinoux desert's hottest area to mine for the ebonice that this vehicle was made of; and was using it to shrug off all the magical spells and slew of slugs. But people inside the ATV either didn't realize their offenses which consisted of vandalism, wanton murder caused by a soft body coming in between the rubber wheels, and the asphalt, opening fire against the police, and owing a god-damn vehicle made up of illegal ebonice. Instead, the people inside ATV were having the day of their life.
Eligor was able finally loosen his joints after going underground, the imp manning the turrets was ecstatic about getting to blow stuffs up, and seth was hacking into the comms of the police to not get surrounded on all fronts, and co-coordinating with the other gangs to create as much chaos as they could.
But the one having the most fun was Ralph aka Raphael who was driving the prodigious ATV named "Hedgehog".
Raphael was one of the members of Eligor's gang, and there hadn't been anyone recruited after him; so,with the the gang having only five members he didn't need to flatter anyone to keep his position like the gangs he had joined before. He even liked the group's name; The Vandals. Not the best name, but still better than names of his ex-groups like, the Croods, timothy's foot and even the 'Pissants'.
Anyway, he was technically the newest member of the 'the vandals', and he knew he was also most useful member; he was a technomancer, driver, cook and everything that others weren't.
Raphael or Ralph as called by everyone in his group was having a time of his life, with most of his fantasy since joining Eligor's group becoming reality— drive a militarily grade ATV? Check, cause mayhem all over the freaking imperial capital of all places while driving a ATV during a god-damn monster invasion?check, then get chased around by the infamous imperial guardsmen? Double check. And somehow get away from those guards?
Well, that was still unchecked as their pursuers were a persistent bunch, and he would have probably lost them by now if not for the constant nagging of the imp.
The comm in the dash of the ATV blinked red and a voice was heard over the speakers; |imp to raph, do ya copy? Over.| Name the devil and he shall appear.
Ralph pinched the bridge of his nose and didn't reply; instead he focused on the roard even more. He had told the fucker to not use their names even when it was just a nickname.
|Raph, do ya copy? I repeat. Do you copy? One…two….three….four….Raph, do ya—| Finally having enough of it, Rapahel shouted on the comm, "I fucking copy! You bastard. What is it now? And you're eagle 4, I'm eagle 5. Repeat back.Over."
|Ah! Do yer magic Ra—eagle five! They're gon'a catch up!!! Over.| the imp replied with his annoying voice that sounded like two sand papers being grounded; and constant noise of the turrets, the return fire and the whining sound of the rail-gun charging wasn't making this less irritable.
"Shut yer trap, you impy bastard! I ain't got no magic to do. And don't contact me agian without any reason. OVER." Raphael shouted at the top of his lungs, and took a long puff from the cigarette in his mouth and focused on the road again.
"Uh, understood eagle five…Over and out." Raphael heard a click from the communicator, and he sighed in relief. That bastard has finally gone away. Raphael thought to himself.
"You don't mess with Ralph — Puit!" he spat on the floor and when he raise his eyes he was startled to see a building in-front. He then hurriedly swerved the ATV to the right, nearly crashed against the building and accelerated again.
-booooom!
Raphael heard a loud explosion from outside which was louder than the usual one when those guards attacked with their spells, but there was no damage to the ATV this time Raphael then hailed Seth, their scout for the time being. "Eagle five to Eagle two, do you copy? Over."
|Read you five-by, eagle five. Over.| Seth's voice over the comm; and Raphael heard some distant sound of explosion, firing of rail-guns, and a shit ton of cusses from that imp.
"What was the explosion? Need me to speed up? Over."
|One of the hovercars smashed into the building we just passed. Two hovercars and two mages remain. And What's our ETA to our target? Over|
Raphael checked the holo-map on the right side of windshield that showed a green dot moving forward in the route 14 of the western quadrant with a legend that read: HEDGEHOG; and another red dot that was far off on the map with a legend that read:
WESTERN QUADRANT WARPING STATION.(ETA: 15 mins)
"ETA fifteen minutes. I repeat. ETA fifteen minutes. Do you copy Eagle two?" Rapahel replied to Seth; but as soon as he focused on the road again; — a loug bang was heard; — then the hedgehog shook fiercely, it's tires skid on the road; and Raphael was able to barely make it stop.
|Eagle five, this is Eagle three. Give me the damage report if there are any. And speed up, we've got more company behind us. Do you copy? Over.| Eligor's calm voice without a hint of impatience was heard on the comm.
"I copy speed up. And no damage was done to the ATV. I repeat. No damage was done to the ATV. Over" Raphael replied while trying to control the ATV for it was trying to tumble down.
|Understood, Eagle five. Godspeed.Over and out.| the comm clicked again, and the indicator went off.
'Well, boss really becomes a different person when sober…' Raphael muttered with some amusement, and looked the ETA again and muttered, "Let's see how off this god-damn AI is."
Raphael had just said so when he came across an eternal traffic jam with the owners of the vehicles either dead or down in those bunkers; but Raphael just grinned, and accelerated the vehicle even more instead of slowing down; and enjoyed the sweet music of destruction made by the wedged ram of the hedgehog.
— — — —
It seems that the gods were with the vandals as they had actually reached their target around the time showed by the AI. And Raphael couldn't believe it even after seeing the warp gate from the distance. This was the intercontinental warp gate which was at least 200meters in height, and he had always been awed by the sheer size of the gate much less its aesthetics, which was like every sci-fi fantasy fan's wet dream. And the young Raphael had even jerked off thinking about the the warp-gate's anatomy…
'Ah…good old days,' Raphael thought in delight.
But a cold dread of doom caught hold of him after seeing the large array of hovercrafts flying around, and a god-damn group of S-rank mages that were chilling around the hovercrafts… And he couldn't even slow down as they were still being chased by the imperial guards.
"Eagle five to Eagle three. Do you copy?.Over." Raphael hailed Eligor in a weak voice eyeing the line-up in front of the warping station.
|Read you five-by, eagle two. Over.|
"we've reached the target. Awaiting further directives. I repeat. Awaiting further directives.Over."
'slow down for now, our company will be with use very soon. Initiate code:marie. I repeat. Initiate code:marie. Do you copy?.Over| Eligor replied in a casual as if they weren't going straight to their doom.
"I copy code:marie. But who'll be the company this time?Over." Raphael replied with slight impatience. ATV was going to reach the warping station.
|Eagle five this is Pinkie.Take a left, and stay between the two building without cutting the engines, and tell me your spatial co-ordinates. Do you copy? Over.| However, a different voice spoke on comm this time—; a voice that Raphael recognized, and dreaded even more than the imperial guards that they were going to face.
'Why does it have to be the lunatic of all people?' Raphael thought to himself, but he obediently followed the directives, and relayed their spatial co-ordinates in the comm to this, 'Pinkie'.
|Don't get startled|
"What…?" Raphael had just finished his sentence when he suddenly felt a strong spiritual pressure behind him, and he nearly leaped from his seat when he turned around to notice a tall woman wearing a black cloak over a navy blue suit, but what spooked him other than the sudden appearance of this woman was her cold blue eyes that were the only thing that wasn't covered by her mask.
Those eyes made him feel like a bug— small and inconsequential compared to her existence…
"Nice, ride you've got here." The woman said while looking around the cockpit with twinkling eyes as if the cold look from before was just a mirage, and Raphael shivered like the the temperature inside the cockpit wasn't forty five in Celcius.
Raphael just sat still;— frozen due to the woman's terrifying spiritual pressure that was contrasting against her honeyed voice that even her mask couldn't hide.
"Hey, stop staring, and start driving, someone's on our tail." Raphael heard another voice behind the woman, and saw a face that terrified him even more than the woman
The dreaded devil for all the criminals like him, the Nightwalker Charlie Underwood; Raphael had at least worked with the woman before and knew that she wouldn't kill someone without reason; but the devil was like an automaton; — incapable of feeling sympathy when murdering someone like him.
'Why the fuck is he here…?' Raphael thought to himself while gulping audibly.