Dark Arrow Ch. 08

His eyes swept over her and on up the stairs before snapping back to her. They went wide in alarm as they registered the threat, and she grinned as she depressed the trigger. The sizzle of the plasma bolt cut through the stairwell and the man dropped.

A smoking hole cored through the middle of his head as blood and brain mater spilled out and the corpse collapsed back into those behind him. In rapid fire she sent six bolts into and through the corpse hearing screams and moans as they struck living flesh. Cursing filled the stairwell and shots rang out in answer.

Unfortunately for them she was behind an angle and while she winced and almost ducked as the rounds ricocheted past her she held her ground.

The cursing intensified below her and she heard barked orders to form a firing line and hold the target there.

Smiling she reached for her belt. These men weren't using shields so she selected one of the two M81 grenades she'd attached to her suit. Pressing the triggering button, she lobbed the grenade off the wall, angling it to fall down to the landing below and chuckling to herself.

"Merry Christmas boys," she called as a sudden gout of flame shot out of the stairwell. Screams echoed for a split second followed by sudden and nearly deafening silence. In the silence she pressed forward. Four bodies lay on the stairs charred and smoking. The plasma riddled body of the first man had mild burns on one side but had been close enough to her to avoid the main fury of the incendiary.

Five men down. She considered for a moment how many they were likely to have. If she had to guess she'd wager a security force of 20 men for a place this size. Ren had told her that when he was part of the Advocacy's elite unit there were ten operators on the unit. She doubted they had expanded the unit much though she was certain they had replaced Ren quickly. All told she'd estimate 30 hostiles in the building.

However, the car crash was going to draw police attention. She'd wager that most would wait for a concerted attack on the tower to be organized rather than risk their lives since they had to know the Advocacy would use them as bullet sponges.

Still to be safe she estimated another Twenty hostiles from police or extra security forces in the building. All told there should be around Fifty targets give or take.

Five down, forty-five to go. She took a breath, smelling the acrid scent of burned flesh and pressed on down the stairs. Her element of surprise was gone now. As she went she now dug in the bag and placed a breaching charge every two levels. Whether she lived through this or not between the charges outside and the ones she was placing inside this tower was coming down. She'd take anyone inside with her when she went.

It was another five floors before she encountered anything else. As she rounded a corner a sudden bloom of light blinded her. Cursing she drew back grabbing a grenade from her belt at random she felt for the corner of the stairs. Pressing the trigger she hucked the grenade around the corner and backed away as she struggled to clear her vision.

The HUD had darkened automatically in an attempt to preserve as much eyesight as possible but she was still seeing spots.

Cursing came form the stair and she retreated further as they scrambled away from the grenade.

The explosion shook the stairway and she used the noise to cover her rushing back forward. As she rounded the corner she saw a cluster of men and depressed the trigger holding it down as bolt after bolt flashed from the rifle. Screams and curses rent the air as she dodged down the steps weaving from left to right as she advanced.

The men stumbled over themselves as they tried to get into position to counter her rush. Several went down with holes through their chest and return fire was sporadic as best as she pushed forward, but suddenly that changed. Answering fire peppered the wall around her and more than one round impacted on her shield that flared to life along with warnings flashing across the HUD.

Two men moved up the stairs with lethal efficiency as they poured pinpoint accurate fire after her forcing her to rapidly retreat. She cursed under her breath as she scrambled back to attain a defensible position. Taking stock as she paused she found the shield had held but she didn't want to chance it under that kind of accurate and sustained fire.

"We need EMP's up here." She heard the barked order from one of the new men. She hissed an angry breath through her teeth and considered her options.

"Whoever this is they have a god damn suit of armor. I'd swear it was army scout issue. Shield held through a full clip from me and Boomer," the man continued. She growled low in her throat as she contemplated the stairs and her options.

Finally, she smiled. The shields on the armor would hold through the fire of one of the incendiaries, though not if she was caught in the initial explosion. Still the flames were distracting.

"Well if this is her she's a damn sight better than we expected. This doesn't feel like some god damn deer hunter here, it feels like another fucking operator." The anger in that comment brought a savage thrill to her. They were expecting her, but they clearly had no clue what exactly she was capable of. Grabbing the other M81 off her belt she dropped the bags which had now been riddled with bullets after retrieving two M35's in her left hand. She could hear rapid footsteps coming up the stairs from down below.

Taking a quick steadying breath, she pressed and held the button on the M81 as she rushed forward towards the stairs. Tossing it swiftly around the corner she gripped an M35 in each hand and waited a heartbeat.

The explosion was much louder being just around the corner from the grenade and the flames licked around her. Rushing into the open she hit the triggers on both M35's and launched them as far down the stairs as possible hearing them clang off the walls and bounce further down.

Landing she saw the two men still standing as they shielded their eyes. With a growl she realized they had shields as well though they weren't in armor. Drawing her knife, she went in swiftly, ramming her blade into the base of the skull of her closest target. The startled gurgle as she leapt past ripping the knife out as she went let her know she'd hit her mark even before the man crumpled to the ground.

The explosions of the two grenades she'd thrown resounded further down the stairs and shook the stairwell and then there was a split second of silence and calm.

"Henderson," the remaining man yelled suddenly, startled and angry as she closed with him. He drew his own knife and with a growl he rushed her. She met his charge with a snarl of her own. Blocking his arm down she stepped past slamming her knife into his shoulder as she passed slashing through to the bone. He cried out in shock and pain and after a quick check of his movement swapped his knife to the other hand. Coming at her left handed gave her the advantage but with a sneer she swapped hands as well.

Angry and still confident in his abilities the man Henderson had referred to as Boomer rushed her again. Swinging weakly and wildly at her with his injured right arm. She saw the blow coming and would have moved to block it, except that the real danger came from the follow up strike with the knife he was already aiming at her. He'd counted on her evading the punch. Instead she set her feet and took the blow, deflecting the knife hand out and away from her as she did so.

Despite being prepared for the hit and the injury to the arm, the punch still rocked her back a bit. It wasn't enough though as she brought her own knife up and across his throat. She watched as shock, anger, fear, and regret flashed through his eyes as his breath hissed out the wound she'd opened. Gurgling with the blood flowing from the severed veins he fell to his knees. Holding his knife well away from her she leaned down next to him.

"That's for Ren," she whispered coldly in his ear as he collapsed. Wiping her knife on his cloths she straightened up and sheathed it. Taking stock of the area she let out a ragged breath. All told she counted seventeen bodies scattered along the two floor landings where the engagement had occurred.

Fifteen regular security members lay in various poses where the blast and flames had scattered them. The other two were clearly better trained and much more deadly. She had little doubt they had been members of Ren's old unit.

While a part of her gloated at the relative ease with which she'd taken these two down a larger portion urged caution.

She'd had the element of surprise in her armor and it's shields as well as the element of surprise emerging from the flames of the grenade to kill one of them. The second had simply underestimated her, and paid the price for doing so. Still with two of their own down she knew the rest would be taking no chances. Retracing her steps, she retrieved the bag with the explosives and continued as quickly as possible down the stairs placing charges as she went.

Four floors down she ran across another five-man group of security personnel and a single struggling survivor in tactical gear. The dual detonation of the M35 frags she'd thrown down the stairs had shredded the men, but the survivor she'd have to guess was from Ren's group and was struggling to make it back down the stairs with a torn up leg and multiple lacerations. He leaned against the wall and trained his side arm on her as she appeared around the corner of the stairwell.

"I guess the force of two grenades was more than your shields could handle," she said in a soft menacing voice as she stepped fully into view. He let out a pained grunt as they eyed eachother.

"They know you're coming," he said acidly. "You won't catch any more of us off guard like you did Boomer and Henderson, and you won't get lucky with every grenade you throw like you did with me." She nodded her head slowly.

"I know," she said quietly, letting the bag drop from her shoulders and squaring her stance. His breath hissed through his teeth as he saw the shift in stance. Gun fire erupted as he fired wildly at her. Three shots pinged off her shields as she dropped into a crouch. She snapped her weapon up and pulled the trigger but only heard an answering click.

With a muttered curse she dodged to the side as more rounds hailed down on her. Drawing her knife in a smooth motion she flung it hard. Pinning his wrist with it and wrenching a cry from him as the pistol dropped from his hand.

Rising from her crouch she rushed him, body checking him into the wall and throwing him to the ground.

With a scream of rage, she ripped the knife from his arm and rammed it hard into his chest. She saw the shock and then a split second latter the acceptance as the air rushed out of his collapsing lung.

"Were you the one they sent to kill my father," she spat in his face seeing his eyes turn to hers. "Did you know he had a family? Did you know Ren had friends, a lover even? Did you ever even care?" She saw the arrogance flash once more through his eyes as his body started to spasm beneath her.

"Yeah, I didn't think you'd care," she hissed. "Well guess what, I don't care if there's anyone left to miss you either. You picked your side and you picked this fight. Too bad you weren't strong enough to see it through," she growled and drove the knife deeper causing another spasm to pass through him.

"This is way too quick and clean for you! When you get to hell tell them the Reaper said to expect more." With that she ripped the blade out, twisting as she pulled and hearing the rush of air as the lungs collapsed completely.

It took a moment, but she kept him pinned until the light died from his eyes and the body went completely limp.

Wiping the blood from the knife again, she put it away. She rose from the floor and strode over to pick up the bag of explosives. She'd expected to feel something afterwards, but strangely she didn't. She didn't even feel numb. If anything she felt almost exhilaration at having another of her targets dead and still being relatively unscathed

She looked over the plasma rifle closely, turning in her hands and uttered a curse as she noticed the warped portion of the barrel right over the charging handle. The continuous fire had fused the barrel of the gun rendering it inoperable. With a snort of disgust, she tossed the gun away. She had ten floors left to the ground floor. Fifteen of the men down four grenades used and she was now down one of her rifles.

On the bright side she was still uninjured. Her shield had recovered a bit from the beating it took and the armor was intact. All in all this could be a lot worse.

She'd managed to take out three of the men from Ren's group and she was still standing. With a feral grin she slung the magnum up and advanced with it in a firing position. Ten floors twelve bodies, unless the police had already arrived which she doubted.

The stairs were quiet. Knowing that she was coming she had no doubt the men were making preparations to receive her rather than planning to come after her. The three groups she'd encountered so far were meant to test her abilities and wear her down.

They'd save the remaining security most likely to use as fodder against her where ever they made their next stand. Given the layout and how she'd been moving she'd hazard a guess that they would set up in the lobby.

That would give them the best opportunity to spread out and focus fire on her without her being able to cluster them for explosives and force her to deal with multiple angles of engagement. She swore softly under her breath.

That kind of approach would overwhelm the shield on her armor and leave her open to whatever they wanted to throw at her.

As she worked her way down the stairs she contemplated her options. She paused at every sound clearing the corners slowly and carefully and advancing rapidly only over space she had already checked. Six floors went by without incident and she started to feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. They knew she was coming, and they had to be fairly confident they were prepared for her or they'd be doing something to slow her down.

Clenching her teeth, she fought for a moment over her options. Ideally she'd slow down and wait them out with skirmish tactics. Unfortunately, she was time constrained. They would have reinforcements on the way. If she didn't punch through whatever they had waiting for her this was all wasted with the exception of taking a few replaceable men out of the equation. Finally, she rounded the corner on the second floor and faced the landing and doorway to the lobby.

"Good evening my dear." A dark voice echoed through the stairwell as she approached the door. She jumped back in alarm, flattening herself against the wall and gripping the shotgun tightly. A chuckle resounded at that and glancing up she noticed a speaker above the door and a slightly shinny portion of the wall next to it.

Cursing she realized that the landing at least had video monitoring. Glancing around she noted four other spots giving them a full 360 view of the stairwell.

"Very good, I'm impressed," the voice echoed again. "It's not everyone that can spot those concealed cameras." She glowered behind her helmet as she contemplated her potential options. "The coms line is two-way my dear. Why don't we talk out our little problem here before we start exchanging fire again hmmm?"

Despite her reluctance Erillia paused and finally sighed. They knew who she was already and where she was. Letting them hear her voice wasn't going to change anything at this point. Soon enough either she'd be dead or they would. In the end a little chat now wasn't going to change the outcome here.

"Nothing to talk about. You've got something that belongs to me. Give me what's mine and let me leave with him intact and no one else has to die here today." The laugh that echoed through the stairs held genuine mirth in it and continued far too long for her liking.

"I'll admit you've taken down far more men than I expected. I certainly never expected you to take out three of our operators and honestly I didn't expect you to make it through more than a handful of the security force. Still, you have to know that he's a loose cannon and not a liability we can allow. You however are something special. Your story doesn't have to end here my dear."

"Oh really?" she smirked. "The Granddaughter of Roman DeGraw isn't more of a threat to you than a lowly operative? Especially when she may or may not be of the Emperor's own blood? In fact, wouldn't that mean you answer to me as well since I'd be the oldest and next in line for command?"

There was a deafening silence for a moment and she heard muffled outbursts behind the wall. She smiled to herself and let out a dark chuckle of her own.

"I take it not everyone here knew what this mission was about," she said smoothly.

"Those that needed to know knew," the voice snapped back. Finally, with a sigh so forced she could picture the person regaining their composure, the voice continued. "Very well so we're speaking plainly. You're right to assume you are too dangerous to be allowed to leave here free."

"No shit," she chuckled.

"Never the less," the voice continued, "I was authorized to extend certain lee ways to you. Had you been unaware of your station I would have brought you in as an agent and seen you stashed away somewhere or killed on a mission. You'd have been a hero," He said dramatically before pausing.

"I'll pass," she said darkly.

"Yes so it seems. Given that you know who and what you are that leaves me much more limited. I can offer you a life of imprisonment, though I can't promise what the conditions and treatment would be. We can shoot it out and you can die in agony. Or if you prefer I can grant you a last moment with Renald and a swift and painless end."

"And what would you say in my position," she ground out. There was silence for a moment and then a small chuckle.

"Sticking my offers where the sun doesn't shine, as you'd suggest." With a snarl she brought the magnum up and fired three times destroying the cameras in front of her before whirling and taking aim she shot out the last two.

Damned right she'd tell him to shove his offer. Even as enticing as the thought of seeing Ren again was it was better to fall trying to reach him if she couldn't succeed than to surrender. Falling back and she aimed at the door and waited to see what they would do. After a moment the speaker crackled to life again.

"For what it's worth," the voice said. "You've been a worthy adversary, and I do truly regret that we've found ourselves on opposite sides. I can see what Ren saw in you." She'd heard enough. Swallowing hard she took aim and obliterated the speaker with another plasma blast.

As the silence descended again she struggled to keep her breathing under control. The situation had devolved into a situation where if given any other option she'd walk away and come back another day.

Unfortunately, they'd increase security to the point that another attempt would be impossible. If she left here she'd have to accept that Ren was lost and she was on the run for the rest of her life. She shook her head. She'd known going in she wasn't likely to survive this and if she was honest she'd made it farther than she expected. All that was left was to play her hand and see what fate had in store for her.

Calling up a display of the main lobby on her HUD she studied the floor play for a second. It was a shooting gallery. A wide open space nearly 30 meters across. She'd wager a great deal that they'd removed any form of cover from this side of the lobby and built barricades to prevent her rushing across and into the far stairwell.