Killers and Trivialities

Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - Skirmish

We all were tryinng to go outside the dorm in a visible rush. Some of us, namely Bryan and Darren, were excited, as shown on their smiles; you know, the kind of smile that aggresive people get in an adrenaline rush. Of course, not all of us shared the same kind of sentiment the other two had. Iris still looked quite stressed with all the things happening a bit too fast, and Gary never really changed his facial expression at all since early morning. As for Zia, she looked a bit worried, maybe even more than I was. What exactly are you playing at now, Diarmuid? 

Each of the investigators were storming out in sequential order, holding our railguns like a cop would, and then Bryan and Darren, who were running quite fast, flashed their shoulders, then rammed the door, which was already unlocked in the first place. I was the next one to run outside. I saw Mr. Arlen, who was lying near a bench, knocked out. That’s when I knew that something was definitely wrong. There weren’t any guards that I could see that were patrolling the school, and judging by Iris’ shocked expression, things weren’t going to get any better.

I aimed my railgun at Mr. Arlen, which immediately activated it. A holo-display appeared above the railgun’s iron sights, which read a bright "OKAY" I continued to aim it at him, and another message from the holo-display appeared. "Target: Finn Arlen Status: Incapacitated". Well, he’s not dead, at least. But who could have done this?

The others started to activate their own railguns. Unlike the rest of us, Gary was using an old handgun. It looked like a Desert Eagle, but I wasn’t really sure. I’m not exactly a firearms expert. On a side note, how did he get a weapon like that?

Iris was just a civilian, so she remained unarmed.

Considering our current situation, sitting around on our asses wouldn’t be such a good idea. "Everyone, here’s the plan."

"We’re listening." Darren replied

We split into two groups: A and B. Team A had Darren, Zia, and myself, while Team B had Bryan, Gary, and, due to her constant and irritating requests, Iris. The plan was to flank the investigations building from both sides, and then corner the suspect. We all had radio earpieces for communication, in case something unexpectedly inconvenient happened.

I told everyone not to run and conserve their energy, since the murderer will probably expect a fight. So we walked. Once we split up and neither of the two groups could see each other, I spoke through my earpiece. "My earpiece seems to be okay. Is everything okay at your end?"

"Yes, our transmissions are crystal clear." It was the first time I heard Gary’s voice. It was appopriately low and rich for a tall, bald bodyguard guy.

"Good. Be sure to report anything strange or suspicious you see."

"Will do." He replied, and then ended the transmission.

Our group continued walking, all of us too serious to break the silence. After a while, we reached the school’s courtyard-quadrangle area, and then Zia stopped walking and asked me something. "Jaden, are you hiding something from us? We’re not even a hundred percent sure that the killer is even in this school, but you borderline forced us to go capture her anyway! We didn’t even stop to consider who DRMD is! Or is it because you already knew he was? You had a terrified expression when you saw that message! You’re usually so calm, but right now you look like the you’re fighting for your life! This isn’t like you at all!"

"..." It... It wasn’t a question I wanted to answer.

"Jaden, please!" She took a step near me. "I... I’m worried about you!" She was about to cry, but she attempted to fight her tears back.

I tried to calm her down as best I could, all but answering her question. "You don’t have to worry about me. With all that’s happening right now, you’ll probably know the answer soon enough. Please, just trust me."

She looked away from me. "...Okay. I will. Just promise me.. That you won’t turn your back on us no matter what happens. Don’t do the same thing my father did!"

"I promise." I smiled to reassure her. "Come on, lets go."

We continued walking, and Darren whispered at me. "I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but leave my sister out of the trouble. She’s the only family I have left."

"Don’t worry. I wouldn’t dare get her hurt."

We were a few hundred meters away from the investigations building, and I could see a tall figure. It was a young man, probably in his 20s. He was wearing a military assassin’s uniform, the kind that only the elite of their kind wear. He wasn’t very far away from us, and what was especially troubling about that moment was that he was aiming his railgun at us. Even worse, it started beeping.

"SHIT!" My cussing seemed to have activated my adrenal glands to start panicking. I ran to the side, trying not to get shot by the blast of lightning. Zia and Darren did the same.

As soon as I gained balance, I aimed at the mysterious assailant. "Target not found" What the hell?! He doesn’t exist?!

The man aimed at me, wearing a cold expression that was devoid of emotion. His railgun was a standard (but still entirely deadly) military railgun. With his apparent nonexistense, it makes me wonder where he got it.

The railgun beeped again, and I immediately responded with an evading roll to the right. The blast left a whole on one of the quadrangle’s trees.

"RAHHH!" I screamed, in an attempt to distract the assailant. I aimed my railgun at him and activated "Incapacitator Mode"

Let me explain a little bit about railguns and whats they are.

Plasma Discharge Firing Arm, inappropriately nicknamed as "railguns", are powerful weapons that practically shoots out a blast of lightning on a certain target. They virtually have infinite ammunition, and only require charging every other month or so. The railgun I’m using, the Vires, is a special kind of railgun designed for the police force. It has two firing modes, Incapacitator and Elimination. Incapacitator Mode is the primary mode, which only paralyzes a target non-lethaly. The Elimination Mode, which should only used in special instances, does what it’s name implies. It eliminates a target by firing a blast of lightning, similar to a military railgun.

The Vires’ holo-display displayed a message. "Incapacitator Mode is now ready. Please fire with caution."

I tried to fire at him as soon as I could pull the trigger. He dodged to the side like it was nothing.

"Damn it! He’s fast!" I muttered. Zia and Darren continued to fire, but all of their attempts were made useless by the man’s improbable ninja moves.

"Hmph" The man muttered as we tried to aim at him. He threw his railgun aside, and ran to Darren’s direction, swift as a bullet.

The mysterious man jumped and kicked Darren in the face. Well, at least he tried to. Darren was a capable fighter, and he blocked the attack. The man continued to attack him when he was on the ground with a leg sweep, sending Darren to the ground, and made the man vurnerable for a while. It gave me a crying chance.

"Take this!" I fired a non-lethal shot, which landed on the man’s neck. He fell to the ground, unconscious and useless. He should probably stay that way for a day or two, since he was shot on the neck.

I walked to Darren and gave him a hand. "Who is that guy?" Darren asked me, grabbing my hand.

"I honestly don’t know, but I’m not gonna sit around to find out. Let’s go."