The Fractured Empire: A Tale of Downfall

Chapter 60

We continued our high-speed pursuit for what felt like an eternity: the methodic gunshots from Alannah's rifle brought me some solace, but not much. Peering into a side-view mirror, I watched another hover craft veer off to the side and hit a nearby building after Alex managed to shoot out the windshield.

"Smart move, son," I said through comms.

"Hey, I'm not a marksman like you. I'd love to nail our targets in the head, but that's not gonna happen."

"As long as you take care of our friends, I'm happy."

"Fair enough," he replied, only to curse and fire off several more rounds, "Let that serve as a warning, you cocksucker!"

Sighing to myself, I turned to address Boreas. "Any updates I need to know about?"

"Our target appears to be heading back to the military district. I suggest we take out Miss Lawson's vehicle before that happens–I'd rather not deal with a wall of pissed off Federation soldiers."

"Good point," I grumbled, shaking my head in disbelief. Am I really considering doing this? Eh, fuck it. I've done crazier shit, "When we catch up with our target, be prepared to take control of the bus."

"Why?"

"Just be prepared, Boreas."

"I don't like this..."

Neither do I. "Trust me, dude."

"Alright...don't make me regret this."

"You won't." If anyone will regret this, it'll be me.

I returned my focus to pushing our ride to its limits: Slowly but surely, we managed to catch up with our target. When I got closer, I forced the hover bus to go higher once again. The instant I spotted the immaculate limo, I mashed on the gas for the hundredth time today.

Before I knew it, we were above the limo. To my relief, I noticed there was a glass sun roof on top of the vehicle. Perfect.

"Alright, excuse me real quick," I said.

"Wh–?"

Before Boreas could say anything else, I punched a button on the dashboard that opened the doors. With a leaping vault and a silent prayer, I fell toward the limo. Fuck, I left my combat rifle behind. Oh well.

Drawing my handgun, I shot at the sun roof in an attempt to weaken it. Rather than bouncing off the sun roof like a ragdoll, my ballsy plan worked: in a shower of glass, I broke through the roof and immediately deployed my hidden blade. 

"Alex will never let you live this down," Vi'karac pointed out as I buried my blade into a Federation soldier's neck, "You always told him theatrics would get him killed, and look what you do."

I wasn't going to ram the bus into our target–that wouldn't have ended well for either party. I countered, raising my pistol and peppering another soldier with lead. Besides, I know what I'm doing.

"Uh huh..."

Given the cramped confines of my current surroundings,  I had to make each shot count: since I had already taken out two guards, it appeared only Lawson and another soldier were left in the main cabin. I was only able to mow down the last guard before my target tried to fight me off.

In a surprising turn of events, Lawson charged forward and attempted to wrest my handgun away from me. I managed to maintain a firm grip on my firearm, but my target was crafty.

With a grunt of surprise, I cringed as Lawson managed to twist my wrist to the left. Seeing as how my handgun was pointed toward the driver's cabin, I decided to wrap up this little game.