Katawa Shoujo Forums

Into the breach, once more! Into the Breach! WAAAAAGGHHH!!!

I need to stop listening to Sabaton metal when I write.

Previous Chapter

Part Three: Infiltration


I didn’t have much time to examine the inside of the sanctuary as I ducked to my right to take cover behind a concrete bench, Kenji right behind me. Along the way I fired a burst of rifle fire at some soldiers whom the grenades had missed. The bench didn’t provide us much cover, but between the grenades and our quick rifle fire- Kenji had managed to take out the soldiers on the ladders while I was heading for the bench- we had cleared the sanctuary’s courtyard. I took a quick look around. The inside matched the blueprint Kenji had made. A couple of concrete benches, a couple of rock gardens, a lot of open space, and the small wooden doors that led to the old sleeping quarters, meditation room, and the basement.

The sleeping quarters were barracks for half the security force, the half we had just shot, most likely. The meditation room had been kept the same, except they added an elevator for the heavier equipment. Everything we wanted was in the basement, in a layout similar to the server farm we had assaulted several months earlier. We made our way toward the basement door to our far left. We went prone on the ground when the basement door flew open in front of us.
They definitely knew we were here. This bunch was more hunkered in then the last group we had faced, and more prepared, too. We had managed to get through their first line of defense through sheer surprise and shock value. Both advantages were lost now, so we would have to be careful as we continued on.

As the door opened I expected more grenades, so I rolled left while Kenji rolled right. I heard the clatter and saw the flashbangs as they rolled toward us. Kenji dove for them while I took potshots at the doorway. He tossed the two back and they exploded halfway there. He reeled back from that while I kept up a steady covering fire, making sure to time my shots. The rifle had a decent recharge rate, but if I overheated it the thing would be a club for at least an hour. Rather then risk giving up their cover, the defenders tossed a few more flashbangs. I tossed a grenade of my own as Kenji scuttled behind another concrete bench. On it’s own it was pretty lousy cover, but thanks to its distance from the door, they would have to step out to shoot us, and I intended to shoot first. So far, between their grenade spam and my suppressive fire, they hadn’t really been able to pour on the incoming fire at us. Yet.

“You okay?” I asked Kenji as I rolled up behind his bench, a few bullets digging into the dirt at where I had been before.

“Yeah. Man, I don’t want to burst your bubble, but I think they know we’re here.”

“It would seem that way,” I said, firing my rifle again, “so how do we get past the front door?”

“Same way we did in Kyoto.”

I groaned, “fine, just don’t shoot me this time.”

“I said I was sorry!”

I checked my heart and gave it a moment to calm down while Kenji covered me. Once I was convinced I was ready, I darted to the left and up against the wall the basement door was attached to. Kenji kept a slow paced but steady suppressive fire on the door while I moved along the wall toward the basement door. I slung my rifle over my shoulder and pulled out my pistol. Kenji was far enough from the door that they couldn’t hit him, but he couldn’t hit them, so when I got close to the door I slid away from the wall and fired my Tesla into the threshold. I saw two men go down, so I had the power setting right. Kenji stumbled and ran to the right side of the door, firing and hitting someone on the way. When he hit the wall he tossed a grenade into the waiting doorway.

“This is going well, don’t you think?” he asked.

I rolled me eyes, “yeah, terrific.”

When the grenade fizzled out I poked my head into the doorway. I saw a white hall, a series of round light fixtures, and the beginnings of a wide metal stairway that led down. The stairway seemed a bit wide and high, but I didn’t pay that much mind. In total, there was six downed Illuminati soldiers in the room, their body armor and clothing white or light gray. I told Kenji it was clear, and we entered the stairway.

Not even in the front door and we were already out half our grenades. The white metal door at the bottom of the stairway was wide and tall, and annoyingly locked and sealed.

“Got any more C-4?” I asked.

Kenji smiled, “you bet your degree I do.”


Kenji laughed and slapped a small pack of explosive to the large door bolt. I started heaving myself up the stairs while he hit the button and ran after me. When we were just outside the door the explosive went off. Kenji had managed to take door opening to an art form. An explosive, destructive art form that ruined property values and revoked security deposits. Kenji tossed one of his pilfered grenades down the now exposed hallway while I readied my rifle again. I quickly checked the small readout on the left side: I had seventeen shots.

“Remember the layout?” Kenji asked.

“Eight rooms, four on each side, we want the third door on the left.”

Kenji smiled and nodded, “ready?”

“For the Imperium,” I chanted, walking down the stairs and sliding next to the remains of the door. On the way I saw another fire team of men, these wearing more business-like attire under their body armor. The base had roughly fifty personnel, with about a third of that full time security. All of them were trained in combat, of course, but the soldiers were our main threat- they were the ones who would die for the Cause. The pencil pushers and techies might stay out of our way if we shot at them enough. We weren’t counting on it, though.

In addition to the four men, the two nearest doors to us were open, and I could barely see someone behind each one with what I presumed to be a high powered rifle. They were slightly in front of the fire team, so the open doors were providing cover for all six. Again, the walls were higher and wider than seemed defensibly sound or structurally economic for hollowing out a hill. I had wondered a bit about that from the blueprints, but seeing it made me wonder more. Naturally, at the end of the hall, in big bright green paint, was the Illuminati symbol on the wall.

“So now what?” I asked Kenji as he crouched behind me, firing his rifle at the six defenders. He managed to hit one after several shots, so I took over for him.

“What else, keep shooting,” he said as I picked off two more. The remaining three retreated into the rooms, closing the doors behind them. That was a problem, since the moment we got close they’d slam the door in our face. Kenji’s contingency plan for that was risky, but so was leaving our cover. He figured if one of us rushed for our target while the other stayed put, the defenders might be confused long enough to give him time to blast open the door we needed. To help with that, Kenji had brought two smoke grenades. He slung his rifle onto his back as he pulled one out, preparing to ready and throw it.

“Say the word, man,” he said.

I mentally sighed- this was the single most dangerous part of his contingency plan, and the one most likely to get us killed. Apologizing profusely to my wife and children, I readied my rifle and gave him the go signal. He tossed the grenade, pulled out his pistol and waited. Once the smoke started to pour out, he ran for it. I adjusted my position and fired as the two doors swung open, managing to hit the guy on the left before he could open fire. The one on the right turned from Kenji to me, firing a shot just after I resumed my cover. I heard Kenji fire his Tesla as he passed the second doors- the hardest part of his dash for the third door. I moved forward and fired rapidly, eventually hitting the man on the right with my barrage of blue electrical bursts.

It used up a lot of my shots, but it got me to the second open door. Anyone who was defending that room- the radar station and recording room- was staying inside. I fired at the two open doors, or what I thought was open- the smoke was pretty bad here, and if it wasn’t for the masks built into our outfits, my lungs would be ragged and I’d be on the floor. When a rifle shot hit by my right ear I ducked and fired a few shots. Finally I heard the door explode- I hoped. Not being able to see my partner’s actions was seriously disconcerting. I slung my rifle and pulled out my pistol to fire a shot at what I hoped was something. As the smoke started to clear I saw that the second doors were closed. No one was in the hall, and I started to relax a little.

This plan had a few holes and hopes in it, and one of them was that the Illuminati would institute a room-by-room defensive measure, sealing the doors and hunkering down for a mass assault. When they realized we were the assault, we’d be screwed, but by then we were supposed to be on the way out. With most of the security already taken out, this plan looked like it had a snowball’s chance in hell of working.

I made my way to the room Kenji had entered and peered inside. Half a dozen men in white dress casual attire were laying around unconscious. Kenji was sitting in a brown rolling chair, his face a few inches from a computer monitor as thumb drives were scattered wherever he could put them. When he heard me he bolted up and aimed his Tesla at me.

“Honeymuffin!” I said. He lowered the Tesla and sat back down. I took a few steps forward and turned around to watch the door, my rifle ready as I huddled almost under a nearby desk.

“I still can’t believe they have USB ports,” I said.

“They’re too useful to not use entirely,” Kenji said, “I mean, they’ll have worms and shit on them, but I prepared for that months ago. How was the trip here?”

I smiled behind my mask, “you were right, they’ve gone to ground in the rooms. When they figure out we’re the only ones here- which they probably will about now- we’re going to have a hard fight ahead.”

“How’s your heart?”

“Fine so far. Better then Kyoto.”

Kenji sighed, “give me… five minutes and we can get out of here.”

After that all we had to do was fight our way out of an Illuminati listening post, run down a hill with them after us, and wait in the forest and jungles of Thailand for a helicopter to pick us up. What could possibly go wrong?

+++

Next Chapter

Oh, Hisao, why do you tempt me so?

Obviously he’s being sarcastic.

Another good post, keep up the great work.

Tormound wrote:Another good post, keep up the great work.

Danke. Will do

Again, the walls were higher and wider then seemed defensibly sound or structurally economic for hollowing out a hill.

Splat.

He tossed the grenade and pulled out his pistol and waited.

This may be personal preference, but that first 'and' should be a comma instead.

Once the smoke started to pore out, he ran for it.

That's the holes in your skin kind, not the flowing matter kind - you mean 'pour'.

With most of the security already taken out, this plan looked like it had a snowball’s chance in hell of working.

I'm confused. Does that mean the plan has almost no chance of working because there's hardly any security left? That's paradoxical, isn't it?
----------------------------
I almost forgot to say, 'good chapter'.

Kind of was going to read it a lot earlier today, but I've had a headache for a few days they won't go away; and when I found it had been posted, I was in no mood to stay upright, never mind read.

Edits attended to. Thank you as always. You know, if Summer Glau can fit under my desk, their might be some room for you as well

Helbereth wrote: I'm confused. Does that mean the plan has almost no chance of working because there's hardly any security left? That's paradoxical, isn't it?

I figure he's being cautiously optimistic while at the same remaining cynically pragmatic.

Or I though it sounded good and didn't think too much about what the gorram saying actually meant. Your choice

I almost forgot to say, 'good chapter'.

Thanks

Kind of was going to read it a lot earlier today, but I've had a headache for a few days they won't go away; and when I found it had been posted, I was in no mood to stay upright, never mind read.

Yeah, I get occaisonal migraines, and they suck. Plus for the past five days I've been suffering dental related pain, and one of the effects is a twinge in my right temple. Fun!

Hoitash wrote: Yeah, I get occaisonal migraines, and they suck. Plus for the past five days I've been suffering dental related pain, and one of the effects is a twinge in my right temple. Fun!

I think mine is ear-related. Like there's a blockage in the sinus around the ear, and it's causing swelling, pain and a dandy headache. It actually goes away if I lay down on the opposite ear... if I remain upright it just hangs there and radiates pain.

I considered going to visit my doctor, but he's on vacation until September, and I'm particular about whom I trust to shove an object in my ear. Used to get ear infections pretty regularly, so I don't think it's that.

Helbereth wrote: ...and I'm particular about whom I trust to shove an object in my ear...

...You know, I used to make "that's what she said" jokes, but then I took an arrow to the knee.

/Smokebomb.

Hoitash wrote:

Helbereth wrote: ...and I'm particular about whom I trust to shove an object in my ear...

...You know, I used to make "that's what she said" jokes, but then I took an arrow to the knee.

/Smokebomb.

Your wielding of internet memes is commendable.

Begin the download…Now!

…I miss Power Rangers.

And curse you anime themes for being so gorram catchy! First Ouran, now School Rumble and K-On!.

Previous Chapter

Part Four: Download


Since no one was shooting at me at the moment, I quickly scanned the room’s layout. It was a computer lab of sorts, where all the listening post data was coordinated and examined for possible patterns and links to other post’s data. A world map was laid out at the end of the room with little red, blue, white, and brown flags all over the place, along with green triangles for organized crime activity. The rest of the room consisted of narrow walking space with desks and chairs mixed in amongst computers connected to the rest of the post’s equipment, which meant it was perfect for stealing the data; though it also meant everyone else in the base could tell we were here.

So, it wasn’t long before the rest of the base- or at least those with weapons- was trying desperately to reclaim its war room from us. Hearing doors opening somewhere to my left and right, I checked my rifle; finding ten shots remaining. Eying the two side entrances, I noted the door across and to my right was still closed, but I could definitely hear footsteps in the hall. Hunkering against the remains of the door, I leveled the Tesla rifle at the ready and waited.

“Here they come,” I said as two men wearing body armor came into view. Sensing a trap, I made my sword easy to get to while firing my rifle awkwardly with one hand. I managed to hit one of them at about the same time a third man appeared to my right. The clever bastard had done the same trick I had used earlier, and now he was swinging at me with what looked like a US cavalry saber. I deflected with my rifle, which left a nasty scratch on it as I forced his sword back and slammed the butt of my rifle into the non helmeted part of his head, sending him down. The second guy wasn’t firing because his ally’s body was in his way, so I managed to fire at him just as he readjusted his position to the left. No sooner had I done that then another man appeared on my left. Listening closely, I thought I heard another man coming in along the left wall.

“Anytime now,” I said as I backwards crawled under the nearest desk.

Going prone here would give me a good shot at the two, but if anyone came on the right Kenji was in trouble. Getting the gist of our situation, Kenji had taken every chair in the room and turned them into a makeshift barricade while he worked. His rifle poked out over the chair-wall, too. One advantage to this part of the plan was we could both shoot; Kenji couldn’t make the downloads any faster, after all.

“How’re we doing?” he asked.

I shot the one on the left I could see while sliding my sword out of its sheath and placing it to my right, “not bad, but the sooner we get outta here, the better.”

Shooting down the guard sneaking along the wall, saving me from an impending shotgun blast, Kenji repied coolly, “Three minutes, man.”

“Assuming they don’t pull some hacker bull to stop you," I mused.

“They can’t- their system can’t tell the difference between an outside attack and its own countermeasures directed at itself. It’s a failsafe in case an Illuminati faction gets ideas.”

That was a comforting thought, at least. No one else tried to attack us, so I cautiously peeked out of the doorway, expecting to see the entire base lined up on both sides of the door waiting for us. Instead, I saw a hall with scattered bodies. A sight I was a little too familiar with at this point. I slung my rifle and readied my pistol in one hand while grabbing my sword in the other. Running for it was our best bet at this point, especially if they hadn’t blocked off our exit.

When the flash drives were done Kenji started humming the Final Fantasy[/] victory theme while he prepped them for removal.

“How many do we have?” I asked him.

“Seven,” he said. Once he had pulled them all he shoved them into a small pouch on his belt. With a little fiddling he broke apart his chair fort and joined me by the door.

“Anyone out there?”

“No… yes,” I amended as four men in body armor appeared to our right. I put my sword down and pulled out a Tesla grenade. Kenji was saving his last smoke grenade, so I tossed the grenade and looked to my left, just in time to shoot one of three more approaching men.

“Two on the side,” I said as the grenade went off. Kenji moved forward and fired blindly- sorry, legally blindly- eventually hitting the two standing men.

“Is it clear now?” he asked.

I looked around again, “hallway clear. The stairs, no idea.”

Kenji shrugged, “we’ll see when we get there,” he gave me the go signal and we started jogging forward.

My pistol was out as I expected someone waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs, but there was no one. Not yet, at least. Seeing Kenji rub his spleen made me pause, and behind us I heard thundering footsteps that made my spine shiver. I heard the same steps in front of us and I skidded to a halt as the first door in front of the stairs on my left swung open, thudding against the wall with a hard clunk. A door behind us did the same, and slowly, the thing I was least expecting, but most dreading, came into view.

Two meters tall and covered completely in bulky white ceramic armor, the Crusader Templar Power Armor and its wearer towered above us, just shorter then the tall hallway. On his torso a green Eye was painted, and the eyes of his rounded helmet glowed a bright red. Behind me, I heard a similar figure thunder towards us.

“Templar fools! Prepare to suffer for your insolence!”

“We are so fucked,” Kenji said, easing up against my back, his rifle ready as we assumed a more defensive position.

Not that either our position or his rifle would help. This was definitely captured Templar armor, and that meant it was immune to Tesla weaponry. The Angel of Death in front of us stuck out his bulky right arm, his hand clenched into a fist. A long, sharp, white ceramic blade shot out from his armored sleeve. His left arm looked to have some sort of launcher covered with more ceramic. The warrior spoke, his voice thundering through the hall and into our eardrums, pounding hard as it reverberated around and inside us.

So yeah, we were fucked.

+++

Next Chapter

Whoops, that was a bit short. A small price to pay for another cliffhanger, I hope.

Thanks Helbereth for the help!

You are SO going to hate me when you read the PM I sent...

*insert typical story-praising sentence here*

Helbereth wrote:You are SO going to hate me when you read the PM I sent...

*insert typical story-praising sentence here*

And I would hate you for being a huge help to me why?

I didn't agree with some of the characterization edits, but I went with the edits I agreed with. which was a lot of them.

I'll tell you, though, I consider someone writing "so-and-so said adverb" to be extremely lazy writing. I avoid it in all my works, and consider it a detriment to someone's writing. What you were suggesting wasn't quite that, but it was close enough that I felt uncomfortable using it.

Thanks a ton for the editing help

Hoitash wrote:I consider someone writing "so-and-so said adverb" to be extremely lazy writing.

There are certainly ways to do it wrong, or simply misuse the form. If you're just sticking it on the end (or the beginning) to have it there for grammatical purposes and not describing anything, then your story will just look hackish. If you always use the same adjectives and adverbs, then it can seem repetitive and boring - unless it's done so intentionally to describe a particular quirk.

Most of what I know about structure comes from reading Tolkien, Salvatore, and similar works. Those books work a lot of description around the dialogue, and I've always found the form more pleasant to read and easier to understand; not to mention more visceral in terms of imagery. Your writing style is starkly different from those, so I don't expect you to follow that form all the time, but it does help get across some of the little details better when inserted on occasion.

Basically, to me, it's providing your reader with all the sensory information you intended; ensuring they understand the world in the same way you imagined it while writing. Making it ambiguous can easily cause a loss interest among your readers, result in forgotten details, or, worse, leave them to misunderstand the intent of a particular sequence. That hasn't really happened in any but a few instances reading your work, though, so it's not a big worry.

I'm rambling again, aren't I? I have a tendency to do that. Here's a pretty picture to clear the air:

Right. It's not necessarily lazy in of itself, just how it's used.

Considering my own lackluster talents, I personally like to try other, more difficult ways to get emotions and throught across. I find it helps me be a better writer, and prevents me from becoming dependent on things that I could easily twist into ways that would make my work suck.

Most of the time, as you've noticed, its wored out well. If I can find a way to make it work for me witohut becoming a crutch, I'll probably do it.

Spece Mureens! Dis iz a job for Nobz!

Previous Chapter

Part Five: Escape


As much as hearing that voice rumble made me want to void my bowels, it was also reassuring. One thing I had learned as Kenji’s partner was that when the guy in front of you holding the weapons is talking to you rather than trying to kill you, you have a chance.

I took a quick second to examine the strange launching mechanism on the left arm. The last time I had faced one of these, it had been modified with a modern heavy machine gun. The exposed metal had given the Tesla an entry point that had essentially shot the guy to death in his own armor as his ammo cooked off. Back to the drawing board, as they say.

This design was unmodified. One of the armor schematics we had made mention of a primitive grenade launcher, used for either early grenades or pots of Greek Fire. These probably had something a little more modern inside them, but they were covered in ceramic, so I doubted shooting it would work. Now, getting a grenade down that launcher was a different story, but doing that would require one of us to do it while the other played decoy, and we both had our hands full.

“Prepare to die, cowards!” the one behind me boomed.

“Will you please shut up?” Kenji asked, firing his rifle several times. The jolts of energy bounced off the armor and fried several light fixtures. The hall dimmed and my eyes adjusted to the lower light level. When they recovered I noticed the warrior in front of me aiming his launcher at us. I had an idea at that, and waited for him to fire the grenade, it shooting out with a mild thunk sound. I fired my pistol at him and it hit the grenade, exploding barely a meter from him and almost a dozen meters from us. Bits of shrapnel pattered onto the floor between us. Behind me I heard another grenade go off- Kenji must’ve had the same idea, though it sounded like he had used a lot of shots to hit the grenade. Both warriors groaned and staggered back a step.

“Got a new plan?” I asked as I holstered my pistol.

“Just one: fight until we find a chance, and finish them off.”

We couldn’t go back to the room, that was for sure. I glanced behind me and saw Kenji sling his rifle and draw his sword, too. I really didn’t want to die fighting some nut in power armor, but I didn’t see any other choice, unless we ran for it, but the grenade launcher discouraged that line of thinking. I heard Kenji scream a battle cry and charge for his adversary. I rolled my eyes and moved forward as well, thanking whatever God there might’ve been that my heart was relatively calm.

“You dare attempt to settle this as equals?” mine shouted as I moved forward.

“Seriously, please stop talking,” I said. I jogged forward and he swung low at me with his blade. I managed to just dodge out of the way and slammed my sword into his helmet, where it made a nice toll as I reached for a grenade on my belt. I didn’t want to hold the sword with one hand, but I needed to be able to use this thing quickly. He had strength and endurance, I had speed and maneuverability. If he hit me once, I was screwed, whereas when I hit him I just made a note. I had to be lucky a bunch of times to survive this. He only had to be lucky once. To top it off, if my heart gave out I was dead.

A very bad idea was forming in my mind, if I managed to get onto the guy and maintain a hold somewhere on him, I could throw the grenade down the tube while he tried to either grab me or throw me off of him. The obvious problem with that was not dying horribly in the process. It seemed the most obvious way to stop him, and it was the plan I went with.

He recovered from my clonk on his head pretty quick, and he turned around to try and slam me into the wall with his left arm while trying to get me out from behind him. I heard Kenji and his foe thud around as they fought. I didn’t feel like riding a guy in power armor just yet, so I settled for looking at his armor for weak points. His joints were an obvious target, so I stabbed at his left knee. My sword did manage to stab him, but his joint padding was too thick for me to get in a good, deep wound. I ended up having to yank out my sword as he yelled and swung at me with his wrist blade, forcing me to roll to my right and forward as he punched the floor where I had been a moment earlier.

He was favoring his other side- I had wounded him. Well, playing bee swarm against the bear worked, too. I swung my sword at his head again but ended up hitting his arm as he turned to try to swing at me again. My sword bounced off and I stepped back as he punched the floor, cracking it in the process. I stepped to his left side and stabbed his elbow joint while he got up. This time he jerked the sword out my hands as he brought his arm up to his face. I jumped for it and managed to grab my sword’s hilt, but he had expected that, throwing me down to the floor as I pulled the sword out. I heard his thunderous laugh as he aimed his launcher at me.

I rolled to hug the left wall and stumbled forward as he fired, using his body to protect me. It worked for the most part, my body slammed lightly against the wall and my heart pounded in my chest. I willed it to calm down as I turned to face him. He leveled the launcher again and fired as I ran for the other wall, sliding halfway when he swung his blade at me. It grazed my shoulder and I felt the sting of cut flesh as my feet hit the wall. Again I stumbled up and turned just in time to sidestep another punch, one from his left arm and one a stab from his blade that ended up embedding it in the wall. I ducked under him and stabbed at his left armpit while he removed himself from the wall. As I forced the sword out he caught me in a swing with his arm that sent me back against the right wall.

That was the worse thing that could have happened. The concussion to my front, combined with the concussion to my back, started my heart fluttering. My sword clattered to the floor as I grabbed my chest and tried my damndest not to die. Not like this, not here. My heart thumped and thudded and my vision blurred as I collapsed onto my knees on the floor. I dimly heard the hulking warrior plod toward me as my senses dimmed. Somehow, I was still holding the Tesla grenade. A vision of my wife at my cremation ceremony, my children huddled around her in tears caused my vision to blur further, even as my heart slowly, ever so slowly, receded from the brink of death as a I forced myself to keep breathing, keep fighting. I barely noticed either my recovery or the warrior lift me with his left arm and firmly, but not forcefully, raise my head to eye level against the wall.

“I will grant you an honorable death on your feet, Templar coward.”

He lowered me and leveled his wrist blade to my head. I saw the white, ceramic blade, dinged and covered in bits of plaster, pull back slowly as he prepared to end my life. In about a second, my brain processed that I was going to be murdered in a foreign nation, away from my family with no way for them to learn the truth, instead of my damn heart finishing me off. Then I realized he was holding me with his left hand, pressing it firmly against my upper chest, but not in a way that aggravated my heart too much.

I could move my arms and hands, slightly. Fine, if the bastard wanted to kill me like a man, I was gonna take him with me. I couldn’t lift my arms very high, but I was able to use both of them to ready the grenade and shove it into his grenade launcher, the tube of which was roughly parallel to my arm. He looked down at what I had done, then back at me. I knew I was obligated to say some classic one-liner, but the only thing I could think to say was “that was for almost making my wife a widow.”

He roared and tried to crush my chest, but the grenade going off inside his tube forced him off of me. I ducked and stumbled away, grabbing my sword as I did so. I turned slightly to watch him turn towards me as the Tesla set off the grenades in his launching mechanism, which seemed to be along the left side of torso. His thunderous scream nearly shook the walls as the muted explosions cracked his armor and forced him to the ground in a heap of ceramic and soon to be mushy flesh. Hisao: 1, arrogant Illuminati pricks: 0.

Figuring that would alert the rest of the base, I slowly moved toward Kenji and his fight, making sure my heart was in check. Kenji had decided to play bull rider like my original plan, and was holding on for dear life, his arms around the warrior’s neck in a full Nelson. The power armored man tried to slam Kenji against a wall, never succeeding as Kenji swerved and dodged while still maintaining his grip. When Kenji saw me stagger forward he pointed to the man’s right knee. I could just see red staining around the white padding on the edges.

Mustering what little strength I had left, I walked forward and around the weaving and dodging ceramic hulk and shoved my sword into his right knee, forcing it through the padding and clanking the armor on the other side. Kenji’s bloody sword was to my left, imbedded in the wall, and it was only thanks to his earlier work that I had managed to force the sword in. Kenji promptly dropped down as the warrior roared in pain. I removed the sword at the same time he drew his Tesla, and in a rather gross use of the new gap, he shoved the pistol’s barrel into the remains of the man’s kneecap and fired.

The pistol’s energy jolted and coursed into the warrior. He roared again before crashing into the wall, cracking and splintering it as he collapsed. Kenji pulled out his pistol and smiled at me behind his mask.

“Thanks, man,” he said, panting lightly.

“Anytime,” I said, sheathing my sword and grabbing my rifle, stopping when I noticed it wasn’t slung around me. I looked behind me and saw it on the floor by the other Templar.

“Let’s get the hell outta here,” I said.

Kenji nodded, “can you run?”

“I’ll try, but no promises- I nearly collapsed back there.”

We started a slow jog toward the basement door as the doors around us started to open. I stumbled and grabbed my rifle as Kenji fired his pistol to my left. I steadied my rifle and checked its charge. I was back to twenty shots, so I wasted no time in firing at the opening doors as we ran past and men came out to shoot at us. I heard a shotgun go off and shot pellets harmlessly imbed in my armor as a rifle shot zinged past my shoulder. Kenji fired his pistol again to our right as we reached the stairway. I expected a squad waiting for us, but it was empty. As we climbed the stairs, Kenji firing behind me with his unslung rifle, I looked up and noticed the courtyard had some of the earlier security men scattered around. Guess they were awake again, or someone had gone for them. Either way, we were in trouble again.

I stopped at the top of the stairs to the right of the doorway, firing away as I went and hitting a couple of people. Kenji took the left side and fired behind us as the basement slowly filled with people who didn’t want us to escape. I asked Kenji the time and he reached for the clock on his belt, showing it to me for a moment before going back to shooting.

“Looks like our ride should be here soon,” I said, firing a couple of shots, “all we have to do is get down to the mountain.”

“Nah, if they don’t see us they’ll come up here- the chopper can land in the courtyard.”

“How comforting,” I said, “perhaps we should clear it for them?”

Kenji nodded, “when they get here.”

So now all we had to do was wait. And shoot. A lot. I sniped as best I could at the courtyard, trying to keep them pinned more then trying to hit them. Kenji didn’t have that luxury as he shot wildly down the hall. When his rifle overheated he tossed down his second pilfered frag grenade and his last smoke grenade down the hall. He pulled out his pistol and fired a shot down the hall, too. The courtyard wasn’t really a problem, though I thought I heard the people in the blind spot on my right getting closer. I readied a grenade while he did the same, waiting for the blasted helicopter to arrive.

Someone in the basement was shooting at us with an assault rifle, but fortunately they had a lousy angle to hit us. Finally, I heard the buzzing of the copter getting closer. I tossed a Tesla grenade into the courtyard and Kenji did the same down the hall. He holstered his pistol and readied his rifle.

The buzzing grew louder and I heard the chatter of a machine gun above us. I picked up my firing into the courtyard and checked my heart. I was fine again, thankfully, though it was beating a bit harder than even this level of exertion warranted. I was also really sweaty, but that wasn’t important. Seeing the descending copter, the men in the courtyard that could ran for safety. As they did the helicopter finally came into view.

The thing barely fit in the courtyard. It was painted dark green and looked like a sporty, joy-riding helicopter for personal use. It must’ve had a decent sized fuel tank, and it sat four. The first two seats were filled by the pilot and someone holding a light machine gun or some similar weapon. Both were dressed in green flight jumpsuits as the passenger fired suppressive fire around him. Taking that as our cue, I dashed for the copter, Kenji right behind me. Kenji could run faster and threw open the thin metal door to the back seats as he slid in. I followed and shut the door.

“Mr.’s Setou and Nakai?” the pilot asked.

“You got it, man. Jerry, is it?” Kenji asked.

I felt the chopper lurch up as we started to rise into the air. A few Illuminati took potshots at us but another burst of fire from the passenger dissuaded them. He shut his door and turned his head, “that’s him. I’m Bill, by the way. Jerry figured you could use some help.”

“We appreciate that,” I said as we rose into the sky and started flying what I presumed was towards Japan. I almost asked how we were going to get back in the country, but I felt it was safer for my sanity not to.

“Hang on folks, I think they’re still shooting at us,” the pilot Jerry said. He started a slow and odd zigzag pattern as I saw a rocket fly past my window.

“Don’t worry; we’ll be out of range in a few moments.”

“Unless they have satellite controlled missiles,” Kenji said.

“We’d be dead by now, I think,” I said.

As we flew towards Japan I could just see the sun starting to rise, the night sky slowly lightening with orange and yellow. I was covered in bits of shrapnel imbedded in my body armor, my shoulder was bloody, and I should probably talk to a doctor about my flutter.

I didn’t really care though. At least I was safe. Speaking of which…

“Kenji,” I said.

“Yeah, man?”

“The next time you ask me to do something like this, remind me to hit you in the head with a whiskey bottle.”

Kenji frowned and nodded, “you got it.”


THE END OF MYSTERY FOUR

+++

A sixth part was not needed. And for the record, yes, The Power of Love saved Hisao’s life. It’s awesome like that.

Next time on Hisao and Kenji- Master Detectives!

A probing questing from a potential client leads Hisao and Kenji to another run-in with a Secret Society. The two have a chance to crank up the Society’s wars to bring about their destruction, but doing so could get them in the middle of the war themselves!

Tune in next time for Mystery Five: Quia Peccavi Nimis

Same thread, same forum!

The men in the courtyard that could ran for safety from the descending copter, and slowly it came into view.

This is a confusing sentence. The reason for their retreat should be mentioned first, and there's some confusion about who's actually running.

As the helicopter descended into view, the remaining men, those who could still run, left the courtyard seeking safety.

Or something similar.
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Haven't had time 'til now to read this over. That was, surprisingly, the only glaring problem I found. Maybe, just maybe, you're getting better at this - or it's a fluke. I'm siding with the fluke theory.