Chapter 15- Wheeling and Dealing
A hand yanked Lydia by the scruff of her shirt. “Get down!” Aidan yelled. He pulled her behind a staircase. As the bright flash faded, Sylvia’s and Jando’s watery shapes joined them. Gunfire echoed ahead and several people cried in pain. By the time Lydia regained her sight, two guards were draped on the catwalk and another lay against the door, dead. The mercenaries sprang over their own fallen comrades blocking the door. Sylvia shot one in the throat and he joined the pile.
“Fall back to the other door!” Sylvia ordered.
The four remaining guards ran, firing behind them. A great weight thumped the front wall, and Lydia froze as a ball of dirt and gravel the size of her head punched through the door. A hulking creature covered from head to toe in packed earth clumps and rock squeezed through the entrance, shedding some of the weight to fit. It stood a couple of feet taller than her, and all of the bullets shot at it buried surface deep into its skin. Where the head should be, hazel eyes stared out at her from pits dug in a lumpy head-shaped rock. It had to be one of the BEPs.
The dirt balls on the rock BEP’s limbs formed into hands, and one stretched at the ground outside. Summoned to its hands, dirt flew through the air and built itself into a great mound of earth. The rock BEP lobbed it at Lydia. She snapped out of her stupor and dashed aside. Behind her, Sylvia urged her on. “Let’s go! We need you!” The woman grabbed Heather and Lydia followed.
Behind them, bullets, fire, and electricity chomped at their heels. “Aim to wound!” Roy shouted, but nobody listened as several bullets almost caught Lydia’s head. She zig-zagged around the catwalk support beams, not daring to look at their pursuers. She reached the machine blocking the door and rammed it with her shoulder, pushing it a few feet. That wasn’t enough for anyone to slip through.
Fire seared the top of the machine. Lydia saw the smoky BEP reaching out for her and the fire BEP behind him. She sprinted up the stairs with Sylvia, Jando, Aidan, and Heather, regrouping with the remaining guards. Jando waited at the top as the mercenaries climbed. He grasped the rails of the staircase, causing it to disappear when the first mercenary was a couple of steps from the top.
The mercenaries stumbled, stepping side to side, unsure where to put their feet. Jando kicked the closest one down into the others. They tumbled off the stairs, collapsing in a heap. Two others approached, firing at Jando while the rock BEP lumbered up the stairs. He ducked and the staircase came into view, allowing the mercenaries to climb it.
Lydia ripped the staircase off the catwalk and flung it and the mercenaries into the wall. The stairs pinned a mercenary underneath by his leg and the rock BEP collided headfirst into a machine, tearing it off its hinges, and fell unconscious on top of the staircase. Lydia and Jando fled and followed their group. They ran down the catwalk to the windows on the wall facing the sloping hill above them.
“We’ll have to jump!” Sylvia said. She shot out a pair of windows ahead for them to jump out of.
“Of course we will,” Aidan said.
“What are you worried about?” Jando said, crouching as Sylvia fired over his head and took down two mercenaries. “You can fly! We can’t!”
“Don’t worry,” Aidan said. “I’m sure the ground won’t ruin your delicate features.”
Emeryl shot Sylvia in the arm and she hissed, clutching the wound. She returned fire and missed him, but he caught her hip and she fell to her knees. The fire BEP burned through the catwalk’s support beams and the section in front of them. The catwalk they stood on toppled sideways and down. Lydia, Aidan, and Heather tumbled forward to the first floor while everyone else scrambled to a stable part. “Lydia! Aidan!” Jando shouted.
Lydia and Aidan fell on top of Heather behind the generator. Gunfire pounded their cover, and Lydia sat with her back to the generator. Heather’s filter had fallen off, and she hid with the other two. She held her cuffs out to Lydia. “Free me,” she said.
“What?”
“Free me. I can help you.” Lydia looked unsure. “They’re trying to kill me, too. Remember? I don’t want to die today, so free me.” The mercenaries came closer, and the gunfire became more intense. Lydia could hardly think, weighing her options very quickly.
She grabbed Heather’s cuffs and ripped the chains apart. “You do anything—”
“Or try running. Yeah, yeah, I got it,” she said. She pressed herself flat against the generator as a mercenary approached. “Get on the other side,” she whispered. Lydia and Aidan did as she told them. Two mercenaries crept to their end.
Heather jumped out and, avoiding the shooting that was focused on her, pulled her mercenary behind the generator. She wrapped one arm around the mercenary’s neck and the other around his head. She squeezed and twisted, and a sickening ker-rack made him instantly limp.
Meanwhile, Lydia and Aidan grabbed the two on their side. She threw hers into the generator and kneed her gut. The mercenary gasped and swung at air. Lydia gave a one-two punch that floored her.
Aidan’s mercenary elbowed his cheek. He stomped the mercenary’s foot and kicked him in the stomach. Then Aidan aimed an uppercut at his chin, and his mercenary collapsed onto Lydia’s opponent.
“You all right?” Lydia asked.
“Yeah,” he said, rubbing his face. “I’m used to it.”
Heather picked up one of the mercenary’s rifles and checked the ammo. Then she put a round into each of the living mercenaries’ heads, startling Lydia. “What?” she asked, catching Lydia’s disapproving glance.
“They were unconscious.”
“And if they’d woken up, they would’ve come after us again,” she said. “I told you. The only way to stop Whyte and his people is to kill them.”
“Or tie them up if we can,” Lydia said, picking up one of the broken support beams and bending it into a closed circle as an example.
Heather shrugged. “What’s done is done. Either of you know how to use a gun?” They shook their heads and she groaned. “Of course you wouldn’t.” They peered out and a few of the BEPs approached them. “Oliver, Lionel, and Anton,” she said, naming them in turn.
“Oh, Heather!” Oliver called, a column of flame blowing past the generator. “Come out, come out wherever you are! I’m dying to meet your new friends.”
“What’s the plan?” Aidan asked.
Heather pointed out Lionel. “We need to take care of him first.”
“How?”
“Follow me and do exactly as I say and do,” Heather said. The three ran to a saw machine while Heather fired at the other BEPs. Oliver scorched their cover and Lionel chased them. They continued running, staying a step ahead of Oliver’s flames. Suddenly, Heather changed direction and ran straight toward him, staying low and shooting him in the leg and hip. Oliver fell out of the way and waved his flames around, trying to catch them.
“Drop!” Heather hissed. They landed on their stomachs and the fire passed them, striking Lionel in the stomach and cutting him in half. He screamed and cursed Oliver’s name, and his halves quickly escaped, rushing too close to a ventilation fan. The suction dragged him in, kicking and fighting.
“Worked better than I thought,” Heather said. “That’ll keep him busy for a bit.”
Anton stepped up, ripping bolts of electricity from the generator and machines around him, while Oliver cheered him on. “Yeah, Ant! You con-du-it!” As soon as the electricity neared Anton’s hands, he repelled the crackling bolts at the three.
Lydia and the others rolled out of the way and stood. The electricity exploded in sparky blasts on the floor. One hit Heather’s rifle and she dropped it. Anton grinned and managed to hit Aidan in the leg as well. “Agh!” he said, his balance faltering. Another came for his chest and Lydia rushed him out of the way. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.” She helped him up and they followed Heather.
“He grounded you good!” Oliver called. Electricity arced through the air all around them at blinding speeds. Som
e Lydia saw right away and slipped by them or squeezed between line rows of white beams. But she didn’t know how to avoid them all. A few zapped her arms, crackling up her braces and down her back, and she dodged faster and ran like mad, hoping the rest would miss.
“Whoo! Got a charge out of that!” Oliver said, spurting flames in between hissing and scrunching his face in pain. “Better volt out of here!”
“Shut up!” Heather said. Then she looked at the others. “Spread out! Hit him from all sides!” They formed a circle around Anton, and he continued tossing out bolts. Lydia kept her head low and struck his side. He growled and hit her back with a blast. Lydia’s spine tingled before a wave of pain set in. She rolled behind a machine and rested for a moment, letting the pain subside before rejoining the fight.
“He’s wearing himself out,” Heather said, deftly slipping through several arcs. Anton breathed heavily and sweat drenched his forehead, but he refused to slow down. Heather caught Lydia’s eye. “Distract him,” she said as she passed her. “I’ll get him.”
“Right.” The girl stood in front of Anton and smirked, her back to the generator. “Come on, Anton. Is that the best you got?”
“Not even close,” he said, turning to the generator and concentrating. Lydia eyed it, the fizzling sparks already nipping at her hair and the whole generator shaking. Lights above flickered on and off and machines nearby whined, slowing or powering down. Profuse sweat poured from his brow and he bit his teeth hard. “You’re in for a surprise.”
“No, come on, man,” Oliver said. “You’re in for a shock. Get it right.”
“Fine, shock.” Anton quickly flung a bolt at Heather, who had snuck up behind him. The shot hit her chest off center and she fell. “Prepare to fry, little girl.” He yanked his hand backward in a fist and a large wad of electricity materialized from the generator, zooming straight at Lydia. She leapt to the side, the electricity catching strands of her hair and zapping small spots on her scalp.
Anton held his palm out, slowing the ball and readjusting his aim. “Lydia!” Aidan pumped his legs and ran to her.
Suddenly, Heather jumped to her feet and shoved Anton headfirst into the electric ball. His shrieks mixed with the buzzing crackles, and his face disappeared into the blue-white center. As the electricity faded, he collapsed onto his knees, and then lay flat. His body sizzled, and smoke wafted through the air from his head. From the small breaks in the swirling smoke, they caught snatches of the damage. His already-dark skin had blackened to charcoal and the smell—Lydia gagged and turned away, anywhere to get away from the stink of his burnt skin. She even stuck her nose next to the exhaust of one machine to suppress the stench.
“You were wrong, Oliver,” Heather said, retrieving her rifle and pointing it at him.
“Guess we were the ones who got shocked,” he said. He raised himself onto his hands and knees. “Very illuminating.”
“Enough. One more crack and I’ll put a bullet in both eyes. Stay down if you know what’s good for you.”
“I’d start running if you know what’s good for you,” he said. Gunshots rang out and Heather fired back at several mercenaries approaching them. Up top, Sylvia, Jando, and the guards were beaten back by Roy and several others.
“Suppressing fire!” Roy ordered and chopped his hand forward. They all moved closer, with him leading the pack. He sprang over a box, tackling a guard, but Sylvia shot at him, breaking up the fight. He leapt back into cover as the mercenaries fired, leaving both sides in a temporary stalemate.
“We got to get up there,” Lydia said. She grabbed Heather and flung her to the catwalk, still tingling from the bolts and aiming a little too high. The woman flew through the smashed foreman’s office window. “Crap! Sorry!” Aidan lifted her from behind and carried her to the fight while Oliver tried to burn them.
Once on the catwalk, they barreled through the mercenaries and reached Sylvia. As they urged everyone to leave, more mercenaries joined the fray, and Lydia and Aidan took cover. They were cornered!
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Rogues of Overwatch Page 42
