Ajax_Rebirth

by Gavin Magson

  With the blade stuck into his arm Ajax kicked off the step, sending both men sprawling to the bar rooms floor. Ajax rolled away from the man, his attacker pulling the knife free in the same movement. Ajax drew his own blade, just in time to block the next wild slash. The man was fast, faster than Ajax.

  They circled each other, keeping barely an arm’s length between each other. Ajax swapped his knife hand and slipped the jacket off his right shoulder, then wrapped it tightly around his injured arm before swapping the knife back to his right hand.

  When the man stepped in for another flurry Ajax blocked it with his padded arm, the man was too slow to stop Ajax slashing the blade across his face. Blood dripped from his cheek and a frenzied look in his eyes were all Ajax saw before the man launched a blistering all-out attack, weaving and slashing. Ajax could not react swiftly enough and he felt the searing pain of another wound, this time the blade punched through the skin above his hip.

  Ajax ducked under a wild swing, sinking to one knee and dragging his blade along the attacker’s ribs. He twisted back onto his feet, watching the man howl in pain and lunge with a guttural roar. A strong kick from Ajax sent him flying into an upturned table, splitting the wood with the heavy impact.

  His gun was nowhere in sight, it had skated across the floor as they tumbled. Steiner was cowering behind the bar and showing no sign of aid, peeking above it to watch their duel. Ajax thought he had no choice, he purposefully dropped his guard as the man moved towards him once more.

  The attack was a clumsy one, the blade glanced from Ajax's shoulder, opening the flesh. Ajax grabbed an outstretched arm with his free one, using the man's momentum to twist him round and brought his own knife across the jugular, spraying arterial blood in a dark crimson arc.

  Ajax swiftly wiped blood off his knife on the dying man's shirt, sheathing it fluidly without needing to watch his hands. The room was filled with the sound of a man chocking on his own blood as Ajax searched for his gun, which proved tricky. It had managed to slide under a table in the room’s corner; he crawled underneath and pawed at it with his left hand, made more difficult by the blood that left his hand slick. When he had retrieved it Steiner had managed to get back to his feet, hauling a quivering Marcus with him and lifting the man in one movement.

  Steiner had Marcus by the throat, an enraged, half crazed stare in his eyes as the squirming bartenders face turned a deathly shade of purple. “What the fuck did you think you were playing at, Marcus? We had a good thing going and you had to screw that up; my men are dead because of you! Why, why did you do it?”

  Marcus fought for breath, trying to suck down even the smallest amount of air. Eventually Steiner relaxed his grip just enough to let the weasel speak.

  “He gave me no choice. Major said he would kill my family; what was I supposed to do?”

  “You should have warned me, I could have killed him and then I wouldn't have to kill you.” said Steiner.

  “There are others,” wined Marcus, green mucus mixing with his tears, “they have more men and they will be here any minute. There was no way we all could have lived.” were his last words.

  Steiner release the briefcase and picked up the metal pipe Marcus kept behind the bar for troublemakers. Marcus only had time to throw his hands up, but they did little to defend him. Steiner brought the rod down again and again, first breaking the man's arms and then caving in his skull, until all that was left of Marcus was a ruined pulp.

  “If you are quite finished,” said Ajax, wiping yet another man's blood from his jacket, “we need to get out of here before this backup arrives, assuming he was not lying.”

  There was no argument from Steiner, he picked up the case and followed in Ajax's wake, who paused at the door to scan the square for movement. Such a wide, open space was prime for ambush, and, without wasting valuable time, there was no way of knowing if anyone was waiting behind windows across the road from them.

  “We have no choice but to run for it, they could be waiting for us or on the way, there's no way of telling. Which direction is best to get out of the sector?” asked Ajax, breathing heavily still after the knife fight.

  Steiner paused, lost in thought as he tried to remember Sector Six's layout. “We head out the way we came in, it's the fastest route out of here. We have to get into the open, away from the wall; it's the only way over to the train station.”

  With one last look into the square Ajax left the taverns relative safety, heading towards the streets beyond. As they passed the two corpses he became aware that Steiner had stopped, Ajax turned back and saw the man trying to prise the other briefcase out of a dead man's hand.

  “What are you doing? Leave it, you'll get yourse....” Ajax sank to one knee, as the strength in his legs suddenly fled him.

  For the first time he saw just how much blood stained his jacket, and it could not all belong to his victims. Ajax weakly opened his jacket and saw that claret had spread from his chest to waist down the grey shirt. He struggled but could not rise to his feet, his breathing became ragged as he strained against his sapped strength. Steiner appeared into view, pure panic on his face.

  “Why didn't you say anything, Ajax?” asked Steiner, “Look at the state of you, there is blood everywhere. I can help, just lay down and don't move; you can't die on me.”

  Ajax reacted slowly, he hadn't understood Steiner's instructions and his mind was coming up blank. His second leg finally gave way and Ajax sunk to the cobblestones, staring up at the clouded skies above.

  Steiner opened the larger briefcase, his fingers slipping in haste, and pulled out the silver vial Major had focused on back in the taverns room. This he slotted into a tubular device with a large needle attached; he was dreading what would have to come next.

  “Pull up your shirt, this is really going to hurt.” warned Steiner.

  Ajax struggled to lift his arms, his slick fingers flailed at the blood soaked shirt until they finally managed to uncover his gunshot wound. Steiner steadied his hand and plunged the needle into torn flesh, injecting a swarm of nano machines into Ajax's body. Ajax gritted his teeth in pain, taken off-guard by the searing agony as the thick needle punctured his skin.

  It was hard to believe the sight unfolding before his eyes, if he wasn't watching it Ajax would think it a trick. The wound on his chest almost instantly began to close, slowly at first as fresh skin was being constructed by the unseen machines. Steiner was not wrong, the pain was excruciating.

  As the agony took him past his pain threshold Ajax could not hold back from screaming any longer, yet as the first syllable of a curse started in his throat the pain subsided. Ajax ran his fingers over perfectly healed flesh and struggled to comprehend how it was possible. Steiner stared into the man's ashen face, yet he was no longer bleeding profusely.

  Steiner removed a small pouch from within his jacket, from which he produced a thin needle. Ajax did not have any complaint left in him and could only watch as the man injected him for a second time. Ajax felt his heart begin to race as the adrenaline took effect and he struggled back to his feet with Steiner's aid, consciously aware that they had been in the open for far too long.

  “Whatever is in that is fucking brilliant, but there is no time for me to praise it; we really have to get out of the square. Can you carry both cases?” Steiner's nod was enough for Ajax.

  They ran for the squares entrance, soon reaching the streets beyond. Ajax was not surprised by just how deserted the streets were. The sound of explosions and gunshots probably carried for miles and he applauded the inhabitants for making themselves scarce so swiftly. More tall buildings lined the streets, a quick scan by Ajax did not detect any snipers, but he could not be certain with so many vantage points.

  Steiner had both cases tucked under one arm, the free hand rummaging through his pockets. He let out a curse under his breath, whatever he had been looking for was not found.

  “Have you still got your tablet, kid?” Ajax pulled the small device out of a pocket, st
ill scanning windows as they stuck to the side and kept under cover, and handed it to Steiner.

  Steiner activated the tablet and was soon talking into it, the conversation unheard by Ajax as he focused on an upcoming junction. Ahead of him two streets intersected each other, a tall building on each of the four corners prevented Ajax from seeing if an ambush lay in wait. Straight after the junction was the start of the towering skyscrapers, their peaks covered by grey clouds.

  A curse from Steiner broke Ajax's concentration, causing him to turn back to the stationary man. “My pilot says he can't land on the streets, they are too narrow. We need to get onto a rooftop, there is no way we can get to a train in our state.” he said, anger reverberating in his voice.

  Ajax pointed to a skyscraper up ahead. “Could we get onto the roof of that?” he asked.

  “Only if you want to get swept off by the winds, there's no way we could stay up there.” said Steiner, craning his neck to look up at distant clouds and an unseen rooftop.

  They paused at the junction, Steiner crouched behind Ajax as he peered around the corner. When he saw that the street was clear he tapped Steiner on the knee to gain his attention and jogged forward, clearing the junction quickly.

  “Fine, we find a lower rooftop, but its skyscrapers wherever we go in every direction.” said Ajax.

  The two man group moved past the first skyscrapers wide entrance when a burst of bullets ricocheted off the pavement next to Ajax. He grabbed Steiner and hauled him through the nearest door, spinning to empty his clip at the approaching men. As the gun burned through fifteen bullets he dove through the open door. All around him glass shattered as the pursuers returned fire.

  Ajax was back on his feet almost instantly, feeding another full clip into his gun. Steiner had already reached the elevator and was hammering on the call button. A hand grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up the stairs, just as bullets turned the elevator doors into a colander.

  “Stay down, stay alive!” came the sole warning from Ajax.

  He heard the click of a spent magazine, leant out from the protection of the wall and pumped three armour piercing rounds into the closest man, followed by one to the next man's head and another that shattered a third man's leg.

  The survivor lay groaning on the floor, hidden behind a concrete box with wilting flowers planted in its dry soil. Ajax decided it was only humane to help him along to the afterlife, he dashed across the polished floor and vaulted over the box, plunging his blade into the man's heart as he landed astride him.

  A quiet ding behind him signalled that the elevator had finally arrived, Steiner needed no invitation to pile inside. Ajax was about to tell the fool that they should try for another building when half a dozen men came into view, running for any cover offered by the ruined foyer doors.

  Ajax swiftly changed magazines, popping in a full clip of explosive tipped rounds. As he walked backwards into the elevator he fired two shots, pumping one each into either wall of the foyer and spraying shards of metal and concrete at the cowering men.

  Not giving them time to return fire Ajax hit the top floor button, grabbed Steiner by his collar and crouched down as rounds ripped through the closing elevator doors. He was relieved when the elevator started its ascent and the gunshots ceased; they were safe for the time being.

  Ajax released his strong grip on Steiner, who took his time getting back to his feet. Ajax pulled out the magazine, replacing the spend rounds with spares from his pocket. The full clip went back in a pocket, substituted by one filled with standard ammunition.

  When he turned back to the silent Steiner he was greeted by a stunned expression on the man's face, who could not tear his eyes away from his protector.

  “Does that not hurt?” questioned Steiner. Not waiting for a reply he pulled out the thick shard of glass from Ajax's back, causing a quick spurt of blood to erupt from the wound.

  Ajax let out a scream of pain, punching the wall a hair's breadth from Steiner's ear. “What the fuck did you do that for?” roared Ajax.

  The wound was already closing up as he removed his jacket to get a better look at the damage, blood barely trickled from the vivid red slit.

  “Stop whining,” chided Steiner, “that augment has already saved your life once, a couple of inches of glass is only a scratch for you.”

  Ajax decided better than showing Steiner how much a couple inches of glass could hurt and turned his attention towards the elevators display. They had just passed the fortieth floor, the top button being floor eighty nine.

  “How many floors are there to one of these skyscrapers?” asked Ajax.

  “I'm not sure, easily over a hundred, perhaps as much as two. Your guess is as good as mine, I wasn't born in the slums and it's hardly every day that I am forced to use one as an escape route from double crossing, backstabbing bastards.”

  “I hope you weren't insinuating that it is my fault, either. Never mind where you were born, this elevator only goes up to eighty nine, which means we are going to have to change ride soon. There were at least six men following us, I guarantee they are riding the elevators in pursuit right now; they are probably no more than half a minute behind.”

  “What are we going to do?” asked Steiner. “There might not be enough time to change elevator before they catch up.”

  “You leave that to me,” replied Ajax, “just make sure our ride is waiting for me after the killing stops.”

  The elevator came to a quiet halt, its doors opened onto a wide, deserted corridor. Ajax checked both directions before exiting, Steiner followed cautiously and closely behind. A sign gave them directions for the next set of elevators, a floor up and only accessible by stairs. With Steiner in tow Ajax headed left, towards the closest set of stairs, passing three other elevators.

  His boot had barely touched the first step when Ajax heard the familiar ding as two elevators opened their doors, one after another; it was not the passenger’s lucky day.

  “Go call the next elevator, don't wait more than two minutes for me.” instructed Ajax, turning back to the corridor.

  One explosive round was still left in the chamber and it blew the first man out of the doors into mince, the man behind him was thrown into a wall by the powerful blast. A head shot finished him before he could recover, then Ajax backed up the stairs, shielded by the corner.

  He could just make out a whispered conversation coming from within the elevator, though could not hear the words being spoken. The furthest elevator closed its doors and started to descend; hopefully less attackers for him, thought Ajax. Unknown to him inside of the remaining elevator three men played a dangerous game of rock, paper, scissors; they had decided that the loser would be the next one to tackle Ajax.

  It was this very hesitation that would spare all of their lives. Whilst they were trying to silently play the game Ajax crept along the corridor, hugging the wall to hide his profile. He had swapped the bullet in his gun's chamber for another explosive tipped, careful not to make a sound and ready to char-grill the elevators contents. He was shocked to see its doors close on him and could only watch as the threat disappeared, the occupants having the good sense not to try and stop their elevator. Someone on the lower floors had called for an elevator and would soon get a shocking surprise.

  Ajax did not hesitate to turn back and was soon bounding up the stairs. Steiner’s head was poking out of an elevator and into the corridor when Ajax reached the next floor, the man’s face showed his relief that it was Ajax who came up first. The doors closed behind Ajax as he entered and it started to ascend.

  “Did you leave any alive?” asked Steiner, “I don't fancy meeting them at the top, we'll have a hard enough time getting on the roof as it is.”

  “I missed my opportunity, as I approached the elevator its doors closed and it started to descend. At the very least someone on another floor called them and they will be held up, or they bottled it. Let's focus on our escape, because I don't fancy dying in this slum. Have you called our
ride out of here?”

  “Yes, he called you a crazy bastard but he should be waiting for us by the time we get on the roof.”

  “While we still have over sixty floors to climb,” Ajax said, checking their floor number, “I want to ask you a few questions. Such as, why was that man trying to kill us and who the fuck is he?”

  “Major? Your guess is as good as mine, I've had him investigated by the best that money can buy; no one knows about his origins. My thoughts are that he might head up one of the more covert military operations, especially since he has the budget of a general to afford these augments.” Steiner said, rattling one of the briefcases. “As for why he was trying to kill us, he was probably trying to cover his tracks. There was one augment missing when we retrieved the case, I imagine it was the only one he was actually interested in and the rest were more of a cover. Still, he made a mistake not taking what now courses through your veins.”

  “I suppose I should be thankful for that, at least. Assuming we survive this, what are you going to do? That man has serious resources and manpower, surely he will come after you to try and finish the job.” said Ajax.

  “You think this is the first time someone has tried to screw me over? I know how to protect myself from his kind, you don't have to worry about that. However, whilst we are on the subject, could I interest you in a more permanent role, Ajax?”

  “If we get out of this sector alive I will consider it, we can talk about it when I'm not getting shot at.” he replied.

  The top floor of the skyscraper followed the recurring décor of discarded waste, some of which was bodily, and clan tags painted on grey concrete walls. The only new addition were suspicious tenants loitering in the shadows, their eyes focused solely on the duo. It seemed strange to Ajax that the buildings inhabitants were not shocked by his dishevelled and bloodied appearance, and few gave them more than a seconds glance. Perhaps a fire fight around here wasn't that uncommon.