Chapter 40 - No Respect

No Respect
White was running ahead of Rokiahi, who was coping with the unconscious and silent Rulia on her back. Rokiahi could feel Rulia's right leg twitching uncontrollably. The six of them ran to the end of street into a square plaza, trees and benches dotted around the area. White suddenly stopped.

"Wait," she murmured, putting a hand in front of Rokiahi, the other three stopping behind them, Sora at the back. Sora looked over White's shoulder. Seeing who was sat on the bench in the middle of the square, she growled.

Black stood up, rubbing her right shoulder but she did not say a word, her expression very neutral, her yellow eyes glaringly obvious.

White patted Rokiahi's shoulder, her eyes still fixed on Black, "Keep going," she requested in a loud voice so Black could hear, "If Black has any sense of honour, she'll let you pass."

Rokiahi hesitated, not so confident in Black, but she walked forward anyway, followed by Void, Chamber and Sora. As Rokiahi passed Black, Black a hand to place on her shoulder. But White summoned a ★rock Cannon, a white version of Black's original cannon, from Hammerspace at Black, ready to pull the trigger. Black froze, allowing Rokiahi past. And Void. And Chamber.

But Black brought her hand down on Sora's shoulder, preventing her from passing. "If you have any sense of honour, you give back what is rightfully mine."

Sora frowned, "If I had any sort of common sense, I wouldn't give a tyrant any power."

Black paused before pushing Sora back towards White, "You may not pass."

Sora looked over at Rokiahi's group, who were watching with anxiety, "Head directly east," she shouted, "It's impossible to miss." Rokiahi nodded and the three ran off. Sora looked back at Black, a blue flame shooting out her Sora's left eye, Sora's colour scheme turning black and blue.

"Your fight is not with me," noted Black casually. A bullet bullet shot through the left side of Sora's head, coming out her right cheek, red liquid gushing out of both wounds. In a lax attitude, Sora wiped her right cheek with the back of her hand, turning to the look at the shooter in the sky. As her hand moved out the way, it was clear Sora had self healed, the only evidence of any harm being the red smudges on her face and gloves.

Lynette Bishop glared down at Sora below with her yellow eyes, her Striker Units completely silent and heat efficient, her large rifle smoking from the single but quiet shot. As the two first personnel of The Anti-Nine stared each other down, it was evident from their combat upgrades that there was little faith of peace lasting long after after Doomsday's First Anniversary. And they had little faith in others.

Black, a little humoured by Sora's reaction, looked at White, "No, my fight is with you," she grinned, showing her fangs. A purple flame appeared over her left eye, her clothes morphing to their Insane armour forms.

White, still pointing the cannon, frowned as a magenta flame covered her right eye, "So be it." The ground immediately began fading into black and white squares.

"Gensokyo are here already," commented Chamber quietly as the three headed east, "How did Black get here already with the Hakurei Barrier just down?"

"Sora mentioned that plenty of Gensokyo loyalists were within the Barrier," replied Void.

"It means we should hurry," added Rokiahi, beginning to finding it uncomfortable to run with Rulia on her back. Rulia was regaining motor functions, breathing heavily and was holding Rokiahi too tightly round the neck. "They could be anywhere."

Right on cue, there was a high-pitched roar behind them. Turning, they saw a tall brown tripod walk into their road from a sideroad and follow after them.

"It's a Half-Life Strider," observed Chamber, "I wonder whose side it's on."

"How can you be so lax about this?" called Void in anxiety, making no attempt to whisper.

The three stopped in the tracks as a blue and white Humvee drove in front of them from another sidelane. As the mounted machine gun on its roof turned towards them, a white laser shot from the Strider's underbelly cannon, vaporising the top half of the vehicle and causing the Humvee to burst into flames. As Rokiahi ran past the burning chassis, she looked through the window. There was the faint blur of a person inside, clouded by smoke, who was not making any attempt to escape. Or to move.

"No respect for the living," spat Rokiahi. The Strider suddenly gave a loud bellow, accompanied by ground shaking. Looking back at it, it could be seen that the ground was quickly adopting a black and white surface. The Strider's sharp feet and weight could not be supported by the now fragile and ceramic ground. The tall behemoth fell forwards, over the four people in front of it.

That moment, a large chugging double barrelled tank decorated with the Hammer and Sickle on its front plate, entered the road from a third sidestreet, driving slowly towards them. It then stopped, extruding spiked tracks from its underside, between its normal caterpillar treads. A green beam shot out from its front bumper, latching onto the body of the Strider. The tractor beam pulled the howling Strider towards the Apocalypse Tank and its inner treads, which were obviously for grinding.

Rokiahi, Chamber and Void quickly made their way past the tank, which was unable to aim the cannons and tractor beam at the same time.

"Striders are living things too," pointed out Chamber, sounds of high pitched screaming and metal wrenching behind them.

Their thoughts were quickly interrupted by an out-of-sight explosion behind the building to their right, the four storey building tilting towards them. Without words, Rokiahi, Chamber and Void ran faster, avoiding the toppling building, roadside trees and parked cars crushed under its weight.

"Where are all the natives?" questioned Void, as they ran out the dust cloud, "This is the native part of town, isn't it?"

Again, another tank, with red sideplates, rolling in from a sideroad, stopped their conversation.

"That's Wolf's Landmaster, isn't it?" remarked Chamber.

The Landmaster pointed its single barrel just above the four beings on the road and fired, hitting a third tank that had driven over the building wreckage, unnoticed in the confusion. But this tank was even larger than the Apocalypse, possessing two barrels and a gatling cannon on its roof, the red Chinese star proudly emblazoned on its front. It fired back, causing visible damage to the Landmaster, shattering part of a red sideplate. The fired shells left behind strains of orange goo.

Reacting immediately, Chamber picked up both Void and Rokiahi, "Uranium shells," he explained, hovering past the Landmaster at high speed, "Leaves nasty radiation behind."

The Landmaster had quickly realised that it had the disadvantage, firing rocket boosters on its underside, flying slowly into the air to retreat. But as it attempt to fly off, the hounding gatling cannon of the Overlord Tank ruptured its fuel storage, the Landmaster crashing down on top of building, which toppled out of view. The Overlord, with the pest taken care of, focused it's attention at the fleeing Chamber and gave chase with surprising speed for its size. It, however, did not fire.

"How can we tell who's on who's side?" protested Void, "No one's shooting at us. Which is good," she added quickly. Chamber suddenly made a sharp run upwards. "Wait, Chamber, we shouldn't go up too high."

"Terror drone," he stated simply. Void spotted a four legged metallic insect-looking machine skittering at high speed along the road towards the Overlord. The tank immediately stopped and started reversing, shooting at the incoming terror drone, leaving patches of radiation on the road. But the nimble drone was far too fast, dodging every shot. It jumped onto the tank, shooting out a yellow metal-cutting laser from its underside, ripping a hole between the turret and treads. It crawled into the Overlord, which shook violently several times before exploding, leaving behind a small mushroom cloud and radioactive contamination, apparently taking the drone with it. Chamber lowered his flight height back down to ground just as a transport shuttle descended onto the road in front of them.

"Oh, what now?" cursed Rokiahi.

"It's the shuttlecraft of the Normandy SR-2..." spoke Chamber, as the shuttle's door opened.

Inside was Commander Shepard in his N7 armour with Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor, subordinates on the Normandy crew. "Get on!" called Shepard, reaching out a hand, "You're in great danger with North High and Yamaha. It'll be all over!"

Rokiahi could tell this was directed mostly at her. But had plenty of doubt, looking at the yellow eyes of the crew.

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