Shattered Glass Chapter 4: Death's Advocate
Death's Advocate
Alki had forced me to come with him to get food. I tried explaining to him that I could not in any fashion indulge in eating out. Hell What I lived on was pathetic, but saying that makes the word seem more positive than negative. Hell my money situation was, well, diverted. Yes I had a job but my parents... My parents wanted it all.
Hmm Parents were supposed to provide for their kids right? I mean that was their job right? If so what was wrong with mine? Oh that's right my worthless dad had to leave. Left my mom a drunk and unable to walk more than a few yards without falling over herself. Oh boy what a fantastic life I had, no wonder I didn't talk to either one.
Alki stopped and looked over to me when he noticed I was fighting him anymore and trying to pull away. Hell I didn't even noticed that I had stopped walking when he stopped pulling. Sometimes the body's ability to autopilot itself could be someone inconvenient. As I slowly came back into reality for the billionth time today he was kneeling in front of me like a prince confessing his love for a princess. He was still and his head was down with eyes looking at the ground. His ears were also slightly folded back like he was listening to something behind him, but I heard nothing when I pointed my ears in the same direction. Was he finally tired and exhausted?
With sudden agility he got up and looked at me dead on. He was too close for comfort and looked as he was going to speak. However he managed to say nothing and held his ground for a minute or two. Then he looked down and simply said "Come on I'm hungry and I'm going nuts" after which letting out a almost inaudible sigh which was meant to be heard but not noticed.
I still had no idea what was up with this panther, what he wanted, or why he wanted to hang out with someone as worthless as me. Hell I was lost when it came to people; I didn't understand or want to understand their motives. For all I cared they could do whatever they wanted, when and how they wanted, and live their lives. I had no motives for what I did as far as I could tell. I'm sure there was something but I didn't care to find out, it wouldn't do me a lot of good if I did.
We walked into a supermarkets parking lot, the stores name being Publix, and padded our way to the front doors. The store was a great store, fantastic reputation, and a bit pricy. I know the store well, all too well actually. As we approached the front doors we heard sirens coming close to us, and on a fast approach. The store was just of a highway so this was normal to hear, the sirens part anyhow. What wasn't normal was weapons fire. Weapons fire was used on very rare occasion and hardly used on such a crowded road, but guessing from it being only one set of sounds, I could reason that it was whoever the police were trying to stop. Police never open fire on a main road unless it is 100% needed due to the high chance there could be civilian casualties.
Everyone they could hear stopped in their tracked and perked their ear, the ones that could anyhow, to the direction of the disturbance. Slowly they all managed to turn their head and track it. The direction was where we were, and fast. All the sudden a blue vehicle came into view; it was a Puma Allurer. It was a fast, nimble multi-use vehicle, and was capable of out maneuvering all but Police Interceptors which happened to be chasing it with a Heavy Police Assaulter behind it.
With outrageous agility the Allurer skidded into the parking lot and continued its firing at the interceptors, which was by far the most pointless endeavor with the types of weapons their vehicle was equipped with. Sure 640mm auto-cannons were good up close and shooting big clumsy shit with the agility of a whale, Heavy Police Assaulter for example, but against Interceptors most of the bullets were either missed or skimmed of the shields; both of these posed a problem as the bullets could possible injure "innocent" bystanders. The drivers of the Interceptors however knew this and were doing their best to withstand the barrage while not draining their shields, and from the look of it these interceptors were different somehow. They had the same body type and basic features as normal ones, but a few things were different such as the front quarter panels, the light organization, and well as the entire back end. Plus they seemed to be managing the damage better than any normal 'ceptor could.
As they drove closer I got a better look and the vehicle. Its shields seemed to Pulsing in a 3 second pattern, and there also seemed to be some sort of a permanent enhancement field on the shield grid. Quite honestly it looked really cool but scary at the same time.
Out of the blue the Police stopped chasing and their vehicles skidded to an abrupt and seeming unnecessary halt. I looked around all the parking lot entrances and found something we hadn't noticed before coming down the second entrance to the parking lot. It was a Dalcorr Swat Assault Vehicle. Very rarely, meaning so rarely that one could go their entire life without seeing one, did these vehicles ever appear and only appeared in a desperate situation. I knew this vehicle well; maybe not up to date but the basics anyhow since my dad taught me all sorts of military stuff before he decided to ditch me and my mom. It had 5 Dual Malfier Assault Pulse Lasers with an effective rate of fire of about 3 seconds, nano-assember assisted regenerative Armor Plating with a high resistance shield buffer and armor repair systems, several amplifiers of varying sorts that could be modified and exchanged for others depending on the situation, and a power grid, CPU, and energy reservoir that of a small spacecraft. By all practical and intensive purposed in was a spacecraft on wheels. They did have a bit of hilarity to them as well, the best one being that for some reason it was also a 2003 Ford Taurus model vehicle. It was never anything different. The year was 2107 and in all this time they could not find a vehicle as capable, reliable, and as easy to change, upgrade, and modulate as it was. Even better was the fact that all of them were also the Station-Wagon model due to its extra strength and default sturdiness in high speed maneuvering. The only one that existed as the sedan model was of course the Swat Commanders.
I took a quick second to look at Alki which seemed all too fascinated with the situation for him to notice me staring. However my gawking at him didn't last long since I heard the "SAV" coming close and fast. Unlike most vehicles its size, this thing had one gawkable engine. It could go from 0 to 60 in 2.4 seconds and take turns at 1.7G's. It was also equipped with F-27S Modified Industrial Lifter Coils so that it gave a powerful yet sporty flying ability. It also supported a fully functional delta-grade tactical A.I. that managed a impenetrable defense and shield system as well as managed 6 Avlier Pulse Lasers.
"Well hell ain't this fun?" I heard Alki say next to me. I didn't reply for a minute, I was too busy wondering if Alki was a good luck charm since this is the second fun and exciting thing he managed to bring me to today. After what only seemed to be a minute, a simple "yea" is all I managed to say.
As the SAV caught up with the trouble makers they redirected their fire to the peace keepers. Bullets from the auto-cannons were deflected, stopped, shredded and evaporated by the SAV's shields. All you could see was a blue cloud of energy surrounding the vehicle as bullets sprayed in a constant pattern. It was no use however, and the violators J-Turned their vehicle so that they were facing the direction of the SAV and fired additional rounds with more accuracy to no avail.
As the SAV got within 30 feet it charged its laser and fired a single volley. The sound from the turrets was loud, vibrant and deafening. It sounded like no other comparable sound in the world, it wasn't a high pitch sound, but rather a low pulsating sound that matched the turret fire pulses. The criminals car was to say the least thoroughly destroyed to say the least as all six beam contacted the engine compartment, ripping through the shields without even disabling them, and making the car explode in a huge fireball which everyone gawked at including me. Pieces of vehicle evaporated, exploded, and melted on contact. Other pieces burst off the car to land a few feet away. One piece, a part of a door I believe since I didn't get a good look through all the smoke and the blur of the motion, impacted me and threw me into the stores brick wall. The last thing I remember was seeing Alki trying to pull me away from the flying object as it hurdled towards me, but he was too slow. The last thing I felt was a sharp pain slice across the right side of my chest and up shoulder. The last thing I heard was said object shatter a few feet behind me.