FSE

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Here they come. Boiler rose to her feet, but remained in the alley beside the Justice Foundation as the four SUVs roared single-file into the nearby intersection, hung a sharp right and barreled down the street.

She boosted her body into its combat state and everything appeared to go into slow-motion. As they approached, she could make out armored men carrying assault rifles sitting in the back compartments, a half-dozen in each SUV.

When the lead vehicle came within range, she launched from her hiding place and ran full-speed at it. She rammed her shoulder into the driver-side door and tilted the SUV onto its passenger-side tires. The driver had barely enough time to let out a startled grunt before Boiler rolled the vehicle onto its side. It skidded a dozen feet farther, shooting sparks until it ground to a halt.

The second vehicle's driver stomped on the brakes and swerved to the right to avoid a collision. Boiler charged around the first SUV's rear end, yanked the second one's door open, and grabbed the driver's arm.

He wasn't wearing a seatbelt, probably so he could deploy faster when they reached their target. It worked out better for Boiler than it did for him.

She pulled him halfway out of the seat and let go while he was more or less horizontal. He threw his hands out to stop his fall. She grasped the open door with both hands and slammed it on his helmet, putting everything she had into it. The door bent around his head and he tumbled to the pavement, barely conscious.

The two remaining SUVs skidded to a stop.

The passengers in the second one flung the doors open and leaped out to face her. She kicked the rear door shut on the nearest goon, her foot denting it and the impact nearly destroying the hinge. The man's heavier armor withstood the force, but the door ended up hanging at an odd angle. It knocked him off balance long enough for her to move in and finish him off. A punch with her right fist slammed the rifle out of his hands and a roundhouse with her left sent him cartwheeling away.

Everyone else remained on the other side of the vehicle, keeping it between them and her. They snapped their weapons up and she ducked and turned to glance at the SUV she'd rolled. The driver and passengers were still extracting themselves.

Boiler let her body return to normal and drew her BFG. The last thing she needed was to end up trapped between two groups of hostiles. Best to remove one of them as quickly as possible. She moved aside to hit the vehicle from an angle that wouldn't knock it into any of the buildings, and fired a single shot at its center of mass. A huge flash erupted from her gun and blew a hole clean through the SUV. The concussion launched it straight down the street, skidding at first, then going into a roll. Several hostiles, halfway out the doors when the blast hit, practically vomited from the SUV as it tumbled.

It rolled over on one of the men, crushing him and snapping his spine, and flung him from the wreckage as it continued on for several more yards.

A dozen assault rifles drilled the armored SUV behind her. She pulled her wings in tight and stayed where she was long enough to put a shot through the rolling vehicle's gas tank. The entire rear end shredded and burst into flames, getting rid of anyone still inside.

[Boiler,] Lefty's voice came from her comlink implant to Boiler's phone, [Adam, Jamie, and I are almost there.]

"Nice of you to drop in."

[Well, I had no other plans, so I figured, what the hell. Say, you're gonna want to clear out of there. You remember what happens when the bots uncork their coilguns and plasma cannons, right?]

"Oh, yeah. I'm pinned down, but I'll see what I can do." She stood long enough to fire at the hostiles behind her. The blast tore the top off the third SUV and the troops scattered. Boiler turned back to the one she'd incinerated; the guy's who'd been flung through the air were picking themselves up and looking around to get their bearings.

Boiler aimed at the nearest one. "Y'know, it might be a good idea to drop your weapons and surrender."

All three of them whipped their rifles up and aimed at her.

She pulled the trigger and vaporized the top half of the guy's body. And ripped out a large chunk of the pavement behind him. She grimaced. Oops.

The others stared, horrified, as their buddy's flaming legs toppled over.

[We're here, Boiler. Take cover.]

"Hold on a sec," she shouted over the deafening rattle of the near-constant gunfire, shifted her aim to the next man and glared at him.

He stared back at her, but finally tossed his gun away, sank to his knees, and put his hands on the back of his helmet.

Boiler looked at the third guy and raised a brow ridge. He dropped his gun and assumed the position. She nodded and pointed a talon at them. "Stay put."

She turned and backed away until she reached what she hoped was a safe distance. She kicked her gun's setting up a couple notches and fired at the bullet-riddled SUV. It exploded and what was left of it rocketed into the fourth vehicle.

Everyone sprinted away and dived for any cover they could find. Boiler used the momentary distraction to get herself out of the robots' line of fire.

"Okay," she muttered into her phone. "I'm clear. Ruin their shit."

[On it,] Jamie said. [You go on ahead and help the rest of the team while we mop these guys up.]

"Thanks, guys." Boiler spoke into her phone as she ran through the Foundation's front door and down the stairs. "Hoshi, I'm coming in. How're you holding up?"

[We've taken out half of the intruders, but they're equipped with a self-destruct. They're seconds away from detonation.]

Boiler had already reached the door leading to the garage. She grabbed the handle and yanked the door open before Hoshi's words sank in. Boiler froze and her jaw dropped. "What?"

A nearly blinding flash burst halfway across the underground lot and she flinched. The sharp bang echoed through the garage and left her ears ringing, and the concussion almost knocked her off her feet. The light faded and she squinted into the sudden semi-darkness. She caught a glimpse of Machiko and several others picking themselves up and her parents stumbling toward the door.

Another explosion smashed into what was left of Rocky's truck and hurled it straight at Boiler's dad. Before she could move, the wreckage pinned him against the wall a few feet to the left of the door.

She screamed and scrabbled for a handhold on the flaming chunk of metal. She got her talons around a twisted piece of it and pulled, flinging it aside as if it weighed next to nothing. She dropped to her knees beside him and rolled him over gently. Her heart pounded and she could barely breathe.

He moaned and coughed, but then he passed out completely.

Still alive, at least. Boiler let out a quick sigh and looked around for her mothers. She found Taura a few feet away, pushing herself up to her hands and knees and shaking her head. A couple yards beyond her, Corona lay pinned under the remains of another car.

Boiler scrambled over to her and flung the debris away. Corona snapped upright and looked around frantically with wide, terrified eyes. She sucked in several gasping breaths and looked up at the ceiling to make sure it wasn't collapsing on her.

"You okay, Mom?" Boiler shook Corona's shoulder gently to get her attention. Corona stared at her for several seconds before she finally pulled herself together.

"Uh...I think so." She crawled over to Taura, who nodded and waved her off.

"I'm good. Where's Jack?"

Boiler pointed and her mothers rushed over to him.

"He's alive, but knocked out," Boiler said, then spoke into her phone. "How bad is it? Is anyone seriously hurt?"

[We're alive,] Machiko responded. [That's all I can say for certain, right now. Your parents?]

"The same."

[The rest of the disabled zombies haven't blown yet, but they will any second now, and the rest of them are still active. We need to get out of here.]

[All of our cars are trashed,] Rocky cut in. [There's too much wreckage between us and the stairwell for us to get through.]

[What about your car, Jack? Is it still intact?]

"Should be," Corona grunted as she gently picked him up. "It's parked down the street."

[You go back up the stairs; we'll leave through the main entrance and meet you outside. Then you'll get Winslow out of here. I'll send you the location of a safe house.]

"I'll take care of the rest of the zombies." Boiler drew her BFG and cranked its setting up three more notches.

[Just don't blow the foundation out from under the building with that thing. See you all topside.]

"Boiler, wait." Corona put a hand on Boiler's arm. "You're not armored up like we are. If one of those things blows up too close to you--"

"Believe me, I've survived worse." She patted Corona's hand and nodded at the stairwell door. "Go."

#

Son of a bitch. Otto groaned and tried to push himself up, but an enormous weight on his back kept him pinned to the concrete floor. The darkness in the corner of his eye flickered with reflected orange light from burning cars and trucks all around him. The only sounds he could make out were moans, screams, shouting, and the continuing rattle of gunfire.

One voice in particular cried out again, and jolted him fully back to consciousness.

"Shakira!" he wheezed, then couldn't draw another breath. The weight on him jammed him into the floor and pressed down on his chest. It felt like a goddamned wall had collapsed on him.

Shakira screamed again.

Giving in to panic, Otto forced more air into his lungs and let out a scream of his own. He braced his hands on the floor and pushed with everything he had, but what was left of his rational mind knew it wouldn't work.

The top half of his body tingled, followed by the sensation of something passing through him--he couldn't have described it even if he hadn't just been caught in the middle of multiple explosions. Before he could begin to ponder it, it was over--and he flopped onto his back.

What? He sat upright, looked around, and found his shirt sticking out from under a slab of concrete. He glanced down at himself. Yep. Topless. What the hell?

He shook his head and pushed himself back to his feet. Worry about that later. Shakira's hurt. Where is she?

She screamed again, and didn't stop. He bolted in the direction her voice seemed to be coming from, straining his ears to focus on her through the roaring gunfire.

"Shakira?" He coughed, braced his hands on his knees until he regained control of himself, and continued onward. "Shakira!"

He caught glimpses of several others, illuminated briefly by burning wreckage. Rocky emptying her gun into one of the cyber-zombies while keeping her other hand clamped over the side of her beak, blood trickling out from under her palm. Machiko in the midst of a brutal hand-to-hand battle with another, taking a pounding from its cybernetically-augmented arms but standing her ground, finally managing to shove a grenade into its mouth and land a kick that sent it staggering toward the far wall. Shadow lifting the bed of a truck off Winslow, flinging it aside, and picking him up.

Machiko's grenade detonated. The flash lit up the zombie's lower torso and the scattering remains of its head and chest for a split second.

Otto clenched his teeth, braced himself for another zombie self-destruct blast, and continued his search.

"Shakira!"

"Otto...." Her voice trailed off, followed by a weak moan and weeping. Barely audible, but just enough for him to zero in on her.

An arm stuck out from under the twisted remains of a car, her dark skin blending in with the shadows. He would've missed it without the light from nearby flames.

The sight of it froze him in his tracks. He gasped, sobbed, and dashed over to her. He clamped onto the metal and heaved it off her. A fraction of his mind wondered how he could've moved it, but the rest pushed the question aside. All that mattered was getting Shakira out of this mess.

"I'm here." He held her hand and stroked her cheek. "Can you--"

She turned to look at him, gripping his hand and pressing her other palm against her left cheek. The side of her face was covered with blood and a pool of it had begun to form under her.

"Christ," Otto groaned.

"Help--" Her right eye flicked toward something behind him and she screamed again.

He looked over his shoulder and found one of the zombies bearing down on him, shoving a fresh clip into its rifle and taking aim.

Otto moved without thinking, springing at the abomination and grabbing at the rifle. The zombie lifted him, turned, and swung him into a support pillar. The back of his skull struck the pillar and blinding pain ripped through his head. His hands slipped from the gun and he dropped like a rock. He nearly faded out after the impact with the floor, but pushed himself up and tried to find the zombie.

It had turned back to Shakira and raised its gun.

No...! He lunged forward, but slumped over before he could get back to his feet. He blinked and shook his head. Come on, don't pass out now!

He forced his eyes open and found a pistol in front of him, barely a foot away. He dragged himself forward and scooped it up. It was big, with an extra-large trigger guard for a typical draconid talon. Maybe Rocky or Machiko had dropped it.

He aimed at the zombie...and froze.

Come on! Pull the goddamn trigger!

His hand shook and he clamped his other one around it to steady his aim.

Come on, it's just like playing a first-person shooter. Just pull the fucking trigger already!

The zombie placed the red dot from its laser sight in the center of Shakira's forehead and began to squeeze the trigger.

Otto screamed and clenched his finger. The recoil kicked the gun upward and he tightened his grip to keep it from flying out of his hands.

The zombie's head burst into tiny fragments, some of them splattering him before he could turn away. He squeezed his eyes shut, then forced them open again. The sight that greeted him nearly made him piss his pants.

The zombie was still standing over Shakira, still aiming its gun at her.

Shakira screamed and tried to scoot away while keeping her left hand pressed against her face.

The decapitated cyborg emptied its clip and the hail of bullets drilled into the pavement mere inches above Shakira's head--she had barely moved far enough before the thing had pulled the trigger. Since it could no longer see or hear her, it had simply fired at her last known location.

Motherfucker! Otto steadied his aim and fired one shot after another into the zombie's back, blasting chunks of skin, bone, muscle, and innards away. One bullet finally hit a vital piece of hardware and bits of metal and plastic flew out of its chest. It toppled over and twitched for a few more seconds.

Otto sobbed and let his gun clatter to the floor. He rushed over to Shakira and slipped her arm over his shoulders, helping support her weight.

"Come on. We gotta get out of here before that thing blows!"

#

"He's still unconscious," Corona said as they reached his car.

Taura opened the hearse's rear door and aimed a frightened look at her. "Neither of us know how to drive."

"Can't wait for Jack to wake up." Corona lifted him into the car and placed him gently on the floor. She stroked his cheek before rushing over to the driver-side door. "Guess I'll have to learn now."

"Oh, boy." Taura climbed in, closed the rear door, and poked at the holographic field still hovering in front of her. "I'll link my armor up with Jack's and see if I can get any injury data from its diagnostic systems."

"Okay." Corona squeezed into the seat and found her knees jutting up high enough to be an obstruction. She fumbled for the seat control, found it, and frowned. "It's not working. Oh! Keys!"

Taura dug through the pouches on Jack's utility belt until she found his keys. She passed them to Corona and said, "I just finished the diagnostic; no broken bones, but he's got a few bruises and probably a concussion."

"Good thing Machiko made us wear this armor, after all. Without it--well, I don't even want to think about it." Corona inserted the key, turned it, and moved her seat back and down until she was no longer scrunched into the compartment. She shifted around, trying to get her tail into a comfortable position, gave up, sighed, and took a moment to remember how Jack started the engine.

Okay. Press the clutch in first, I think? She did so, and gave the key a full turn.

The engine rumbled to life and she let a long breath rush out.

"Here goes nothing." She released the parking brakes, made sure the gear shift was in first, and took her foot off the clutch. The car slammed forward and the engine stalled. "Oh, shit!"

"I think I saw Jack pushing down on the gas and letting the clutch up slowly," Taura said after she'd picked herself up.

"Worth a try." Corona started the engine again, took a deep breath, and did as Taura had suggested. The hearse lurched forward but didn't stall. Corona slumped back in her seat and eased the car toward the Foundation headquarters.

"This car isn't that old," Taura muttered. "I wonder why it's not an automatic?"

"Jack told me that the guy who used to own it made a lot of modifications, including turning it into a manual. Dunno why." Corona passed slowly by Lefty, Mickey, the two spider-tank robots, and the half-dozen enemy troops they'd arrested. Mickey noticed her in the driver's seat and arched an eyebrow. She shrugged. "Taura, we need to wake Jack up. I've known how to drive for about thirty seconds; if someone takes another shot at us while we're transporting Winslow, I'll probably end up getting us killed."

"The armor's built-in first-aid system should have something that'll work."

"Who the fuck is driving my car?" Jack mumbled.

Taura gasped and leaned over him. "Welcome back, honey." She patted his cheek. "Come on, don't fade out again."

Corona parked at the underground garage entrance and glanced into the mirror. "You had us worried for a while, babe."

Jack grimaced and forced his eyes open. "What the hell happened?"

"An explosion blew Rocky's truck into you, smashed you against a wall, and pinned you underneath."

He took several seconds to let that sink in. "Fuck." He stared at her. "Wait...you're driving?"

"We weren't sure how long you'd be out." She set the parking brakes and turned the engine off. "You feel up to driving? We need to get Winslow out of here."

"Might not be a good idea." He winced and shook his head.

"Yours is the only car that's still in one piece."

"Guess I don't have much choice, then." He sighed and crawled over to the rear door. "Let's get this over with."

#

In the corner of his eye, Corona gasped and covered the end of her muzzle with her hand.

Now what? Jack turned to look past her and found the rest of the team emerging from the garage door, some of them limping and others bleeding. Rocky looked like her beak had been cracked wide open and a blood stain had spread out from a hole in the front of her shirt.

Jack spotted Shakira at the rear of the group, barely standing, with Otto trying to hold her up. The left side of her face was covered with blood and she kept her hand pressed tight against it, as if trying to keep it from falling off.

"She looks like some shrapnel tore her face up," Taura muttered, staring with her mouth hanging open. She shook herself out of it and spoke into her helmet mic. "Has anyone requested a med-evac yet?"

[Already done,] Hoshi replied. [The ambulances should be here any moment.]

Wincing, Jack limped toward them as Machiko strode to the front of the group. She pointed at Ramirez and Montoya.

"As soon as the ambulances leave with the wounded, you escort the civilians to a safe place."

"I'm staying with Shakira." The look on Otto's face indicated he wouldn't accept a no from anyone.

"Okay, that leaves Hiro. Get him out of the combat zone." She turned to Jack and the girls. "Take Winslow to a safe house. I'll send you the location once you're on the road. The zombies' self-destruct wiped out whatever evidence we might've gotten from the bodies, so he's all we've got until we can dig the project files out of the ADS server."

Shadow dragged Winslow over to Corona and pushed him toward her. "You'd better not be more trouble than you're worth," she snapped at him before rejoining Machiko.

Machiko turned to Hoshi, pointed at the handcuffed hostiles, and continued issuing orders. "You and Lefty lock those assholes up. Adam, Jamie, keep monitoring the traffic cams. If any suspicious vehicles approach, warn them off. If they ignore you, and if they're carrying more armed troops, shoot to kill."

Corona lifted Winslow with one hand and pushed him into the back of the hearse.

Taura started to climb in after him, but paused to take Jack's hand and say, "Are you sure you're feeling up to this?"

"I have to." He shrugged. "I'll be okay."

She leaned over to kiss him, crawled through the door and closed it.

Machiko turned to Shadow and said, "I'm sending you to the safe house. Make sure it's secure and keep an eye on things until they arrive with Winslow. Then you'll babysit him while they meet up with us."

"You want me to--"

"You're not my first choice because of how your relationship with him turned out, but right now there's no one else. The rest of us are going to hit ADS as soon as Winslow's secured. If we wait any longer, they might move or delete the files we need." She glanced at Jack and the girls. "Get moving. After you drop him off, meet us at the ADS building."

"Let's go." Corona gave Jack a kiss and climbed into the shotgun seat. Jack took the driver's seat and frowned.

What the hell? I can't reach the pedals.

"Oh, sorry," Corona said. "I had to move the seat back so I could fit into it."

He nodded, readjusted the seat, and started the engine.

[We've got vehicles approaching,] Adam said. [They're similar to the ones we just intercepted here.]

Jack snarled a stream of profanity and launched down the street. An address appeared in his HUD and he made a left turn. As he plotted out the shortest route in his head, Jamie sent a message that made his heart twitch.

[Guys, the vehicles are changing course. I think they're following Jack's car.]

"Goddamn it!" Jack snapped.

[They're going around our position. Looks like they're following you.]

Jack clenched his teeth and tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

Corona sighed. "Well, we'll have to lose 'em, then. Either that, or lure them into an uninhabited part of the city where we can take 'em out without any innocents being hurt."

Jack clamped his right hand onto the gear shift, glanced at Corona, and looked into the rearview mirror to meet Taura's gaze. He faced forward, took a long breath, and grumbled.

"Fasten your fuckin' seatbelts."