Enforcers/4

Japan 2230hours 23/10/01-
“ This is bullshit,” mutters Sabrina as they trudged through the liquid that rode up to their shins. “ Why the hell do those blokes get to stay up there, where it’s nice and dry and us here?”

“ Maybe Baz knew he shouldn’t send a man to do a woman’s job,” mutters Hayley as she glances over the faded lighting on the curves of the sewer pipe, she looks over the PDC. She presses the button on her belt and the image of the overalls dissappear, the colours change as the top and jeans knit together to form a drab black jumpsuit. She pulls the hood over. The PDC beeps.

“ Shit,” mutters Yolz, her eyes reading the screen.

COPS ARE ALREADY THERE. HACK TO SECURITY INFIELD- BAZ.

“ Oh great, why doesn’t he just call it off?” snaps Mandy.

“ Because he needs the info. He wouldn’t send us to commit suicide,” says Hayley. “ I know the guy, went to my high school.”

“ Oh, that’s reassuring,” says Sabrina, tapping into the PDC. “ Shit he’s right. Six teams, all up there.”

“ Where?” whispers Yolanda.

Sabrina glances at the outlet. “ Right above us.”

“ Right,” says Yolz.

Sabrina taps and the image of a team of TACT SQUAD team-members, decked out in pale grey suits with the flag of Japan strapped to their backs, holding massive rifles. There’s five men there. Suddenly one falls through the floor.

Sabrina looks beside her to see Yolz and Hayley come down, bricks and mortar falling in from above as two greysuits come falling on top of them.

There a dozen shots rung out, the girls turning and spinning against the side as bullets splash into the water. One splashes against her leg.

“ Oi! I just got this cleaned!” yells Mandy.

Sabrina grabs out a black cylinder and fires, the blue bolt slamming through the Synthmetal like paper, the men fall.

A greysuit runs up and Yolanda fires a shot at his head, the blue bolt absorbing into his skull, his head reels back and sags.

“ That’ll knock him out for a few minutes,” says Sabrina. “ Remember zero body count.”

“ Yeah? Tell that to Baz,” mutters Hayley, leaping up and hoisting herself into the room above. Yolanda and Sabrina help Mandy up, as they jump up after her. They appear to be in a room where pipes and electrical wiring meshes line the walls, a sewer service entrance still closed above them.

“ One team down, five to go,” says Yolanda, pumping the chaos shotgun. Suddenly an alarm begins to blare.

“ Come on girls, next stop, top floor,” says Hayley.

They hurry down the corridor, lined with rows of lighting, beginning to go a dull red. Security shields begin to slide down. They run faster, puffing as they duck low, keeping together. The shield in front of them closes fully. Mandy straps her PDC into the security pass and presses a button.

“ Damn, you can tell the Zychas have done up this joint,” she says.

“ Time for the hardware,” says Sabrina, pulling out a black auto. A coarse orange beam slams against the shield, the metal glowing and dripping as she cuts a whole section off, emergency gas jets begin spurting out a heavy smoke, but the metal clatters to the ground.

They run through, the gas billowing in their wake as they scramble down into an open corridor. A door opens and another team of greysuits come over. Hayley fires, blasts of blue slamming into the greys. One of them staggers back but then comes forward.

“ Calibration armour,” says Yolanda, slamming her leg over at the guy, grabbing the Synthmetal and slamming him against the wall. Hayley turns the muzzle of the gun, firing a red halo of light around the synth.

Mandy fires another blue bolt in, this one slamming through the suit, the face inside unconscious.

“ C’mon, time’s a wasting,” says Sabrina, grabbing the gun and burning the hole through a second shield.

2246hours-
“ Ryan, get the hell in here,” yells Hayley onto the PDC. “ Already inside, shush,” hisses Ryan as Isoroku snaps his head around. Ryan stands at attention as the rest of the ground crew is gathered up inside the lobby. “ We have infiltration, and your men are dropping like flies,” spits Gregson, his face red. “ Letting them breech here is not an option. Shoot them. Shoot them now.” “ But you said that you wanted them alive?” asks an officer. “ Did I ask you to speak?!” screams Isoroku at the officer. The officer is silent, April glances at Martin. Ryan looks over the black marble floor, at the pillars and the C-shaped registration desk, at the elevators. He holds down a button. “ Isoroku. Leave him. We have now more important things to deal with. What these terrorists are capable of is obviously much destructive force. Cyprus does not negotiate under any circumstances. I didn’t order your men to shoot because I did not expect these terrorists to be the same as those mentioned on the news. Now I know that they are the same, based on what readouts from the monitoring system, I want them dead. These terrorists are a threat to not only our security but the World Tribunual.” Gregson turns to Isoroku and then to Nick and the others. “ Captain, lead this crew with what remains upstairs. I know where they want to go. Station all men at floor 36. Use the stairs. Knowing these terrorists they will probably use the elevators. The elevators are all monitored with laserfields and impenetrable stations, any firing of any weapons will trigger the lifts to shut down automatically.” Ryan held down on the transmission button as he glanced at the PDC, the image of Hayley running from Mandy’s PDC transmission bobbing up and down. They had the full suits on, hoods and all, their faces covered. They looked like ninjas. They headed into a shaft as red laser slammed into a shield. There was a pause as they plugged the PDCs into a terminal, the image pausing and shifting as a blast was sent through the wall terminal. A pair of double doors hissed open. A second alarm began to sound. Ryan looked up as the officers wheeled around to the registration booth, where the large screen behind it showed the interior of the elevator shaft, there were footsteps as a Synthmetal team ran in. Gregson smiled as the cables stopped moving. Sabrina pressed a button on her PDC, still connected to the terminal and the screen filled with white, the lights blacked out and flickered and the cables began moving again. There was a shot as the magnetic grappling hooks fired out and caught on the rising cables, the girls turning and rising up into the air. “ STOP THEM!” yells Gregson. A bunch of greysuits ran to the elevator doors, one plugging his PDC into the wall terminal. The doors hissed open. “ Would they be in that one?” asks Martin. “ Shouldn’t be,” says Nick as one of the Synthmetal holds out a portable searchlight. Light floods the shaft. Suddenly the doorframe falling inwards with a section of the wall as men fell backward with the chaos explosion. The lights dim and go red, alarms sounding. “ You idiots!” yells Gregson, he turns to Isoroku. “ Send all your men to the top floor. I want them all, bring them!” He points at Nick and the others. “ Bring them! You four! Go! GO!” “ You heard him! Let’s go!” yells an officer in Japanese. They turn and hurry down the corridor and to a second pair of double doors that swing open. They enter into the cage and stand there as it rises. The four officers beside them take out their magnums and check the magazines. Ryan glances at Nick, who nods. They nod. Ryan, Martin, April and Nick slam their hands against the other four officers, pushing them up against the wall, firing the blue bolts at them, the guns dropping onto the floor. “ Cool, a Japanese police magnum. I never had one of these,” says Ryan as Martin stops the lift and opens the door, throwing the four guards onto an empty floor. They step in and continue up. “ Okay, we got ten minutes, let’s do it,” says Nick.

2302hours-
Floor by floor hurtles down beside them as they hold onto the grappling hooks. “ Floor thirty six in five… four… three… two… one!” yells Yolz. Sabrina and Mandy fire at the door, the bullets slamming against the security console, which bursts. They leap at the door, pressing release buttons, the magnetic cuffs whipping back from the cables onto their handgrips. They throw the cuffs forward which stick to the wall, they hold there. Hayley swings up and grabs the door, firing the red laser around the edges, she kicks the door open. “ Hope they have insurance,” mutters Mandy as Hayley pulls them in. “ Let’s hope they don’t, set the Zychas back a few months,” says Sabrina as they hurry along the cubicles and work stations. There are hundreds of computer terminals, their screens glowing blue. “ Shit, we’re in the wrong spot,” says Yolanda. “ Indeed we are,” says Nick, stepping out with Martin, dressed in black jumpsuits, hoods pulled over. “ Just did a search program. Nada on here.” “ Must be top floor, where else would it be?” asks Mandy. Suddenly a door slams open and a dozen greysuits run in, yelling. Bullets fire out, slashing into the terminals. The six throw themselves down onto the ground as laserfire rips into the plywood and glass of the cubicles. They crawl along on the floor, Martin shooting off from the fusion laser, explosions of yellow and red forming as the greysuits lunged back. “ Zero body count remember Martin,” says Mandy. “ Don’t worry, he’ll remember, someday,” says Nick, smiling under the hood. “ How was the sewers?” “ Oh shutup,” mutters Hayley. “ Get a room you two lovebirds.” “ Touchy, touchy,” scolds Nick as an explosion of cubicle and floor turns into a cloud of haze as April and Ryan shoot out from the chaos guns. “ Mate, watch it on the ammunition, we want to steal data, not cause a body pileup,” says Sabrina. “ Oh be quiet,” mutters Ryan as he turns and fires again at the greysuits. Curses in Japanese spring out into the air. “ Language!” yells Yolz, turning to Hayley. “ What the hell do we do now?” Her PDC beeps again. GET OUT OF THERE- BAZ. “ Oh great! Shouldn’t you have told us that earlier?” yells Sabrina. I DID. YOU FORGOT TO PAY ATTENTION. KEEP YOUR VOICES DOWN- BAZ. “ Big Bazza is watching,” notes Nick. “ Shut up, we have bigger problems at hand,” snaps Hayley. Suddenly light pierces out from the large bay windows, they turn to see two police attack Gyrocopters outside. “ So it seems,” mutters Mandy. “ RUN!” yells April as machine gun-fire shoots into the building. The windows collapse, the green police Gyro in front of them, two police officers with MPKs fire at them. Yolanda fires the shotgun, the Gyro climbing higher. Yolanda fires the shot, one slamming into the Gyrocopter side engines. The vehicle careens over to the side, heading closer to the building. The Gyro’s blades slam into the building, glass exploding out onto the street as a massive fireball spreads across the storey. “ Man, the Zychas are gonna be pissed!” yells Ryan. “ What about the occupants?!” yells Mandy frantically. Nick points to three parachutes opening and falling slowly towards the ground, one landing on a nearby rooftop. “ Well, that takes out the fiftieth floor,” says Nick. “ It wasn’t at the top,” says Martin. “ We can still make the call.” “ Now? After that? By that explosion it might go WTC on our asses!” yells Sabrina. “ Yeah, and we might’ve just missed out on finding hard evidence linking the Zychagrophoids to their latest mission to snub out the human race!” yells Nick. “ Strange,” mutters a voice. They glance up to see several greysuits, backed by Captain Imoroku standing there, guns drawn. “ Because the only thing I see wiped out, is you.”

2218hours-
The lift passes up the fortieth floor, the burning wreckage of the Gyro had stained a quarter of the building, the rest was isolated as concentrated extinguishing jets were applied to the blaze. Since the WTC tragedy of 2001, all buildings were designed with automatic lockdown, defence weapons and extinguishing systems. “ Don’t you try to pull anything,” says Imoroku. He slips a card into a slot, side panels moving up, revealing short barrels. “ Automatic shock bolts.” The greysuits beside them say nothing, their weapons being looked over by the Synths. The lift stops at the fiftieth and the doors open into an enormous office. The light from the desk illuminates Gregson’s features. “ Alive, as ordered,” says Imoroku. “ All weapons confiscated.” “ Good,” says Gregson, gesturing to his sides, where ten figures stand. Around the room are a number of couches and tables. “ Tell your men to evacuate the building. They are no longer needed.” “ My men are here to keep the peace and to ensure your safety,” says Imoroku. “ Several of them are missing, but we shall find them…” “ These terrorists are dangerous, already they have killed seventeen of your men,” says Gregson. “ Bullshit, we never killed them,” snaps April, her voice dark and distorted through the hood. Gregson flicks a button and the wall behind him flashes to the scenes of the smouldering lower levels, ash and blood spread throughout the floors. “ You’re a bastard Ghargros. You know that?” mutters Nick. “ Silence,” spits Gregson. He turns to Imoroku, who’s face is pale and he’s shaking. “ Leave Imoroku. Go home to your wife and family. These men are now Cyprus’s problems which we will deal with. I assure you.” Imoroku’s face hardens. “ These terrorists have committed genocide on Nippon soil. They will be dealt with by our terms. We will not stop them by killing them,” he says. “ Are you so certain?” asks Gregson, the screen moving to the recorded shots of figures in black jumpsuits shooting the greysuits. The ten other officers stiffened as they looked over the close ups of the men burning. The image flickered off. “ You fucking sadist!” curses Mandy. “ You fucking bastard!” “ You see how insulting these characters are. Tell your men to leave the building. My men are well armed to deal with this kind of scum,” snaps Gregson. The greysuits look over at the ten other Zychas, holding large rifles with green lights flashing on and off. GET OUT OF THERE. USE WHATEVER MEANS NECESSARY –BAZ. “ We cannot do that without confirmation from our headquarters,” says Captain Imoroku. “ The Tokyo Police Force has given me their confirmation. I will show you in writing. I’m telling you that our men can deal with it. If they end up dead we’ll give you any information we can gather on them,” says Gregson firmly. He turns to the greysuits. “ Leave us.” The ten greysuits stand still. Martin glances over himself, his hand fumbling inside the lip of his jeans. He finds a grey cylinder and tucks it out into his hand. The greysuits stand there. Gregson sighs. “ Okay fire at will,” says Gregson. Imoroku turns as the ten guards aim their guns and fire single shots at the guards, sending them reeling back into the lifts. One pulls out his gun. “ NO!” yells Hayley. The laserfire shoots over the guards. They collapse in a heap, blood staining the walls. “ Now look at what you made me do,” says Gregson. “ I told your men to leave.” Imoroku fires his gun, the metal slugs slamming into him. Gregsons stands still, glancing over his shirt, yellow stains on his chest. “ This was a new shirt,” he says. He comes over to Imoroku and places his hands on his shoulders. “ It’s a good thing I’m not human.” His fingers extend, the claws slashing into his neck, purple tendrils ripping into his gugulars. He collapses. “ Always too much honour. Darn Japanese,” he says. “ Always has to believe in the right of the land. Fortunately you don’t believe in that do you gentlemen.” He smiles. “ Now to business. Shoot them.”

2231hours-
“ Whoa! Whoa!” says Nick, holding open his hands. “ Gentlemen, can’t there be some kind of a deal?” “ You bloody prick!” yells Ryan. “ The information you stole will do,” says Ghargros, his long fingers plastered in purple scales adjusting on the bench. “ Oh… that,” says Nick. “ I don’t think you’ll be able to get that,” says Martin, stepping forward. “ Already your data is being transmitted.” “ Oh, then I guess I’ll just shoot you then,” says Ghargros. “ As I said before, I don’t think so,” says Yolanda, nodding at Martin as he holds up the cylinder. Ghargros pauses. “ This is a fission-fusion grenade, capable of vaporising a two storey building in less than a minute,” snaps Sabrina. “ Really? That should be enough time, considered it’s not armed,” snaps Ghargros, he turns to the ten guards. “ Give them pain.” “ We don’t do pain,” says Nick. “ Do you want the data or should be deliver it to the press?” Ghargros pauses. “ I see. My my my you little shits do give me a hard time. What is this… the third company you’re going to destroy?” “ Whatever pulls you guys down,” says Yolz. “ You won’t win, Gharg.” “ On the contrary, my dear. I think we will,” says Gharg. Sabrina glances at Yolz and then over at the others. She glances at the others and then to her belt. She taps onto her wristband. The others glance at the other’s PDCs as the message appears. “ I suggest that you all give up any attempts to escape,” says Ghargros as he gestures his long fingers to the other ten. “ We are quite well armed and will quickly take care of you soon.” “ Maybe, but this says otherwise,” says Martin, holding up the cylinder again, he twists it to the left and holds it open, a green light emitting. “ I drop this, this whole building goes nova.” Ghargros stares at them. “ Either way, you’re dead. There’s little I will have to worry about…” says Ghargros. Sabrina reaches to her back and throws out a pellet, the smoke hisses out into a cloud. One by one the holographs flash on, each member disappearing from view. The figures fire as they fall back to the floor, Mandy and Yolanda leaping back and grabbing the bags, the red laser slamming into one of the men. He stands there, three yellow lines across his chest, then it falls to pieces. The other characters fire, blasts slamming into the floor as April chucks over the guns to the others. Martin twists the timer to two minutes on the bomb and rolls it across the floor. Yolanda whips around, a chaos bolt slamming into the desk, Ghargros leaping back as the desk bursts into a hail of splinters. Blam. Blam. Another two men fall as bolts burst into their torso. The others huddle behind the furniture as blasts rip into the green leather, stuffing flying into the air. Nick and Hayley fire at the window, the glass bursting open in shards. Two more chaos bolts slam into the lowering steel shield. The air shoots around them, sleet and wind howling around them. The seven remaining figures stand there, their tailored suits wet and bloody. Sabrina and Yolanda empty their weapons into them as Ghargros gets up. Martin glances at the timer readout on the PDC. “ Thirty seconds!” he yells. “ NOW!” yells Ryan. They run out, the four remaining fire as they leap out into space, their limbs flying as they pull out the grapple hooks, the magnetic clips fly out in front of them as they fall near the building across the street. The grapple hook connects onto the metal and they grab onto each other as the fiftieth to forty-fifth floors erupt into one enormous fireball, spreading out into brilliant light as shrapnel and glass go flying out into space behind them. A bunch of Gyros pull up as they swing over into the thirtieth floor of the building, April and Mandy shooting at the glass. They break into an office space, the shards falling around them as the top levels of Cyprus go up in smoke. “ Oh God, I hope those guys got out alright!” coughs out Mandy as she looks over the burning flames of the building. “ Come on, we have bigger things to worry about,” says Yolz, grabbing each other up and they run.