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14
Raptor turned to look at the screaming woman in the game store. “I’m going to be ass-deep in civilians for a few, Tank. Can you handle it?”
“I can get a visual on him in under two, Raptor,” Lone Star said.
“Get there,” she said, then stepped to the front of the store. “Is anyone else hurt?” she asked.
“Reggie’s dead!” a blonde girl shrieked. She was kneeling by the boy who was leaking blood from several small-caliber bullet holes. Her blue shirt was spattered in blue, and some of her co-worker’s blood was in her hair. Raptor knew all too well how nightmarish the girl’s next shower was going to be.
Raptor stepped past the stricken girl and examined the downed terrorist. She pulled off his ski mask and looked down at the brown-haired face of a twenty something white man. “Goddammit,” she muttered. Another domestic. It’s like they’re breeding assholes somewhere in my country.
“What the fuck did you people do?” Came an angry voice behind her. Sheila stood and saw a red-faced man in a dress shirt embroidered with the mall’s logo on his chest. He was a tall, fit man with perfect teeth. Raptor hated him on sight, thinking back to a guy she dated who had teeth like that. He was a dick. And this mall manager wasn’t starting off much better.
“We saved a lot of lives, is what we people did, sir,” Sheila said, stepping forward to meet him before he got too close to the scene and slipped in the blood. “This van was driven by a group of gunmen who came here to injure as many of your customers as possible. We have eliminated the threat, but in the process, a young man was killed by one of the attackers.”
“Yeah, that’s what they’re going to say,” a fat balding man with a thick walrus mustache shouted from the relative safety of a dozen feet away. “Government assholes come in here, get this kid killed because they’re all inept idiots, and now we’re supposed to just believe what they say. Don’t be sheep! Hold these fascists accountable!” A crowd was gathering, getting angry now that their lives were no longer in imminent danger. Raptor stepped back, slipping on the blood herself, but catching her balance before she went down.
“This doesn’t sound good, Raptor,” Breaker muttered, stepping up alongside her. “People, we need you to step back. There will be a full investigation of this vehicle and these men, and we need you to cooperate so we can find out where they came from and what they were doing here.”
“What about Reggie?” The blonde screeched again, drawing it out to sound like Reg-geeeeeee. “He’s dead, and it’s all your fault!”
“She’s right,” Walrus mustache said. “You got that boy killed! Now I’m making a citizen’s arrest!” The burly man stepped forward, with two others close behind. They froze as Raptor raised her submachine gun and pointed it at the lead man’s face.
“Don’t make a mistake you can’t undo, friend,” Raptor said.
Breaker put his hand on her shoulder. “Raptor, maybe we need to step things down a notch.”
“Yeah, Breaker, that’s a good idea. Maybe all these motherfuckers need to step down a notch. Maybe they need to look at the fucking automatic weapon these guys carried when they drove their fucking van through the doors, and thank their lucky stars there’s only one dead civilian.”
“Not helping, Raptor,” Breaker said, his voice suddenly sharp.
Sheila shook herself and lowered her MP-5. “Shit. I’m sorry, Breaker, you’re right.” Raising her voice, she called out “Everyone please calm down. Take at least one step back from the vehicle and the bodies, and let us investigate the scene.”
A shopping bag from Pier 1 Imports sailed through the air and smacked into Raptor’s robotic shoulder. She heard a crash of glass, and her head was engulfed in the smell of spice and orange as the scented candles within shattered. A yell went up from the crowd, and other packages began to fly through the air at them.
“We gotta get out of here, Raptor,” Breaker said. “If we don’t, we’re going to have to hurt civilians.”
“They’re scared, Breaker. Most of these people have never seen violence like this, and it’s rattled them. But you’re right,” she ducked to avoid a CD whizzing my her head. “They still sell those?” She asked.
“Okay, fuck this,” Raptor said. She dropped her MP-5 into its sling and snapped her wings into the open position. She grabbed Breaker by the belt and back of his collar and lifted straight up into the air, making a beeline for the wrecked skylight.
“That’s right, you government puppets! Run from freedom-loving Americans!” Walrus Mustache shouted.
Raptor cast a glance behind them, trying to log the man’s face in her memory, and what she saw there chilled her. He was screaming, shaking his fists in the air, just like the other members of their terrified mob. But for the barest instant, Raptor saw the anger drop away from his face like a veil, and he smirked at her. Then he raised two fingers to his brow in a mocking salute, and resumed his chanting and screaming.
Raptor flew through the skylight and deposited Breaker on the roof. “What’s your situation, Tank?”
“Not good, boss,” the big man replied. “I’m kinda stuck between a rock and a minivan.”
“What the fuck are you talking about, Tank?” Raptor asked. “Lone Star, what the fuck is he talking about?”
“I think he means that he stopped the other van from getting into the mall, but now he’s in kind of a tight spot,” Lone Star said.
Raptor hoisted Breaker into the air again and flew toward the other pair. “Would you two stop pussyfooting around and tell me what the fuck is going on over there? Never mind, I see you,” Raptor said as Tank came into view. The big man was leaning against the front end of a light gray minivan, pressing his shoulder into the grill. The van’s tired kicked up smoke as the driver mashed the accelerator, but the vehicle didn’t budge.
“Lone Star, where are you?” Raptor called, then heard the crack-crack-crack as the sniper put three rounds into the engine block of the van. It sputtered out, and Tank dropped the front of the vehicle with a crash and a groan. The van’s doors flew open, and armed men spilled out onto the asphalt. One pointed an AR-15 at Tank, but the big man just charged forward and slammed the attacked to the ground. Two quick punches, and the terrorist was out.
Lone Star’s rifle spat twice, and the man from the passenger seat dropped in a heap. That left four men running toward the mall entrance with assault rifles at the ready. Raptor swooped down and deposited Breaker in front of them, then flew straight into one of the men, her talons extended. He went down in a spray of blood, both carotid arteries severed, as well as most of the rest of his neck. Breaker opened fire on the three remaining men without missing a beat, and his heavy slugs tore them all in half.
Raptor flew up to do a quick scan of the parking lot, but saw no more hostiles. Anyone bent on attacking her team had either reconsidered their plan, or was already dead. She landed in front of the minivan and retracted her wings. “Lone Star, cover me.”
“You got it, boss.”
“Breaker, keep an eye on those doors. I don’t want to deal with a mob.”
“You mean another mob,” Viper drawled over comm. “They’re still pretty riled up in here. The rent-a-cops have kept them peaceful so far, but you definitely don’t want these guys getting sight of you.”
“Can you get to us, Viper?” Raptor asked.
“Negative, Ghost Rider, the pattern is full.” The skinny man quoted. “But they can’t tell I’m TECH, so I can bail in a few minutes and meet you back at base.”
“I’ve got a feeling we don’t have a few minutes, Viper,” Blackout said. “Local PD is on the way.”
“That’s fine,” Raptor said. “We’re the good guys.”
“Don’t be naive, dear,” Whisper’s voice cut through the chatter. “It’s unbecoming in a lady. I have a helo inbound. It’s landing at the end of the parking lot in sixty seconds. Anyone not on it is on their own.”
“I can live with that,” Viper said.
“Get your ass to the chopper, or I’ll detonate your implants, Viper,” Raptor said.
“Fine, goddammit,” he replied. “I should be able to slip out the door in back of the sporting goods store. Can I at least get a lift to the helo?”
“I’ll be waiting,” Raptor said. “The rest of you, haul ass. Blackout, you’re on your own for exfil.”
“Already rolling out of the parking deck, boss lady.”
A metallic crunch sounded behind her, and Raptor whirled around, bringing her MP-5 up. She laughed and lowered the gun as she saw Lone Star hop down off the dented roof of the van. The wiry sniper grinned at her and started toward the far end of the parking lot at a jog, followed by the much larger, and slower, Breaker and Tank. She walked to loading door of the Frank’s Sporting Goods store to wait for Viper, and was almost to the door when it flew open, the skinny man crashing through the emergency exit at a dead run.
“If you don’t want to shoot a bunch of people, or don’t want me to shoot a bunch of people, you better spread those wings, lady!” Viper shouted at her.
Raptor’s wings snapper out with zero hesitation, and she took off, grabbing Viper by the chest harness every TECH Ops team member wore for just that purpose. “Where’s your disguise, Viper?” She asked, hauling the man into the air and turning them toward the end of the parking lot.
“I ditched it after they made me. Thought having access to my guns and RAZOR NAME was gonna be more important,” he panted.
“How did they make you?”
“No fucking clue. I was sliding through the shoe department, looking as interested as I could at all the lame fucking sneakers, and some dick with a stupid mustache came in yelling that he’d seen one of them in here. I was the only ‘them’ in the place, so when he caught sight of me, half a dozen rabid mall-monkeys came after me.”
“Are they armed?” Raptor asked.
The flat crack of a pistol was her answer, and she heard the angry hornet buzz of a bullet as it whizzed by her head. “Guess so.” She flexed her feet to add speed, and seconds later dropped Viper with the other members of her team. Then she whirled around, heading back to where six angry middle-aged white men ran across the parking lot. Their pace was much slower than her team, even without accounting for their tech. Walrus Face was in the lead, but he waddled more than ran, showing how often he exercised. Raptor dropped to the ground in front of the men.
“Stop.” They obeyed, jogging up into a sweaty clump in front of her. Walrus Face held a small pistol, and Raptor trained her submachine gun on him. “Drop the gun.”
He did as she asked, giving her that same little smirk again. “You going to murder us, fascist? Going to gun us down in the parking lot and make up lies about it to the liberal media? We won’t go quietly, abomination. We’re real humans, and we won’t take this shit anymore!”
“Raptor, do not engage,” Whisper’s voice came over her comm. “I’ve picked up a signal coming from your location. The fat bastard is broadcasting this somewhere.”
“Where’s that helo, Whisper?” Raptor muttered, too low for the men to hear.
“Thirty seconds. Get your ass out of there. Do not engage.”
“What are you doing, fascist?” Walrus Face asked with a grin that his compatriots couldn’t see. “Listening for orders from your Zionist masters?”
Raptor shook her head. “What the fuck are you talking about, fatass? Are you anti-government or anti-semitic?”
“I hate all of you Jew-loving government drone abominations! All you half-human trash needs to be thrown on the scrap heap and recycled. When we rise up, all of you Terminator wannabes will be overthrown, along with our corrupt government. We’ll take down the lapdogs and your masters, all at—“ The man’s head exploded. One second he was talking, the next, everything above his neck was gone, making a red-and-gray mist several feet in diameter. Pieces of Walrus Face sprayed Raptor and his companions alike.
“Sniper!” Raptor shouted. “Get down!” She sprang into the air, knocking the remaining men to the ground as she leapt forward. “Who the fuck shot that guy? Lone Star, was that you. Tell me it wasn’t fucking you!”
“Negative, boss. I just got on the chopper. Wasn’t any of us.”
“Blackout?”
“I’m three miles away heading in the opposite direction, Raptor. I couldn’t have shot him if I wanted to. Which I did. Want to, that is. That dude was s douche.”
“It wasn’t any of our people, Raptor,” Whisper said. “I don’t know who it was, but—“
“But they just made that cocksucker into a martyr,” Raptor said.
“Exactly. Now get to the chopper and get back to base. We’ve got some shit to figure out.”
“I’d say you do,” Duke’s voice cut into their comms for the first time. “This is seriously sideways and we’ve got a shitstorm brewing back here. Get to base now, and check all weapons before you come to debrief.” Duke clicked off, and Raptor flew to the helicopter, wondering what kind of mess she was going to find back home.
