I'll Make It Through/Prove It To You (2/11)

Just started writing this with no idea where it would go. I didn't even know what caused the explosion at first. I'm enjoying this loosey-goosey canon. I don't know why Ben and YankeeFive are there, but they are. Little peeks into the world keep me from getting too in my head about the "canon"

        The alley erupted in an avalanche of debris and dust, particles of it caught in the blue-white beams of the security craft hovering overhead. Stealth had gone out the window, and the only thing rattling around Ben’s head was the same thing being screamed into his earpiece; Get the fuck out of here. He wasn’t in a place to argue.

Ben cradled YankeeFive in the iron arms of the Upright, stooping slightly to shield her from the bricks and rebar that still cascaded from the hole they’d just made in their exit. She was swearing, brushing dust and pulverized concrete off the screen on her tablet. She made eye contact with the primary visual feed of the Upright, locking eyes with Ben through the screen inside the cockpit.

“We need to move now,” the broad white ribbons of spotlights disappeared in the swirling brown clouds, “We’ve got five seconds and we need to be gone,” Ben was all too eager to comply. The Upright took off down the alley, twenty-foot strides creating plumes of trash at each footfall. YankeeFive bounced off the forearm with each step, landing painfully enough Ben knew he’d hear about it later. Yankee swiped a blinking icon on her tablet, and one of Ben’s auxiliary monitors buzzed to life. The roughly sketched outline of CorpSec positions based on their radio chatter.

“Why aren’t they pursuing?” fuzzy green orbs shuttered and glitched, but they didn’t move any further down the alley. The spotlights on the hovercraft thunked loudly back to life, tracing back and forth over the hole that the Upright had crashed through.

“Because they think it was a bomb,” Yankee giggled, pressing her back against the Upright’s chest plating, “The scanner’s goin’ crazy. They thought it was an explosive that left the hole and it’s making ‘em v nervous. They’ve got no idea we’ve got a jockey,”

“So what?”

“So that means when they find out there isn’t a second bomb, they’re gonna coming charging down the alley to arrest two suspects for anti-corporate activities,” Yankee peered up into the camera again, her forehead fish-eyed and distorting beneath dusty blue-green bangs, “And they’re gonna get stomped by the nastiest operator this side of the CZ,”

Ben grinned to himself and continued to book it down the alley. The warehouses on his left blurred and warped through the peripheral cameras. This area of the city was dominated by them, warehouses the size of city blocks to feed demand, whether it was there or not. Much of the goods inside collected dust, maybe if it was lucky enough it would get dragged out as “throwback” stock, priced higher than it had been when it was factory new. Most of the time, it was up to any nearby privateer contractor to seize the stock for themselves.

A shaky chain link fence barred the exit to the alley. It offered little resistance to the twenty feet of bipedal machinery that plowed through it. That should definitively prove that there was a rogue Upright. Let’s see them wrap their heads around that, Ben thought smirked, seeing the green orbs on the monitor surge into the alley entrance. CorpSec could handle the occasional techgang or protest. They rarely found need to bring out their shiniest toys. Those shiny toys were expensive, and if they got broke there were going to be a few dozen redundant positions found in the corporate structure.

For now Ben and YankeeFive had the benefit of the streamlined corporate decision making progress; two steps forward, three steps back to determine who to blame if the two steps forward backfired. It would be some time before they’d have to deal with the pricier end of corporate authority.

The Upright launched itself down the street, pistons whining with each step. This area of town was mostly deserted, though Ben could see the occasional movement in the residential windows.

“Turn right at the next street!” Yankee barked, tucked like a football in the Upright’s arm. Her eyes flitted between her screen and the street behind the Upright’s shoulder. Those spotlights were getting closer to the mouth of the alley, and she wanted to be well clear of them.

Ben yanked the controls hard, swiveling the pedals on his feet as the Upright launched itself into a short hop. It skidded on the pavement, sparks flying as the motorized treads in the feet struggled to keep the machine from toppling. Ben slid clear to the opposite corner of the street, the unforgiving concrete wall of an apartment block speeding towards them. Yankee cringed deeper into the metal, finding little place to hide. The Upright continued to slide, crunching the curb underneath it. The building came ever closer.

The momentum diminished, the Upright’s shoulder coming within inches of the building. YankeeFive found her sigh of relief interrupted as Ben continued down the street. It was for the best, she figured, she’d have probably used the opportunity to call Ben an idiot for that little maneuver. Ben had figured the same, which was why the Upright was halfway down the block in just two strides.

The CorpSec scanner chattered in her ear, encrypted and jammed messages bouncing between the headsets of a half dozen thugs and the hovercraft. YankeeFive had cut through the encryption years ago, and now listened in with the ease of an audiocast. She laughed, rapping a knuckle on the right pectoral armor plate of the Upright.

“They found the fence Benny baby! They’re scared shitless!” The CorporateSecurity forces halted as their pay rates were negotiated and updated in real time. CorpSec got better pay the shorter the contract period was. It was economics that justified their frequent escalation to lethal force. Blood running into the gutter is a surefire way to keep scrip flowing into your account. With any luck, the budget for further tactical engagement options wouldn’t be approved and the chase would end right there. This was why Yankee rarely had that luck. Updated wages and hazard pay were improved. The spotlights had traced their way to the demolished curb on the corner.