Later that night.
"Aah, guess it's back to headquarters."
"Hecc~?"
"Sorry, this is too much trouble for a delivery... Dealing with the entirety of Vespelia and all."
'Awoo...'
The pitbull pug that rested on the bedside seemed a bit sad at her remark.
"Either way, I'm glad you tagged along... Thanks for the smoke bomb."
The usual two-fingered salute that Afrians used came by as Vixella thanked her with a smile.
"No problem~?"
Blanche, on the other hand, seemed a bit confused as she confusedly tried to replicate the gesture.
"Seems like I can't help your revenge or whatever no longer-"
Blanche scoffed a little.
"Revenge~? Hecc 'em Vicky~! It was already fun helping you get this far~"
Vixella peeked out the shutters carefully before stepping back behind the wall.
"These guys sure work fast... They're already outside by the motel manager's office..."
"Vicky, you're forgetting something~"
"Right, they're after me... Can I have that smoke bomb?"
"Woal~ How'd you know that I had one in my pocket~? This is the last one~ Y' know~"
"See you, inventor girl."
"See ya~"
A PING! then sounded as she pulled the smoke grenade's pin and rushed outside.
Vixella dashed subtly through the midnight streets, avoiding the many Strider and district watchmen patrolling by.
On the buildings were banners and building wraps with depictions of Vixella presented on them.
A certain text that was written underneath the pretty sketch did certainly catch the common eye.
Vespelia Main Station.
The same late night.
"Hey, you! I haven't seen your face around here before! Are you new to the job?"
One of the guards standing by the checkpoint fences shouted out at the rookie who approached.
"Yes..."
The girl said timidly and swiped the strands of hair over her ear, tucking up the collar of her guard uniform slightly.
"Well aren't you a cute one! Head-on inside the station and warm up! You seem tired... Just let us adults take care of it!"
The other guard who stood nearly in the pillbox with the pellet autocannon mount gestured over his shoulder happily.
She nodded and walked past the checkpoint as she made way into the compound.
"Stop right there, citizen! State your business!"
"Y'know~ Just look at this wanted poster~ Now look at the rookie you just let through~"
A bored-looking woman in the waistcoat and top hat was brandishing about a small poster in her hands.
Underneath Vixella's sketch presented, the guards then saw the red text written in bold.
'PUBLIC ENEMY'
"Oi, rookie... Turn around!"
The guard by the checkpoint snapped out just to send the rookie running deeper away into the station.
"FUCK! SOUND THE ALARM!"
A CENTURY LATER
(Train Yard Transition Music)
The two guards who were the first to take chase came to a halt with their pneumatic pistols scanning a far-off train yard.
The guard slouched down and checked underneath the rusty trains while the other checked around in the dark vicinity.
A slight clank of metal sounded behind one of the trains, causing the two guards to look at each other before nodding.
They both circled opposite sides of the train and turned around the corner with their pneumatic guns at the ready.
Despite their efforts, the dumbfounded two walked slowly towards each other to meet each other by the center.
"Shhh... She's somewhere in here... Let's just keep watch until reinforcements arrive so we can fully sweep this place-"
A slight whirring sound of air being sucked behind them then caused them both to slowly turn around.
However, before they could react, a weirdly shaped Strider with an enclosed cockpit ignited its thrusters.
" " OOF-!? " "
The two guards were tumbled onto the ground as Vixella's strider took off into the night sky.
"Shit... Get up! We have to go after her!"
The guards who were blown away staggered up as they hurried out and back to their designated police-model striders.
Vixella who was speeding away from the place glanced behind and saw a police Strider slowly catching up behind her.
Suddenly, bright spotlights shone down upon her craft from above, causing her to flinch momentarily.
It was the District Watch Airships tailing and illuminating her above the dark cityscape.
[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/404059426413084672/666363350510206990/Airship_Ref.jpg]
((Reference XD))
Seemingly, the airships didn't open fire since they didn't want to risk damage to the city buildings and its citizens.
Eventually realizing this, Vixella snuck close to the rooftops as she flew towards the outer walls by the darkened skyline.
The police Strider behind her caught up and opened fire, in which she in return entered a scissor with it to evade.
[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/404059426413084672/666366709128495118/unknown.png]
Despite her skillful attempts to evade, clanks sounded upon the airframe as Vixella groaned slightly.
Upon realizing it was futile, she eventually spun her craft around to front-face the attacker instead.
The valoratian steel ram clanked on and on as more police model Striders took off from various places throughout the city.
The other police Strider then suddenly popped around the side of a building as its autocannon whirled to suck in air.
"Aah... Should I bail...?"
However, the said Strider's right was done in as a steel dart pierced through its right thruster.
[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/404059426413084672/666367398324207655/unknown.png]
"APDSFS...?" (Armor Piercing Discarding Sabot Fin Stabilized)
Vixella raised an eyebrow in slight relief as she witnessed the Strider twirl out of control to disappear behind a tall building.
On one of the flat rooftops below stood Blanche alongside her pitbull pug that was holding onto another cartridge with its mouth.
Blanche was apparently holding some sort of launcher tube weapon over her shoulder as she gave a thumbs up at Vixella.
The remaining police Strider abruptly disengaged from Vixella as it instead dove down towards Blanche.
She, in return, quickly clutched the weapon in her arms and held her top hat as ran along the rooftops with Woofers.
The stream of pellets came ever closer behind them who leaped across the small rooftop gaps.
"Frick~! Just go Vicky~! As long as I get to die with my dog~ It's all good~! You hear me~!?"
Vixella scanned the vicinity around them to see many police striders taking off in the cityscape.
That's right... There was all but one thing left to do.
Her Strider dove after the police strider and crashed off one of its thrusters, causing it to spin and crash land below.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
Vixella then gradually descended her strider onto the rooftop where Blanche was panting from all the parkour earlier.
She slid open the reinforced cockpit and smacked the side.
"Yo, inventor girl... Wanna ride in my super stylin' strider?"
Blanche didn't say anything but instead grunted as she lobbed the weapon alongside herself into the cargo hold.
The pitbull pug barked happily as it also jumped into the cargo hold after its owner.
"I'll take that as a yes."
Slamming down the enclosed cockpit, Vixella pulled the hatch and held tightly onto some loose cables.
"Since you saved me~ We're now surrounded~... I hope you have a plan~ Vicky~"
"I usually don't have one."
"Guess I'll load another dart then..."
Woofers then let loose of the bite on the metallic dart projectile as Blanche slid it down the launcher weapon's tube.
"That thing is quite the conventional weapon..."
"Heeeh~ Finally someone who understands my designs~"
"Yeah... What's it called?"
"I haven't thought of one~"
"Let's think of one later... We're about to get surrounded..."
Blanche nodded before peeked over the pilot seat just as Vixella looked back forward.
"So~ What's the plan~ Wait~... What are those cables for~...?"
"Engine boost."
"What the hecc~!?", Blanche fell backward from the sudden acceleration, "Vickyyyyy~~~~!?"
The Strider then instantly sped to impractical speeds.
"This is Vespelia's District Watch! Stop the vehicle immediately... Argh-!?"
Their speeding Strider flushed aside the many police Striders that tried to close in and surround them.
The side thruster's magical batteries shone radiantly as Vixella fed them with her intense magical power.
Eventually flying out of townscape and onto the outskirts, the airsick Blanche weakly clasped onto the pilot seat.
"Wa-Watch out~... T-They~... Won't hesitate to use all their guns to stop us now~... On the outer walls~..."
"Let's not forget about those airships that are still above us either."
Vixella glanced upward as she tilted their Strider away to avoid a giant lead ball that erupted the ground in front of them.
AWOO!!!
Blanche's pitbull pug who was being thrown around in the cargo compartment howled out.
"It's either that they're not setting up a crossfire or their guns can't turn for shit... I guess that makes things less troublesome..."
Vixella who was busy tracking the trajectory of the many barrels upon the heavily-fortified wall speculated to herself.
"Frick my lifeeee~~~!!"
Blanche grasped onto Vixella's seat and screamed out as she watched them woosh into the hailstorm of projectiles ahead.
Debris crumbled sky-high from the ground below as the outer wall emplacements sprayed forth everything they had.
The craft shook violently as it gallantly took on the smaller pellets that dented and grazed the airframe here and there.
The frontal-ram, however, still did its job and protected the main engine and critical compartments from significant damage.
The Strider fell slightly as the side thrusters were starting to break from the overloading of Vixella's magical power.
"WAAAH~!!! We aren't gonna make it~!! Vicky~!! This is all your fault for boosting those thrusters~!! WAAAH~!!"
"That was just the first stage ignition."
"W-Wait~... No way~...?"
"Might wanna cover your ears if you're not used to this---------"
BOOM!
The Strider blasted past the sound barrier as the air behind them shook in its tunneling wake of speed.
The craft went so fast that the hailstorm of projectiles and pellets that flew forth began to overshoot behind them.
The gunners on the outer wall weren't able to compensate their aim as the nearly imperceivable Strider came at them.
"AAAAA~!? Now we're gonna bust through that thick metal wall~!?!? What's wrong with you~!! Vickyyyyyy~!! You crazy bitch~~!!"
Blanche cried out as she held onto the seat and witnessed their craft approaching the outer-walls at unstoppable speeds.
Vixella endured the gravitational force as she began yanking the flight-stick back as far as she could.
Their strider ascended at the last second and skidded against the metallic wall, sending sparks a fly as they went vertical.
The gunners on the wall were then all thrown back by the rushing wind coming up against them.
Before anyone could recover, Vixella's strider had already twirled up high and away into the cloudy night sky.
A week of traveling back to Algoria was then spent while the three landed here and there to recharge overnight.
Blanche also had to fumble about in the muddy trenches to find scraps from broken machinery to perform maintenance.
The two then resorted to foraging in the withered plains and trenches to find edible fungi.
Otherwise, the remaining Grizzly Boar MRE did somewhat help them survive their nutritional needs.
WHAM!
The main doors of Strider-Mail Reception sprung open as everyone became startled by the sudden entrance.
Covered in dirt and mud, Vixella and Blanche staggered into the center before Kasper quickly limped up to meet them.
"Vicks...? Is that you...!? Where have you been-!? Why the fuck does Vespelia want you dead now...!?"
"I kinda got... Into a fight... With the Stever Willy guy..."
"You mean Steven Willis-?! The Overseer... President of Vespelia-?!"
"Yeah... Him..."
"And just who is that person and the dog behind you...?"
"That's Blanche and Woofers... She's somewhat involved in all this matter... Regarding Vespelia's Special Force..."
Kasper seemed a bit concerned as he inspected over the two before sighing.
"Fuck... Now our polished marble floor is all stained! Someone call the Milkman... I mean, the Janitor!"
"Aah, sorry boss..."
"Vicks, I told you to be careful... But what about the delivery...!? Tell me the package is safe... Hey-!?"
Kasper shook Vixella's shoulders slightly in which she in returned winced a little.
"Well boss..." she paused and slouched back to look skyward at the chandeliers above, "I think I failed the delivery..."
Vixella's consciousness finally gave way to exhaustion.
She collapsed on the spot upon realizing that it was safe to do so.
"Vicky~!?"
Blanche dropped Woofers and quickly ran up to check on Vixella's condition.
"Is she okay...!? Damnit... All of you useless fucks! Don't just stand there! Call the fucking fire department or something!"
Kasper snarled at everyone nearby as a few of them quickly ran out of the main door to call for help.
A loud growl then came from Vixella's stomach as they all watched her roll to one side while drooling in her sleep.
"Aah... Grizzly Boars... Mofu Mofu..."
"Luckily~... I think she's just hungry~...?"
"Yeah," Kasper paused to grasp his head, "You wouldn't know how much she eats during lunch breaks..."
"Naw~ I already saw her eat~"
"Yeah? But the fuck's a Grizzly Boar anyway...?"
"Hecc if I know~ Though they taste like shit~ I'll tell ya~"