Luna had to admit that all of Ferris’s new equipment was like a gift from the Maker himself. Her long coat, bracers, even her vest and hat were sturdy enough to stop the bullets from getting through. But she can feel every single hit.
With Elizabeth in her arms, her responses were limited to swinging with her grappling gun, dodging, and running. She leapt from rooftop to rooftop as attackers fired at her with rifles and grenades. They fired every gun they had but were in complete disbelief as the bullets seemed to do nothing against her. They even set up a gattling cannon in a wide open position, but it did not even faze her as she ran through the field of fire.
Luna followed the distant yet distinct whistle of the landraider. She leapt from another rooftop, but an attacker threw a grenade at where she was supposed to land. It shattered, and the roof turned into a giant hole through which she fell.
She fell five stories, with the wooden floors breaking her fall all the way down. Luna used her body to cushion Elizabeth from the fall, and they landed on a pile of sand. She thanked her augmentation because, otherwise, she would have died.
Luna checked Elizabeth who was still unconscious, but found the child had no injuries. She tried to stand, but she could feel her body had taken a beating, especially her legs and back.
“They are in there!” Luna heard the yelling outside.
“That’s a shadow in there!”
“Careful, the boss wants the child alive!”
“Smoke them out!”
The attackers threw in cans of smoke grenades and they started to fill the building quickly. Luna ripped the sleeve of her dress shirt and used it to cover Elizabeth’s face to shield her from the smoke. It started to burn her eyes, and the thick smoke made her gag. She stayed low to the ground as she tried to find a way out, but the attackers were waiting to ambush her on the outside.
She then felt something land nearby.
As it got closer, it was Willow, but its legs were much larger and looked ridiculous compared to its small, chubby body. It approached them and sniffed Elizabeth. When it found the child did not respond to him, he started to snarl at Luna.
“Easy boy, easy. I did not do this.” But it continued to snarl.
The snarling turned to gagging and then roaring as Willow began to change shape.
It was like watching a balloon inflate as the cub grew larger and larger until it was bigger than Luna, but it kept growing. It grew until it completely filled the room they were in.
Willow's mouth was half of its body in its new form. It grew hundreds of sharp teeth and multiple eyes, all of which were from various creatures, on its red and feral skin. It opened its mouth to reveal that it was big enough to eat both of them. The smell coming from the inside of its mouth reminded Luna of a pit of rotting animal corpses, and it made her want to vomit. It licked both of them with its large, flat and sticky tongue and, in one bite, ate both of them whole.
With its large legs, it leapt to the second floor to escape the smoke, then smashed out of the windows.
“What the hell was that?!”
The assailants watched, then fired at Willow. But despite its monstrous size, it was too quick and managed to escape. It used its powerful legs to leap from rooftop to rooftop at an incredible speed. It sniffed the air and its ears listened for the whistle of the landraider. Once it heard it, Willow leapt towards that direction. When it saw the landraider on the street below, Willow jumped down and caught Max and Baldric by surprise.
“What the hell is that?!” Baldric yelled out, but Willow ignored him and squeezed his way into the driver’s compartment. Both of them quickly chased the thing inside.
Annie was caught by surprise as well when the giant creature entered the cramped driver’s compartment. It shrank itself a little bit, then began to gag repeatedly until it threw up Luna and Elizabeth.
They were both covered with disgustingly thick green phlegm and saliva as the foul liquid started to spread. Willow shrank smaller and smaller until it returned to its original cub form, then it headed straight to Elizabeth and began to lick her.
Annie was frozen with her mouth agape in disgust as the smell of rotted corpses filled the compartment.
Luna placed Elizabeth on the couch, as Baldric and Max entered the compartment and saw that everything except Annie was covered with a foul smelling slime. Annie recovered from her shock when they hit a building and continued to man the controls.
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“What the hell was that?!” Baldric asked Luna, who acted as though she was not covered in the disgusting liquid.
“Not now.” Luna wiped some of the slime off. “Annie, head for the east bridge and don’t stop for anything.”
“The east bridge?!” Max yelled as he covered his nose. “That is close to where the enforcers' headquarters are! They will swarm us!”
“It is also our only way out! Annie, keep going! Baldric, get back on the Arbalest and give us cover. Max keep any chasers off of us.” She headed towards the lower deck.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to even the field.”
=0o0=
The roads leading to the east bridge were blocked by rows and rows of trucks and makeshift barricades, but the landraider was designed to take them all on head-on.
Trucks, automobiles, walkers, automatons, golems, hunters on horseback, and even enforcers on engine-powered stilts pursued them, but they slammed, crashed, or rammed their way through. It destroyed any blockade that the enforcers set up in front of it, and not even heavy weapons could penetrate the massive vehicle's thick armour.
Max and the marksmen automatons attached to the land engine destroyed anything that tried to get too close. While Baldric, armed with the gattling cannon, froze any vehicles that tried to follow them.
When Luna emerged on the driver's compartment, she was wearing the jump pack and armed with her new armour that was sleek yet form-fitting, but she still wore her long coat and her massive hat. Luna made her way to the gattling cannon and the two of them flipped it over to reveal the arbalest.
“Baldric tell Annie to go around the block. When I signal you with the flares, make your way back and go through the bridge even if I’m not there. When you get through, deploy the explosives and blow up the bridge. Got it?” Her hands and fingers twitched violently as she climbed the launcher.
“Don’t worry; we plan to leave you behind anyway.”
Baldric aimed the launcher into the air and fired. She shot out like a bullet. High in the air, she deployed her long coat, and it acted like wings that allowed her to glide towards the massive bridge.
The bridge had been raised to seal off the city, and its locks were high at the top. There were some enforcers and hunters that guarded the gate locks and fired when they saw her approach. Luna used the jump pack to strafe left and right as she dodged their fire.
She landed right on top of them and fought them head on. Guns were useless against her as her armour and long coat made the bullets merely bounce off. They took her on with close-quarters combat, but not even twenty of them could land a hit on her.
Their numbers dwindled even as some tried to gang up on her. It was six against one, but none of them could land a hit as Luna’s martial arts allowed her to block, parry, and react with ease.
She threw her freeze grenades at the bridge controls and repeatedly struck it with her staff, destroying it and causing the bridge to slowly descend. She climbed to the top and lit a flare, with the bright light visible for miles.
Treese stood on the ground and watched as the flare lit up like a beacon. Because his rifle couldn't reach something that high, he stormed over to the gattling cannons and fired.
“Aim your cannons at the bridge and destroy it!”
“You can’t destroy the bridge! The whole city will be cut off!” An enforcer roared back.
“Then shoot at the damn locks! Shoot at the cables! Do something! Just stop it from going down!” Treese roared as he led the barrage. Rockets and heavy weapons were fired at her. Luna felt the shelling approaching her and jumped out just in time.
She flew into the air, but some of the bullets hit her, nearly knocking her down. One hit landed on her back, and to keep herself from falling, Luna grabbed her grappling gun and managed to hook onto the bridge's cables.
Treese's plan worked, as the bridge came to a halt. Luna had to find another way to lower it because it was still too steep for the landraider. She could hear the whistle getting closer, indicating that she was running out of time. On the other side of the bridge, Luna noticed a lock chain. She unhooked her grappling gun, and as it zipped back, she aimed at the chain lock and fired.
Once she managed to hook and got close to the lock, she threw her freeze grenade on it and encased it in crystal. Then, using all of her strength in one strike, she managed to shatter the lock and cause the bridge to collapse. Her hand, however, erupted in blood as some of her metal bones popped from beneath her skin and gloves.
She was still too high up, but he felt he could get to her. Treese aimed his rifle and saw she was within striking distance. Suspended in the air, she was an easy target, and he managed to hit her on the leg with a precise shot. The modified rifle round pierced Luna's coat, causing her to scream in agony. The land engine whistled and burst through the blockade before he could land another hit. As it approached the bridge, Treese and the enforcers scrambled out of the way.
It was low enough for them to use, but Annie noticed that they had to jump to get to the other side. She activated its second magicore engine and caused the massive vehicle to speed up. Baldric held on to Elizabeth tightly. Max had to grab on as the landraider lurched forward and sped towards the bridge. Annie activated its third magicore engine as it climbed and prepared to jump, accelerating it even more. When it reached the top, she activated all of its engines as it jumped.
The enforcers, the hunters, onlookers, and Treese could not believe that such a massive vehicle could jump that high or far.
The landraider landed on the other side roughly, as it heavily slammed and almost fell to its side, but Annie activated a side jet, which balanced the vehicle as they made their way down. She deployed the minelayer and it dropped dozens of explosives, which detonated, shattering their side of the bridge. Luna discarded her steam pack and glided down to the top of the landraider, rolling as she landed.
She felt the sharp pain from her broken hand and the hole in her leg as it bled freely. She took a syringe from her pocket and injected herself. As she lay on the roof of the landraider, Luna thanked the Maker and all the saints for their narrow escape as the holes in her leg and hand began to heal on their own.