Silence In Numbers: File One (36 page)

Thank you. Take… Take my sword. Hopefully it will bring you back to me.

I will – and nothing will keep me from coming back.
Katsumi squeezed her hand a final time before moving back and taking hold of the sword on the ground. She picked up the sheath as well and stood, sliding the blade into its place and looking at Victoria. “I’m ready, General.”

“We’ll waste no more time, then.” They both watched the two soldiers carefully take Ayane to the chopper as another one came down towards the roof. “This is your mission, Captain,” Victoria said as she looked at Katsumi seriously. “You’re in charge. Can you give me orders?”

Katsumi gave her a hard look. “My sister was just nearly killed again. She’s on her way to a hospital that can hopefully stop her pain, but it’s going to last awhile.” Her hand tightened around her sister’s sword. “There is nothing in this world or the next that can stop me from getting back to her as quickly as I can, and I’m going to kill everything that tries.”

The General nodded as they began walking towards the landing helicopter. “That’s what I expected to hear. Don’t let either of us down, Captain.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“They’re through the third line!”

“North side, north side!”

“On the roof!”

Kurasano sprinted ahead, vaulting over a destroyed car. The numbers they were facing were insane; hundreds of the demons were out now, swarming over the hopelessly outnumbered defenders. Rufus was torn up, his normally-immaculate white clothing tinted red in numerous areas. Law’s arms were shredded; fortunately they were synthetic and far stronger than ordinary limbs, but the pain was just as real. Sano himself was covered in bruises and a few slashes, but worse, ignoring a broken arm. He’d made his jacket into a makeshift sling for the limb; fighting without it was his main problem.

No one would know what the death count would be until this was over. Bodies lay visible in the streets, destroyed cars poured smoke and items from nearby buildings littered the roads having been thrown through the shattered windows. Sano remembered facing dangerous riots as a cop and this brought back those memories, but it was much worse than any of those. Above them, in the air, Reno flew rapid courses rescuing any civilians he could while using the chopper’s weapons to take out dozens of the creatures. It wasn’t enough, though; none of it was enough. This was only stalling and, eventually, they’d all be dead. In the meantime these things just kept coming.

“Whooooo!” Reno’s cheer startled the three on the ground, who had no idea why he would be enjoying this. Even Law had stopped enjoying the fighting some time ago; only Rufus seemed to be having fun with the challenge, and Sano was worried his survival instincts would kick in soon and cause him to abandon the situation. The reason behind their ally’s jovial shout became apparent in seconds, though, when three military helicopters came screaming into the area, strafing hordes of demons with surgical precision. Heavy-caliber mounted guns did most of the damage; missiles would cause too much collateral damage to the surrounding buildings.

The remaining SIN soldiers and Alpha-Unit members all felt an enormous amount of relief, especially when the choppers hovered over the ground they were holding and three dozen soldiers jumped out to join the battle. One of them reported to Kurasano, who immediately informed him of the situation. They formed their teams together and began to move back towards the building. The hordes of demons seemed to understand the new threat and began converging on the group, but the combination of soldiers and attack choppers mowed them down before they could reach them.

The ground began shaking and the SIN Unit called for everyone to separate and the choppers to back off. The soldiers all split into smaller groups and scattered, and the helicopters gained height. It was fortunate they were willing to listen and follow orders without question as the ground began to lift up before exploding upwards. Giant, worm-like things broke free, releasing guttural screeches. The creatures were grey and covered in red, back-swept blades; each had a strange metal-looking head plate that covered what could be called the top half of the head. They would slither up onto the ground and over the streets, eviscerating those they caught with the blades on their bodies or simply crushing them. They would then burrow back beneath the street only to come up in another spot.

The SIN soldiers led the military soldiers, telling them how to combat the creatures. They scattered to avoid being wiped out in large numbers, firing into the tail-ends of the worms, where the brains were kept. There seemed to be four worms in total and soon three of them were down; the helicopters continued to be the main threat, focusing fire on one worm at a time. As the final worm fell the front of the Garrus Limited building exploded. The soldiers watched as a towering behemoth stomped out onto the street, certainly something from a nightmare.

It had a humanoid body, but the knees were reversed. The head was jutted forward as it had a freakishly elongated jaw that went all the way to its waist. The thing’s skin was black with a ridge of red fur from the top of the head down the center of the back. Its huge jaw was filled with four-story teeth and the thing itself was about ten stories tall, which unfortunately allowed it to swipe a helicopter out of the air with a clawed hand before all three could get away. It turned red-burning eyes on the soldiers on the ground and raised an ear-splitting roar that preceded yet more of the first demons racing out of the building with howls and yips.

Sano cursed, unsure how they were going to bring this thing down. It opened its massive jaws and a horrible sound emitted from its mouth, like the grating of metal being torn apart. Dozens of soldiers clapped hands over their ears and screamed. The rest, oddly, seemed unaffected, but that was little comfort when their teammates began leaking blood from their ears, eyes, nose and mouth before falling to the ground, unmoving. The creature ceased the noise and began sucking in a breath, preparing to do it again. The helicopters focused fire on the beast but it wasn’t bothered; it was yet another situation that seemed hopeless until another party was added to the battle.

A single helicopter roared into the area at top-speed, heading for the beast. It flew above it, holding position over the creature as a figure appeared in the open side before dropping from the helicopter. “Well there’s a suicidal lunatic,” Rufus said as he cleaned debris from his shades.

Sano blinked, squinting at the person before his eyes widened and he pointed, looking towards Rufus and Law. “Hey, I recognize that suicidal lunatic!”

Katsumi spun in mid-air and flipped at the last moment, landing with a heavy impact on the back of the creature’s neck. She immediately latched onto the fur there as it jerked around in an attempt to shake her off. She held something in her teeth as she held on with both hands, grimacing with effort. When it began reaching back to swipe at her she took off sprinting up its neck. A massive, clawed hand came sweeping towards her and she leapt up and twisted herself between two of its fingers before landing in a continued run. When she finally made it to the end of the creature’s extended neck, at the base of its head, she drew Ayane’s katana from her back, kneeling and stabbing the blade into the tough flesh.

The SIN Captain forced the blade as deep as it could go before yanking it from side to side. The creature shook wildly in rage and she was nearly thrown off, but managed to keep her hold. She pulled the katana from the creature and spun it once to fling the blood off before sliding it into its sheath, freeing up her hand to remove the item from her mouth. Jamming the large pack of explosives into the newly created hole, Katsumi used the sheath to stuff it as deeply as she
could before she was thrown free, having no grip. As she fell she whipped the katana free and jammed it into the creature’s side, cutting a line into it and slowing her descent. This only enraged it further and she lifted her feet, bracing against the creature’s side before shoving off into a back flip to avoid the swatting claw.

Katsumi stabbed Ayane’s blade into the thing’s arm to slow her descent again but it flung its arm out rapidly, sending her flying at a building. Fortunately she hit a window, shattering it flying into the room, only stopping when she hit a wall inside the place. She forced herself to her feet, stumbling towards the window and watching as the creature rose up before her, sucking in a breath. The helicopter she’d ridden in on hovered a few dozen meters away and fired into the creature’s head, drawing its attention. It turned towards the new threat, readying its attack before Victoria appeared in the open side. She lifted a detonator and smiled, giving a wave as she pressed the button.

Katsumi, twelve stories up now, stepped out of the window, falling rapidly as the explosion took out the floor she’d been on. It also severed the creature’s neck entirely, sending its head falling after her. Katsumi kicked off the building as she fell, distancing herself from it. She reached up and allowed herself a small smile as a helicopter caught up to her exactly where she needed it, allowing her to catch one of the landing skids. It flew her away from the falling body and she pulled herself up, climbing into the helicopter. “We’ve gotta stop meeting this way, boss,” Reno said as he headed for the main force.

“Believe me, I prefer climbing in when the chopper’s on the ground like everyone else,” Katsumi said as she wearily sat against the back of the co-pilot seat, taking advantage of the very short rest.

Reno chanced a glance back at her and whistled softly as he took in her bruised and bloodied appearance. “You don’t look so good, boss. You sure you should still be fighting? And is your sister okay?”

“She’s…” Katsumi looked out the side at the ruined street as they flew over the fight. “She’s alive. She’s not good. They’re putting her to sleep soon to work on her injuries.”

“That bad…?” Reno said as quietly as he could while still being heard.

“It was
him
again,” Katsumi said venomously. “As if it’s any surprise. Everything can be traced back to him,
everything
. All of
this
, even.”

“We need to take him out,” Reno muttered.

“
I
need to take him out,” Katsumi corrected. “And I will.” She leaned out the side. “Let me down here, Reno.”

“If you say so, Boss.”

Sano met her as she dropped from the chopper, jogging over to her position. “Man, am I glad to see you…” he said, trailing off as he took in his battered and torn boss. He shook his head, deciding it didn’t matter; they were
all
injured right now. They would just have to deal with it.

Katsumi laid her hand on Sano’s shoulder, catching his eyes. “I’m glad you were in charge here, Sano. You’ve done an excellent job of containing this.”

Sano grimaced. “I don’t know about that. The damage-“

“Is confined to three streets,” she finished for him. “With this size of attack, that’s honestly incredible.”

“Well… Thanks.”

Katsumi nodded, putting a hand over her ear as Victoria’s voice came over her comm. “The worst of the attack seems to be over, Captain. The number of creatures leaving the Garrus Limited building is dwindling.”

“Good. General, I want to make a push into that building. I want to end this now.”

“I’ll meet you at what’s left of the main entrance, then. We can split the forces, one team for outer containment and three more to get inside through the entrances.”

“Perfect. I’ll put one of my team with each of yours.” Upon receiving confirmation, Katsumi switched to her Unit’s cyber link.
Reno, join the other helicopters in containment sweeps. Look for survivors. Law, head to the building’s east entrance, you’ll be leading the team there. Rufus, you’re leading the team at the western entrance. Sano, you’ll organize the containment team we’re leaving outside; make sure they catch anything that gets past us. I’ll be going in with the main team at the southern entrance.

You got it!

Understood, Boss.

Not a problem.

I’ll do what I can.

Katsumi started heading towards the southern entrance with Sano, who questioned her, “You’re not leaving me outside just because of my arm, are you?”

She looked at him as if he was crazy. “Why would I give you a break just because you have a little injury? You’re defense because you’re the best at organizing defense out of all of us, myself included. Your stand tonight proves it.”

“Oh,” he said lamely. He grinned and she just shook her head, outpacing him with her stride.

Victoria met them at the entrance and Sano split off to coordinate the containment team. The general looked at the violet-haired captain. “Everyone is ready for whatever we find inside.”

“They’re not ready,” Katsumi replied, meeting her gaze. “But let’s hope they can get that way.”

“Are any of us ready for an Ancient One?”

“If he’s even still in there, no.” Katsumi looked at the building. “But I don’t think he is. He never came out when everyone was distracted, and I think that’s what all of this was: a distraction.”

Victoria gave a concerned frown. “If that’s true, then what were we being distracted from?”

Katsumi sighed, shaking her head. “I don’t know.” She lifted her pistol, ejecting the magazine and sliding in a new one. “Let’s get in there and find out.”