Shooting down two more gangsters, I weave around behind the stalagmites. Rock bursts out, their bullets eating away at my cover. I watch the puffs of debris move, trailing around like a hunting pack. Empty weapons click.
I rush out, grabbing one of the spear-like rocks, and I hurl it. The heavy object goes wide, only knocking a weapon aside. Keeping up the momentum, I ram shoulder first into the gangster. My gun comes up to his gut, and my finger finds the trigger.
The gangster screams, a honey spike now in the ground. Right through him. Forcing the gun up, I shatter the razor-sharp nectar, and it spread across his wound. He convulses, breaking the spike aside inside of him, infesting him with shrapnel.
I leave the man to bleed out and take cover. Another pack of mobsters comes into view, gun barrels flashing and roaring. Fire and metal. Each bullet trims the maze of car wrecks down.
It's easier to find them, but also easier for them to find me. Hrurim's certainly the smart one here, holding his distance. But I need to get to Heiya. I need to press on and get her out of that car.
A growl escapes me, and I pat my gear, checking my grenades- grenade. Only got one left. Of all the things I've been unable to stock up on since my first ambush... This is the one thing I could do with so much more of!
"HRUR-" I try to call out, meeting a shower of sparks and pinging bullets. I duck back down, growling once again. My teeth gnash and I throw myself a short distance. Rolling under another, safer car. The first mobster around to ambush me drops dead, a new horn in his forehead.
My free hand pushes along the ground, keeping me moving as my feet find their friction. I rush away, leaving my pin-pulled grenade behind. Luck gifts me a bounty of gangsters, each one unaware of my return gift. It blossoms with fire and shrapnel, drinking deep of their boiling blood and all the mess their gore leaves.
I take a few more pot shots. Some thankfully die. Too many refuse to so much as do so. A shotgun rips its way through the car, splattering pellets across the cavern chamber. The shotgunner keeps going, fire, pump, fire, pump. My gut's foresight picks up the pattern and my body twitches into action as it barks again.
I pull the trigger, landing the shot right in the barrel of his gun. A smug grin takes over my weathered old face and the gangster's complaints only strengthen it. I get back up, taking a proper killing shot and spreading it out. A mobster appears on my right and I leap away, his rifle ruffling my quills.
Rolling over, a burst of three spreads across the man's gut and he drops. I find some fresh cover, catching sight of the machine-gunner again as he continues to prey on my friend. The belt-fed beast carries on and on, birthing an endless cloud of debris. Hrurim's voice barely finds its way to me and I take the shot I can.
It goes wide, spooking the machine-gunner my way. My body drops harder than a mobster can a disposed of body in a river. My car-like cover becomes a memory, with too many bullet holes coming too close to me. I spot the main lorry, a bullet zipping way too close to my leg.
No jams or reloads come and my hand comes alive with a prayerful gesture. I rush out, barely avoiding the nipping of my backside. The machinegun fire stops, its target lost. I wish it was as easy as that, simply running and hiding. There's way too many gangsters in this convoy. Too much heat focused on me and Hrurim...
"Singing in a gunfight, singing in a gunfight...!" a familiar voice tries and fails to whistle from within the lorry's trailer. I glance up, shooting down a clueless gangster, and I run up, grabbing his weapon. My head jolts in satisfaction and I slip into the lorry's cabin. Going through the backdoor, I arrive at Hrurim's handiwork and reach the bars.
Nin looks my way, his eyes flickering in the gunfire rich darkness. What is either a grin or a smile spreads across his face and I eye the cage. Whatever mobster is supposed to be interested in buying this osibindah has certainly forgotten to add a lock. Hrurim didn't exactly build the cage to take it apart.
"Listen, Nin. We don't like each other. Help me. I'm cutting you loose. They'll shoot at you, anyway." I explain, forcing the surface-tongue out of my system as I try to line up my shots on the bars. I empty the barrels out, cutting a gap in the metal.
The osibindah squeezes his way through the fractured bars. Their edges scrape along his shell, cutting in deep thanks to their comparative arcane forging. He hisses, an annoyed click echoing so very barely. His arm swipes, taking the spare gun out of my paw.
"I can also shoot you." Nin says, his three-digit hands having an awkward time about the sub-machinegun. I offer him my magic-rich knife and slice the trigger guard off, giving him the much needed room.
"NO ONE LET'S OSIBINDAH LIVE! TAKE MY OFFER!" I scream at him, belting it out of the lorry as a dozen shadows line up on the transport. My former prisoner rushes out with me and he scurries behind a car with me. I look his way as he groans and belly aches.
"Been in a cage with no magic in my system for too long..." he moans, his usual agility nowhere near.
"Be a good distraction now." I tell him, holding back any cackles as I rush around. Some guns trail me and I dive for a mobster weapon. My spike gun goes across my back and I check the handgun. I snarl at how few bullets it has left and hold back the bile in my throat.
I hate guns like these.
"THE OSIBINDAH IS FREE!" one mobster roars out and the lot of them panic, unable to make sense of it. Nin here is no regular one, so no hive is going to come down on us. But, if the warnings on the map meant anything, this might be a hive of bugs... One wrong noise and we'll be swarmed. Provided the bullets aren't too much already!
The handgun comes up, thundering the life out of two more gangsters. I empty the magazine on the run, diving ahead to roll up with a bolt-action. The cock goes up and forward, wasting a bullet needlessly but assuring my spirit. I tuck the lone bullet away and take another shot at the machine-gunner.
A shadow falls away from the weapon and it goes quiet. I eye the path that is opening, a parting sea of death. My legs drive me ahead, sprinting me between the dangers and keeping them away. I smash my back up against a car, the confusion of the firefight keeping the nearby mobsters unaware of me. In much the same way...
"Damn you, Hrurim." I mutter under my breath, my human friend's carefree running and gunning nearly gutting me. More bodies fall and one gangster clings to their buddy. His eyes go around and ours meet. He looks away as if he isn't aware of who I am.
He pays for the simple mistake and spreads its teachings bloody wide. Popping up, I find the car Heiya is in again. A couple of mobsters have her locked down, otherwise hostage. A bullet thwiping behind me springs me into action. Forcing even more adrenaline through my veins.
Though I have no bayonet, I drive the rifle into the gut of one of the mobsters. Taking a surprise punch from the other. I spin around, growling as I draw my knife out into the open. Heiya takes the moment to rise, and she leaps on the mobster's back. Her teeth sink into the man's neck and I slice across, putting a stop to it.
"POPS!" she cries out, spitting her mouth clean as I force her into a spin. I slice her bindings, throwing her to the ground as more bullets come our way. She sneaks in a quick hand squeeze, locking our fingers and paws tight. Our need for a reunion hug is done and gone.
A shotgun goes off in the dark, ripping across the cavern floor.
"GET BACK INTO THE CAR, WE'RE GETTING OUT OF HERE!" I tell her and she nods, snatching the rifle out of my hands and the loose bullet. She slots the latter in, already finding a head to pop wide open. I huff, proud of my daughter even as the shock of capture trembles her still. Swinging the door open wide, I hop in and start the car.
The engine roars with life, and the tyres screech, spinning away as they find traction. We move with all we have, driving right into the crossfire between Hrurim and the gangsters. Bullets eat their way to us and Hrurim dives in. We drive along again, tempting fate by going for my gear.
"GRAB IT!" I bark, and Hrurim hooks his arm out, yelping as his hand catches on the metal. Satisfaction spreads through me as the buzz of blood wasps fills my ears. I can be rid of those foul ballistics.
A chunk comes flying out the front of the car.
"HOW DID YOU MISS THE SURFACE WEAPONS!?" Hrurim demands to know as he and Heiya silently catch up.
"I'M BUSY!" I shout back to him, another bullet hole ripping a green stain across the paint. The deadly howl of the wind magic within bending the underground air. Chunks of rock blast about, fracturing the glass. My friend does me a favour, popping a bullet through it. The light visor barely comes down in time. Shards pitter patter about, being more vile about it than loose sand.
"I'M OUT!" Heiya screams, ducking down properly into the backseats. The lack of return fire only enforces her point. Every bullet in the cavern is from them.
"SAME!" Hrurim echoes as I eye the rear-view mirror. A figure steps up to the machinegun. The mechanical wonder finds life again, bursting into animania. Bullets saw into the car frame, heading down to a pop of air. The car screeches about, its weight smacking onto the sparking road.
"DAMMIT!" I snap, unable to keep the car under control, "HOLD ON!"
We hit a small boulder and spin wildly into the air. I pin myself about, doing my best to withstand the messy tumble. The custom-grade machine shatters apart, unable to hold on, and we barely land upright. We slam right back down, the suspension gone.
"Ew..." Heiya groans, an oddly leafy squish coming about her.
"Yep... Ew..." Hrurim echoes her again. The same wet sound echoing as he whips his hands clean. He hisses in pain.
"Ew...?" I question, blinking as I drag myself out of the car to unsling my weapon. Hrurim tosses me my blood wasp hive and I get to loading a fresh load of spikes. Heiya snatches my knife away and Hrurim manages to scramble something from his lie. A few odd bullets here and there.
My foot shifts, moving my weight about, and I find the feeling of grass. No, a leaf. A tingling... Burning leaf. The warmth in my blood vanishes and I freeze up.
"Pops?" Heiya whispers, her lifetime of experience with me more than enough to know my face when it's full of fear. I look around, blinking as my natural night vision settles in properly, away from the gunfire and car lights. Vines are all over the ground near here.
A raggedy network of old scaffolding and broken tools, too. A mess that all goes towards a pulsating, plant-like object. I flinch, falling to the ground and Heiya rushes to my side. She's too used to the surface to properly know.
"Ivahstar... That better not be what I think it is." Hrurim lets out, his voice breaking like he's a teenager again.
"We need to go, now!" I bark at the pair, rushing to my feet. The remaining mobsters drive up to us, their bullet-ridden cars still able to carry their sorry backsides our way. My eyes go wide as they set up a perimeter, their eyes not too all-seeing.
"GAMTAMBO WANTS A WORD WITH YOU, IVAHSTAR! HE'S GOT A BIG PAYCHECK IF WE GET YOU IN ALIVE! DON'T TEST ME AND MY BOYS ANYMORE, NOW!" the remaining gangster lead calls out, the firing line remaining quiet for the moment. I peek one way and then another. Taking in the line of hostiles and the monster right behind us.
There's no cover between us and it. Anything they shoot is going right into that sac. They'll awaken the beast and get it on a rampage... Wait.
If we stick to the darkness, the beast will focus on them. The firing line will drag its attention on further and we'll be able to make a break for it. I turn back to my friend and daughter, urging them to shush and stay that way. The blood wasp hive continues to fight the container they're trapped in, bashing the metal about.
"DON GAMTAMBO CAN COME FOR ME HIMSELF!" I answer back, firing at a random gangster and throwing myself out into the open. The firing line comes alive and I roll behind the old scaffolding, getting a shower of splinters for the trouble. The bullets and pellets keep on coming, some not even for me or the other two. Just into the dark.
The sac groans and pusses, unfurling itself as painful whines fill the area. Pachyderm cries blow at full force, silencing the guns and letting the hiss of acid come out in full. The creature rises to its bulky, full-grown tree trunk legs. Leafy ears blow out, flapping around as the edge of a shield appears in the dark.
Acid squirts from its pores. The animal's trunk slithers about, scooping up a patch of melting stone. Now borderline cement. It drips down, a dire warning of what is about to become of flesh and bone.
Its four legs carry it forward, sinking the beast slightly as its acidic feet squish rock like mud. It enters the lights of a car, blowing its horn at full force. The gun line breaks, a thousand stories told to hwardgon children repeating themselves. Beware the quiet tunnels, beware the toot of a trunked horn and the wide ears...
"CABBOTH!" the gangsters scream, guns all training on the tunnelling horror.