When the initial shock had worn off, and Harvel had located the teeth he suspected might have been rattling around in the back of his throat, the trip was actually quite smooth. He'd definitely been on rougher flights. Though, he was currently having trouble remembering them.
He glanced over to see Parker seemingly staring out of the rear hatch. She'd gone stark still after about five minutes and had stayed that way for the last hour. Harvel was sure he could see the wheels spinning behind her eyes. He'd never gotten to know much about implants. Most in the Wharf couldn't afford them.
Dibbuk had a phone implant in her arm. She'd nearly talked him into getting one himself, but he'd never really liked people being able to get ahold of him whenever they wanted in the first place. If the phone was embedded in your arm you couldn't even say you'd left it at home. Seemed like a bit of a nightmare in his opinion.
Harvel opened his mouth to ask her what she was looking for, but before he could get a word out the intercom buzzed on. "We're coming up on the Swamp, you strapped in?" Aldon asked. Parker leaned back and held down a button above his head.
"Yeah, we're all good back here. You see anything ahead?" Parker asked, her eyes never leaving the city rolling out behind them.
"Nope, but you know how it is. Gonna get bumpy either way." Aldon responded, letting out a little chuckle.
"Wait, we're going through the Swamp? Why?" Harvel interjected, audible fear leaking into his voice. The Swamp was the nickname given to a particularly unsavory area that ran in a crescent through the south and south western areas of the city. It had originally been an upscale neighborhood named Cranes Call, but after "Taco Tuesday" it had been abandoned, the infrastructure damaged beyond repair.
Lier told him it had been the epicenter of the event. The pure amount of back up had flooded nearly every building from the top down within a thirty mile radius, and while some might have been salvageable, most were abandoned. With the buildings empty and the streets left nigh unlivable, the mass migration of gangs into the area was only natural.
The stench and the lack of a local police force meant the cops had practically erased the district from their files. The canals that ran through it were lined with armed guards, employed by companies that found it cheaper to pay for funerals than for extra fuel. Even then, any ships that passed through the area did so at twice the legal speed.
Before becoming a waste-walker, Harvel had never dealt much with the gangs that hung out there. He'd crossed paths with a few of the Wharfs local dealers and enforcers before, most being more interested in selling bootleg VR, drugs, or collecting debts in lieu of collecting bodies. The gangs from the Swamp on the other hand were a completely different monster.
In the pipes he'd become all too familiar with them. They liked to run their operations through level two where the Davies were less dense. It was an unfortunate coincidence that level two was particularly dense in waste-walker patrols. They weren't cops by any means, but the gangs from the Swamp weren't a very discerning bunch.
There'd been a few close calls. Warning shots for the most part. He remembered one instance in particular in which that hadn't been an option. The man had been holding a grenade. Harvel hadn't let him get as far as arming it. Explosives and enclosed spaces didn't mix well.
That didn't make him feel much better about it. It had happened so fast he couldn't even remember pulling the trigger. They'd turned a corner and there he'd been. By the time he'd taken the grenade out of the case he'd been hauling, Harvel had already pulled the trigger. He hadn't even known for sure it was a grenade.
For legal reasons the team had lied and said it could have been any of them who'd killed him. It would have violated Harvels convicted service contract otherwise. The rest of the team had known better. Lier had known better. Harvel had known better. The cops hadn't really cared either way.
He hadn't been inconsolable afterwards. If he hadn't fired quickly enough he wouldn't be here to remember it right now, but, out of all the times in his life he'd been angry, or scared, he'd still never wanted to kill anybody. Hurt? More often than he'd like to admit, yes. Teach a lesson? Of course. But, kill? There was no point to that.
What bothered him, truly bothered him, were the words that kept circulating to the front of his mind every time he remembered it. 'You didn't even think about it. It could have been a homeless man. It could have, above all else, been a kid. And you didn't even think about it.'
"Well, this old girl doesn't quite have the range to make it to the dome without cutting though the Swamp. Normally, we'd make a stop for fuel and go around, but your brother seemed insistent that we make it in one go." Aldon answered, snapping Harvel back into the present.
"Well, my brother is insistent about a lot of things bu-" Harvel began to complain, but Parker cut him off.
"But nothing. Doctor Valez is our client. Not you. You're a patient. You don't get to make those types of decisions." Parker interrupted, taking her finger off of the intercom button. If it hadn't come out as deadpan as it had he would have thought she was angry.
"Sorry. I didn't mean anything by it. Please put that away." Harvel pleaded, noticing the little green light on the sedative administering syringe glowing next to her thumb. Parker slipped the device back into its case.
"I have a lot of respect for Dr. Valez. He's done some good things for us, and taken some risks he didn't have to. He seems to have a lot of respect for you Mister Gillis. I don't have that same respect. We're cutting through the Swamp. Whether you're awake or asleep for it is up to you at this point." Parker said, still staring out of the rear hatch, her fingers drumming on the sedative case.
Harvel nodded. "Awake please." he answered, deflated. He put his head back down and tried to calm himself. He'd almost gotten his heartbeat back to normal when he heard an odd little "Ping!" sound come from next to his head. Then another, and another.
"Test shots. The small fry are trying to see if we panic. We wont see any real problems unless the larger gangs get involved." Parker said, readying her rifle.
Harvel considered his options. He was reconsidering his decision to be awake for all of this. "Can I have a gun too?" He asked, a spark of hope in his voice.
"No." Parker answered, grabbing one of the straps holding his chest to the stretcher and pulling it tighter. Another ping went off above their heads. "For your safety." She said, noticing his grimace.
"Sure." Harvel murmured, shifting his shoulder blades underneath him. It was hard not to notice just how little his back hurt. In fact he felt great. Maybe they had increased his pain meds for the ride, but he didn't feel the general brain fog he had before.
Harvel watched Parker put the large collar back on. As she turned around he took note of the pistol strapped to one of her thighs. He recognized the model from a magazine Mary had shown him once. It was a Ds- something or another. He only really remembered that they'd called it a potato masher. As far as he knew they were the type of illegal you didn't get a trial for.
One of the few police officers he'd been friends with growing up had been killed with one. He'd only been hit once, but the funeral had been a closed casket. Officer Hayes hadn't deserved to die like that. Nobody did. At least it had been quick.
Unlike Parkers rifle it wasn't designed with accuracy in mind. He didn't know what it was designed for really. He knew one thing though, if he had a problem all he'd have to do is fire, the masher would do the rest. The rest, in this case, being breaking his wrist and a majority of his fingers before very shortly afterwards vaporizing whomever was in front of him. Along with any wall they might be standing in front of.
Harvel quickly shifted his gaze away from the double edged sword within his reach. Parker was just standing there now, rifle at the ready. She'd hooked herself onto some sort of anchoring system located on the roof. She was sort of floating around on the balls of her feet. After a few seconds they heard another, much louder, "Ping!" come from the front end of the AV.
"The big boys have joined in on the fun now. I'm gonna put on some music to drown 'em out." Aldon chimed in over the intercom.
Parker let out a sigh as she slipped in some ear plugs, reluctantly offering Harvel a pair as well. As he couldn't currently move his arms he turned them down with a shake of his head. He'd gotten used to the sound of gunshots in confined spaces. Of course, he found out a second later that they hadn't been for the gunshots.
"You like the classics Harvel? Imma put on some Stranded. You'll like that." Aldon chimed in again, not bothering to wait for a response.
The sound hit him in the chest before he understood what was coming. The pressure of soaring organ chords and a driving bass line pervaded the remaining thoughts he had left in his head. The beat felt as if it were controlling the flow of blood in his head.
"Oh, it started out slow, something I didn't expe-" came the words, punctuated by more rounds pinging off the hull.
Parker fired off her first shot into the darkness. Harvel had barely shaken off the pressure of the sound surrounding him when she fired her second. He craned his head around and spotted an AV coming up on them fast. He couldn't tell what kind. All he could see were flashes as Parkers rounds sparked off its hull.
"Just a simple girl I thought I overlooked, but one look from y-"
Just as the flashes were growing closer Aldon dipped downward, causing their pursuers to rise out of sight. Parker reloaded her rifle, careful to place the empty magazine into a slot next to Harvels head.
The AV pulled up behind them for a moment before Aldon spun the ambulance ninety degrees onto its side. In perfect synchronization Parker leapt, her head staying perfectly level like a gyroscope as she landed. She planted her feet on each side of the cubby he was strapped into.
"So let me hold your hand just a little while longer, see your smile just a on-"
At this point the only thing Harvel could see was Parkers right boot about two inches away from his nose. The shots continuing, Harvel sputtered as hot shells rained down onto his face until another magazine was spent. Without looking she released it, allowing gravity to guide it into the slot next to her foot. Harvel was just starting to get as comfortable as his new position would allow, when Parker stomped on the intercom button.
"Get us back in the damn clouds, I think there's more up top!" She yelled, still unloading rounds out of the rear hatch. Harvel couldn't hear what Aldon relayed back but he felt the AV begin to shift upwards.
Parker hopped into the air, once again timing it perfectly to Aldon leveling out the AV. Harvel could feel his straps beginning to loosen. He strained his left arm against them. While it lacked the strength of his right, it was missing considerably more mass. He knew he shouldn't be doing it, but he couldn't help trying to get some form of control back.
"Oh, it might be crazy, but I ju-"
Just as Harvels arm slipped out of its confinement, Parker fired another round. An explosion rocked the entire AV causing Parker to hover in the air in front of him for a moment. For the first time since takeoff, Harvel saw her face lit up by the ball of flame descending to the ground behind them. He'd only caught a glimpse, but he could swear she'd been smiling.
"Cause baby we're almost there!"
Harvel closed his eyes and attempted to calm down. Between the rounds Parker was firing, the rounds the bastards were firing at them, and the music Aldon was blaring, he felt like his head was about to explode. Through the cacophony of sounds elbowing past each other to occupy the front of his mind he heard something else.
There was a thumping, rhythmic, slow, and metallic. It sounded like it was getting louder, closer maybe. It sounded like footsteps. Harvel opened his eyes, scanning for some indication of its origin.
It sounded as if it were above them. Harvel watched the top hatch, struggling against his straps. With his now free hand he managed to get his other arm loose. He watched as a head began to crest the window in the middle of the hatch.
'Of course they're on top of the damn AV. Why wouldn't they be?' Harvel thought as he listened to the footsteps growing closer.
"Parker? Uhm, Parker?" Harvel asked, reaching over to tap her shoulder without taking his eyes off of the head now almost in full view. He felt her shrug off his attempt. "Uhm, Parker?! Parker!" He insisted, this time grabbing her by the back of her collar and shaking her.
"Will you shut up?! I'm a little busy!" She yelled, not taking her eyes off of the rear hatch, continuing to fire round after round. Harvel debated just letting the man, who was now making full eye contact with him, shoot her. He watched as the raider leveled his rifle with the hatch, aiming directly at the back of Parkers head.
"Oh, for fucks sake!" Harvel screamed as he forcefully pulled her as close to him as he could. A series of three shots ripped through the hatch and embedded themselves into the steel where she had been standing. He held her there for a moment as he pulled the hulking pistol out of her holster and aimed.
The sound of a screaming guitar solo, visceral and building, filled his ears. The masher didn't have sights. It didn't really need them. He lined up the shot in the middle of the window and pulled the trigger as the last screaming chord reached its apex.
His ears rang like a thousand bells at the same time. The window was gone, the raider was gone, his hand was so numb it felt like it was gone as well. Well, it was numb at first and then the pain hit. It had definitely broken some of his fingers.
He nearly dropped the pistol, barely keeping a grip with the three fingers he could still stand to use. Parker pulled herself free and stared up at the gaping hole in the roof for a moment. The shot had barely threaded the needle and missed most of the hatch, the big red button hanging in the air by a wire.
"What the fuck just happened?!" Aldon screamed, his voice nearly blowing out the speaker on the intercom.
"I told you they were above us! How long until we're out of the Swamp?!" Parker yelled back, eyes now firmly fixated on Harvel.
"Almost there! Maybe a minute or t-!" Aldon responded, cutting out near the end.
Harvel felt the AV gain even more speed as they tilted down towards the ground. He expected Parker to rip the gun out of his hand the way she was glaring at him. Instead she turned around and kept firing out of the rear hatch.
"Keep an eye out!" she yelled, grabbing the now freely swinging button and shoving it into his free hand. Harvel simply nodded and kept his eyes on what remained of the hatch. He tried to sight in with the masher, but quickly realized that his hand was shaking so violently from the effort that the next shot might very well take off Aldons head.
Another AV lined up with what was left of the hatch, firing tethers into the top of the ambulance. They struck home, causing the entire ambulance to dip from the force. He could hear the metal strain as Aldon pulled the AV further down between the buildings. This was a very precarious game of tug of war. If the other AV managed to gain enough control they could be slammed into one of the many abandoned sky scrapers flying past them.
"What do we do?!" Harvel screamed, the gusts of wind coming in through the hole in the roof nearly drowning him out.
"What do you think that button is for?!" Parker yelled back, still firing into an AV behind them. Harvel ran his thumb over the big red button. The AV was pulling them closer and closer by the second. Aldon was losing this particular match.
Before he pressed down Harvel took note of a logo stamped on the bottom of the AV pulling them in. It was familiar but he couldn't quite place it. Two wings with an arrow shot through them. It looked as if someone had tried and failed to sand it off.
'Wait... one more thing.' Harvel thought, shooting Parker a glance. He dropped the pistol and reached over, jerking her towards him again. Before she could issue a complaint, he let go and unhooked her tether. Once he'd seen it retract towards the ceiling he pressed down.
With explosive force the empty frame shot upwards and embedded itself in the bottom of the AV above. The vehicle, spouting a fountain of flames, began to fall, the tethers still firmly attached to the roof. Harvel nodded at the straps holding him in place. Parker, taking the hint hooked her arm into two of them and braced herself.
The force of the tethers pulling taught again nearly made him pass out. He opened his eyes just in time to see the section of roof that held Parkers harness tear away. Finally the sounds of rounds bouncing off the hull subsided. Biting cold wrapped around them as Harvel and Parker stared up at the now gaping hole that used to be the roof. "Heheh, knock knock eh?" He whispered under his breath.
"Parker? Is the roof gone?" Aldon chimed in, sounding thoroughly exhausted. The music had stopped. The sound system must have been embedded in the ceiling, now laying somewhere among the rubble of a crashed AV.
"Yeah. The roofs gone." Parker answered, holding down the little button above Harvels head.
"That's... Kind of rad actually." Aldon admitted, pausing to sigh. "Well, we're gonna have to put 'er down in the city. Main fuel line's been hit. Harvel, you like Vietnamese?" He continued, the AV beginning a slow descent until Harvel could see well lit buildings growing taller and taller around them.
"S-sure?" Harvel stammered, staring down at the twisted fingers on his left hand. "As long as they have forks." he finished, shooting a glance Parkers way. She was still bracing herself against the straps near his leg.
"If we can't find you one Parker can feed you eh? I get the feeling she owes you." Aldon answered, chuckling lightheartedly. Parker grumbled something he couldn't quite hear but it sounded like "Fuck no."
They braced themselves again as the AV came to a rough yet calculated stop at ground level. As Parker undid the straps holding him to his stretcher, Harvel could see a blue neon sign a few yards away. "Pho Saigon" He read aloud. His ears still ringing so loud he could barely hear his own thoughts.