HEAVY OBJECT:Volume9 Chapter 1

Status: Incomplete

2/13 parts completed

   

Chapter 1: Light-Emitting Magician >> Urban Battle of Lost Angels

Part 1

It was designated a safe country belonging to the Faith Organization.

The Coromandel Region was a narrow strip of coast running north to south along the Indian Ocean and a military port and industrial city were located on the southernmost end.

“So I’m finally here in Lost Angels.”

Quenser Barbotage muttered to himself as he walked through the international airport’s lobby.

He wore a thin tropical shirt and shorts instead of his usual military uniform. He also wore pale sunglasses, but they looked frighteningly out of place on him. He pulled a cellphone from his sports bag and switched it on. He had been instructed to turn it off during takeoff and landing, but he could not relax with that signal cut off even momentarily.

He already had a few missed calls, so he called back one of them.

The call was to Heivia Winchell who was quickly becoming a close yet awful friend.

“I’m in the airport now. Aren’t you coming to pick me up?”

“Why would I head out into that godawful heat to see some filthy guy? I’m not taking a step outside this air conditioned room.”

“Wait, what about the beach? I thought Lost Angels was filled with girls whose horniness is barely contained in a swimsuit?”

“Yeah, but with all the money they’ve clearly spent on their skin, who knows what organization’s mistress they are. Are you sure you want to play a game of concentration where a single mistake means having your balls torn off?”

“Can I leave right this instant? You just killed any hope I had for this city.”

“Shut up, hail a taxi, and get your ass over to the hotel. It’s the Luxury Coast Hotel. …Well, there are five hotels with the exact same name, but you’ll get here if you tell the driver to turn off Muscat Street at the museum and head straight down Palm Street.”

Quenser hung up and left the airport building.

His entire body was immediately assaulted by a sweltering heat. It was enough to completely forget it was May, but the heat was not all that surprising since the city was farther south than Hawaii.

He could immediately tell how safe this city was by the old man with a cigar blatantly taking a bunch of crumple-up money from several women and by the masked men sneaking up behind the old man like it was all some kind of skit.

A group of teenage boys and girls – likely from a safe country somewhere – were being led around by a tour guide. Quenser glanced over at the School Trip Students who were boarding a tour bus as he hailed a taxi and asked the driver to take him to the Luxury Coast Hotel as instructed.

“That’ll be taking the long way around,” said the driver.

“That’s fine. Just follow that obvious route.”

The coolant must have been losing its effectiveness because the taxi’s air conditioner was barely working.

A small monitor was installed on the back of the front seat and it silently played an ad for health foods that looked like they would make you sick, a magic show where a passenger plane was made to disappear, and news about a civilian long-term space flight project that was cancelled due to energy problems, but Quenser was not watching any of it.

His eyes were focused outside the window.

The large street was lined with colorful flowers and palm trees and fine beach-like sand covered the ground. All of the buildings were polished and sparkling like a mirror, so it felt like being exposed to the concentrated fire of a giant solar cooker.

Before long, Quenser’s phone rang.

“What is it, Heivia? You can tell I’m having a bad day when I get more than one call that isn’t from a girl.”

“Just listen. I forgot to tell you something. Let me tell you about a certain ‘specialty’ found on Muscat Street. Try opening the window and holding out the phone. Hold on tight because you’ll be the one who suffers if you drop it.”

“What’s this about? I’m not innocent enough believe those rumors about a sixty kph wind feeling like a D-cup, you know?”

Quenser complained, but he did as he was told. And with the air conditioner barely working, he had no problem with opening the window.

Right at that moment, the taxi passed a black bulletproof car that had come to a brief stop.

The luxury car was protected by escort vehicles, its window was open, and an elderly man with silver-gray hair was leaning out.

As a disgustingly insincere show of charity, he may have been calling over a child wanting to wash his windows for some loose change.

But…

Quenser’s hand struck the top of his head.

Something glittered and a toupee that had to have cost five thousand euros flew through the air.

Quenser paled when he heard laughter coming from his phone.

“What did you just make me do!?”

He then heard angry yelling from behind the taxi. Screeching tires followed and the taxi driver sensibly began driving more dirtily to deal with the pursuit.

After ignoring around three traffic lights, the gun-toting group of vehicles was finally cut off by a stream of cars.

The driver did not turn around, but he did show Quenser his middle finger.

“Next time! That’ll cost extra!!”

The fact that he did not just say “never do that” seemed to be the Lost Angels style.

After losing their pursuers, the rattling taxi pulled up to Quenser’s destination. He handed over the set fare as well as a rather large tip, left the taxi, and gave an annoyed comment.

“How is this a ‘Luxury Coast Hotel’? It’s a run-down motel.”

It looked a lot like a two-story apartment building. The stairs and corridors were on the outside, so they would probably be soaking wet on a rainy day with any kind of wind. Simply having this place chosen for his lodgings was enough to know he was going to be making anything but bright and shining memories here.

He received a text with timing so perfect he felt he was being watched.

The subject was only a three-digit message and the body was blank.

He found the indicated room number and lightly knocked on the first-floor door.

The door opened to reveal a studio apartment sized room with all four walls packed full of military computers.

“Hurry up and get in. We don’t want what’s in here exposed for too long.”

Heivia Winchell wore a Hawaiian shirt and jeans instead of his usual military uniform. After closing the door, the room grew as dimly lit as a home theater. While doing what his awful friend said, Quenser looked around in annoyance.

“A cramped room, a ton of strange computers, and nothing but soldiers? And you have the air conditioner on full blast to combat all the stuffy heat? Have you ever heard of the World Clock, Heivia? It’s because of stuff like this that mankind’s lifespan is being worn away.”

“Oh, shut up. Don’t forget that those useless humanitarian commercials use up energy too. I’m not listening to people who think they’re the exception.”

“How many days ago was it that you were rejoicing over getting to do an actual analyst’s job for once? What have you been doing in this cave of junk?”

“There are five people who outrank me in this cramped room. I’m sure you’ll figure out what’s going on by the time the introductions are over.”

However, no one was wearing their uniform, so none of them had rank insignia on their shoulders. The woman with short blonde hair seemed to be in charge, but she was wearing baggy cargo pants and a bikini top.

“You’re Battlefield Student Quenser Barbotage, I take it. I’m Millia Newburg. I’m from the intelligence division and my rank is lieutenant. Nice to meet you.”

“Eh? Oh, right.”

“This is a pretty nice city if you ignore how bullets fly around like an afternoon shower and no restaurant has anything but chicken burgers. Now, let’s discuss some details.”

Millia pressed a button on a projector remote and the image appeared on the roof for some reason.

“With all the machines in here, this was the only surface left.”

“Is this…a map of Lost Angels?”

“You can’t get by in this city just by glancing through the airport pamphlet, so I’ll give you some basic knowledge. First of all, Lost Angels is located on the southernmost point of the Indian subcontinent. It belongs to the Faith Organization and its classified as a safe country, but it’s actually one of the least safe places you can be and people die more easily than on your average battlefield.”

The map of the city was divided into four different colors.

There was no obvious pattern, so it looked like bizarre bright camouflage.

“This is the division of power in Lost Angels. You could call it the territories of the four organizations that are causing this city to rot. But don’t rely on it too much. They all make sure to deliver for your convenience. Assume you’ll have lead flying your way no matter where you are.”

The bikini officer pressed another button on the remote and a red circle surrounded one point on the map.

It was the cape at the far south of this southern city.

“This right here is what’s led to all this. The Faith Organization has a large facility for Object construction and maintenance here. Currently, the second generation Collective Farming is moored there. Subsidies are pouring in in the name of stimulating the region, so everyone’s lost the will to do any real work. Everyone just assumes they’ll have money, so they spend it all on gambling, prostitutes, and insane ‘rock candy’. But as soon as their own habits leave their wallets empty, they get mad and go on a rampage. This is a city of two million where everyone’s the kind of embarrassing adult who acts like a child throwing a tantrum. And all while holding handguns and odd-smelling grass.”

“…”

“Feeling blue? Well, you just have to understand that I wouldn’t exactly recommend going swimming here. More importantly, do you have the phone our division lent you? Let me see it.”

“Um, you mean this?”

Quenser held out the cheap cellphone he had been using and Millia tossed it to Heivia. Heivia stuck a broad belt-like cable into the phone’s bottom connector to link it to the computer.

“Here we go, here we go, here we go. This is just what we wanted! This is Mr. Mayonnaise’s final puzzle piece!!”

“Who?”

“A crazy old man who smothers everything from curry noodles to Mont Blanc in mayo. But he’s the boss of the Faith Organization’s state-run factory, so we needed his biometrics for our operation.”

“You mean like his fingerprint and blood?”

“He started getting cautious after we’d collected a few of them. We only needed his heartrate pattern, but that meant someone had to hold their nose and get right in the smelly gorilla’s face. Just as we were going to play rock-paper-scissors to see who had to do it, we heard you were on your way. So thanks, Quenser. You won’t get a bonus for your trouble, but we appreciate it.”

Quenser recalled passing by a luxury car with several escort vehicles on the taxi ride here. He had unintentionally knocked a man’s toupee off and nearly been killed.

He must have been told to take such a roundabout way to the hotel in order to match the man’s schedule.

“I need to punch you later, but can you really use this? Won’t they have noticed what we’re doing and be on their guard?”

“Using biometrics is secure, but you can’t change them once they’ve been stolen,” explained Heivia. “He’s probably sweating bullets right about now. He can’t recover from this mistake, so I doubt that stupid mayo man will report it to anyone. We just have to take care of our job while he’s figuring out how to save his own skin.”

Heivia was in a pretty good mood for being forced into this city, but that may have been because he had actually gotten an analyst’s job for once. Then again, he was supposed to be a “radar” analyst.

However, a cloud fell over Millia Newburg’s face.

“That means we just have to take care of ‘that’.”

Quenser changed his mind and decided Heivia’s good mood was due to the beautiful woman in a bikini.

“Oh, so we’re going to do this the Lost Angels way?” asked the idiot.

“Yes. Although, if the people here were as clever as a London stockbroker, I wouldn’t have to worry so much.”

It may have been a comfort issue, but she tugged on her bikini’s central string with her index finger.

“We have no choice. I’ll gather the data and put together a definite plan. You two…I know. Heivia, you take Quenser with you to show him around while getting us a meal before we have to head out next. Anything’s fine as long as it isn’t curry or chicken, so buy enough for everyone. That’s all.”

Part 2

With that, Quenser and Heivia were stuck walking through Lost Angels during the afternoon.

The city seemed to use cars more than trains and there were also a lot of bicycles and inline skates. There must not have been much of a distinction between the city and the beach because plenty of men and women were walking around in swimsuits.

“If we’re getting food, we should probably head up Apple Street and then down Pineapple Street.”

“Hm? But there are food carts set up right over there.”

“You don’t even want to know what’s in those. The sign might say chicken, but you’re lucky if it’s actually frog.”

There were no crosswalks in the area, so they ran across the wide street with horns blaring at them.

Quenser spoke up while passing by a College Girl in a Monokini who was taking a selfie with her smartphone.

“Everyone’s surprisingly defenseless for what I’d heard was a city of guns and crime.”

“That’s one of the digital exhibitionists. They purposefully carry around vulnerable smartphones and transmit their crazy personal life to the world 24/7. I do hear they make lovely bed partners for the people undercover here, though.”

The two idiots made their way into a small restaurant district. They ignored all of the restaurants with direct “takeout” counters and entered a large supermarket. There, they threw some random food into a cart: soft French bread, thick fillets of salmon, a few salads, anchovies, deli horse meat, canned olives, etc.

Quenser was clearly annoyed with the lineup in the cart.

“Are you planning a homemade hot dog party?”

“This one is sausage made out of the Island Nation’s tofu. If you let people choose their own ingredients, then it’s their responsibility if it doesn’t taste good. That’s a trick to slip free of your commanding officer’s ridiculous demands.”

“And why are you inspecting it all so closely? Can’t you just check the expiration date to see how fresh it is?”

“Don’t be stupid. Lost Angels’s transformer facilities are in the mountains and they’re so worn out that the power goes out all the time. If the refrigerators aren’t working, the food will often rot in its packaging.”

A young woman was working the register, but the employee training seemed to be decent because she had a pump-action shotgun casually leaning up against the counter. The sight was enough to make Quenser’s balls shrivel up. Heivia seemed used to it, so he held out some Faith Organization money. That money did not seem real to Quenser and felt more like a toy.

With bags in both hands, they both left the automatic door.

“Heivia, couldn’t we have driven?”

“I don’t want to own a car here. In this city, people get one by breaking the window in the parking lot or hijacking it from someone waiting at a red light. It’s like sharing a girlfriend with your roommates, so it just seems disgusting.”

Heivia spat out that comment as they waited for a break in the cars and a Pizza Deliveryman on a scooter so they could cross the road.

Quenser wiped sweat from his brow.

“I really didn’t think that would lead to all this.”

“Yeah, you’re clearly the one that caused this. Just because we’re only trying to kill some time doesn’t mean you can’t take the discussion seriously. You may have been joking, but the higher ups will take it all seriously.”

“Yeah, but…”

Quenser’s complaint trailed off.

Suddenly, a Hot Dog Stand in a van exploded as it drove by in front of them.

The explosives flames and shockwave sent the mass of steel into the air. It flew from the road and began tumbling along.

“…!?”

Quenser fell to a sitting position and wordlessly flapped his mouth opened and closed.

He first thought it was a car bomb but quickly realized he was wrong.

He noticed a thin trail of smoke coming from the opposite side of the road. He followed it back and found a black SUV stopped about one hundred meters away with someone leaning out the back window.

That person threw away what looked like a large cylinder.

“A rocket!?”

“If you get what’s going on, then hide! C’mon, this way!!”

Heivia immediately abandoned the supermarket bags full of food, grabbed the back of Quenser’s neck instead, and dragged the other boy behind the flaming kitchen truck.

“Do gangs shoot those things in safe countries these days!?”

“In Lost Angels, they’re as common as seagull droppings.”

“First I knock off some guy’s toupee and now I’m caught in a gang war? What kind of first day is this? I came here because I’d heard its beaches had the highest topless rate in the world, but I’ve been seeing nothing but old men!!”

“What are you blathering about!? They fired that at us! And it’s not the topless rate this place is #1 in; it’s the nipple piercing rate, which is just disturbing! More importantly, you check for a sniper with the binoculars. I’ll take out the enemies I can see with my own eyes!!”

“Eh?”

Surprised, Quenser turned around and saw Heivia reach into the backpack he was wearing with only one shoulder strap.

He pulled out a submachinegun with a suppressor attached. It was such a tiny fully-automatic weapon that the suppressor actually looked larger than the gun itself.

“Eh?”

The student looked back and forth between Heivia who was loading the first bullet behind the burning kitchen truck and the five or six thugs approaching with shotguns in hand.

The delinquent soldier did not hesitate in the slightest.

He slaughtered those civilians with short bursts of muffled gunfire.

There were corpses everywhere.

“Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

“Could you please shut up!? We’re the ones being attacked. If we don’t shoot back, we’ll be killed. What’s wrong with returning fire!?”

“Wait, but, Heivia! This is a safe country! Even if they’re part of a local gang, they’re still technically civilia-…”

“Are you completely braindead!? Do you see a single goodhearted civilian around here!?”

He did not understand what his horrible friend was saying.

And as the boy shouted, that friend let loose some more bursts of gunfire that accurately killed a few more people on the streets.

“Listen, you bastard. For the most part, there are four organizations lurking in this city, but that’s just the official story.”

Heivia swapped out the magazine.

“They’re actually all hideouts for the intelligence division of the world powers: the Legitimacy Kingdom, the Information Alliance, the Capitalist Corporations, and the Faith Organization. They’re after the Faith Organization’s Object construction and maintenance facility. They steal or destroy classified information and do whatever else they can. We’re officially labelled civilians, we’re secretly part of the gang named Azul Hive, and we’re secretly secretly with the Legitimacy Kingdom military.”

“Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“Do you really think I’m lying? The place has gotten so dangerous that all the local people have left. This is both a safe country and the front line. It’s a mystery how the place even still functions as a city!”

He loaded the first bullet again.

“The entire place is crawling with military personnel using suspicious, falsified resumes. Everyone else is a wanted criminal or someone else who can’t live in any other city. Simply put, the city is half soldiers and half exiles. But it’s obvious at a glance who are the predators and who are the prey. The girl at the supermarket register and this Hot Dog Stand are the same! This thing contains a giant illegal wireless router and the guy who runs it is a spy who steals data from all the devices around here!!”

“But wait. Why is the Faith Organization military a part of all this!? Isn’t this their home turf!?”

“They’ve been forced to dirty their own hands to get rid of the people who they can’t drive out through normal means. Anyway, the ones after us here are Information Alliance soldiers without their uniforms. If they’re taking this seriously, we have no reason to hold back either!”

Quenser heard a horn coming from somewhere else.

A giant truck cut by, crashing into the side of a car that had just pulled into the intersection. The truck came to a sudden halt, blocking all traffic through the intersection and the container on the back opened like a giant treasure chest.

Heivia groaned when he saw what appeared from within.

“Oh, we’re screwed.”

It was a mass of composite armor and it measured somewhere from ten to fifteen meters tall when it stood up on the truck bed. It was definitely a weapon, but it intentionally retained a humanoid silhouette.

“Let’s scram. We don’t have the firepower for that thing! In fact, does it even still qualify as a powered suit!?”

“That’s the kind of crazy thing you see at weapons shows! Y’know, like the lunar invasion tanks and personal-use jet engines that are clearly just someone having some fun with the tax money funding them!”

“Either way, that thing will be a demon straight from hell once it’s ready to go. Let’s get out of here before that macho man crawls out of his grave. Otherwise, people will start making amateur bets on how long we’ll last! Come with me!!”

Countless bullets were already flying back and forth, so Quenser crouched down and ran after Heivia.

Heivia contacted someone using a sturdy radio that clearly was not a normal cellphone.

“This is Blue 05, we’re currently engaged in combat with the Crimson Party. Yeah, as you know, that’s the Information Alliance’s hideout! We’re hopelessly outgunned, so we need to lose them. Find us some wheels to steal and an escape route!!”

“That will work perfectly,” replied Millia Newburg. “Keep them on your tail as you run down Pineapple Street to Mango Square. Get there in less than ten minutes and you’ll run into a group of transport vehicles from Mustard Cowboy…that is, the Capitalist Corporations. Having those two sides run into each other will give you more of a chance to escape, plus the Capitalist Corporations still have ‘that’ stolen. We can’t continue with our original operation until we take care of them. Can you do that for us?”

“Oh, I can’t believe this! Where’s a car I can steal!?”

“The guy on the large motorcycle at the front of those waiting for the light is with the Information Alliance.”

A short burst of muffled gunfire followed.

Shot in the leg, the driver fell to the road, but Heivia ignored him and righted the large motorcycle.

A Female Police Officer in a miniskirt was well within sight, but for some reason, she seemed to be doing her best to ignore everything that was going on.

“Damn this thing’s heavy!! Hurry, Quenser! If we don’t get going, that huge thing will catch up!!”

“I feel like I’ve wandered into a post-apocalyptic world!!”

Quenser shouted his complaints as he hopped onto the back of the motorcycle.

With both of them riding it, the large motorcycle took off with its tires scraping against the asphalt. The scenery quickly began to fly by.

“I’ll focus on driving, so you take care of the gun!”

“Do you really think a student like me can do that? And you try twisting around in this unstable position!”

Several engines roared like monsters as they began their pursuit. Quenser twisted around to check behind them and saw several black bulletproof SUVs approaching with no regard for the lane markers. They would hop into the air each time they crossed a short hill.

One of them opened its thick window and a man holding a carbine leaned out.

“Dammit! I’m gonna turn left at the next intersection, so lean!!”

“Why!? Isn’t straight the quickest way to Mango Sqaure!?”

“There’s an international theater up ahead! It’s where Crimson Party gets their funding and where the rich have their orgies! They have way more funding than a hideout in a run-down motel, so they’ve at least got guardhouses and enough security to make it a large-scale fortress!! So much as brush up against it and you’ll be filled with holes!!”

Heivia took a sharp turn at the intersection as he yelled his explanation. Quenser was slow to react and did not lean quite in time, so they just about toppled over. One of the pursuing SUVs crashed into a normal car in the intersection, started spinning, and nearly took out a telephone pole along with the Worker up at the top of it.

“Quenser! If you can’t use a gun, then at least pull out your phone! Hold it out!!”

“What good will that do!? Am I supposed to upload a picture to a social network!?”

“Run the app called #109 and then take a picture like it tells you to. The machine will take care of the rest!!”

Quenser did not understand, but he did as he was told.

As he was shaken back and forth, he placed one of the pursuing bulletproof SUVs in the center of the screen and took a photo.

The phone did not fire a strange deadly radio wave or laser beam.

Instead, an air-to-surface missile dropped from the heavens.

The explosion blasted the thick four-wheel vehicle straight upwards. It landed and tumbled over and over, dragging the SUVs behind it into the mess.

“What the hell!?” shouted Quenser.

“Look up. That’s a UAV called a Short Bow! Your phone is linked with the targeting system of the unmanned plane flying above us. Make sure you aim carefully. Just like a well-trained maid, that thing will obey even mistaken orders!”

Several of the bulletproof SUVs managed to steer around their destroyed allies and continue the pursuit, but then Heivia glanced over at the metal street sign.

It said Mango Square.

“Ha ha! We made it!!”

They saw three vans with all the windows covered in metal plates drive out of a narrow road behind a bank.

“That looks like a bank’s armored car and its escort team to me!”

“And that bank is from a chain run by the Capitalist Corporations’ gang. They also happen to be the bastards who stole ‘that’ from us. Hold on tight because we’re dragging them into this too!!”

“Ahh, ahh. I’m glad to see the hands of the World Clock are moving ever onward!!”

“Killing some villains is sure to extend mankind’s lifespan by a little!”

Heivia opened the throttle further and moved the large motorcycle closer to the armored vans.

They reacted quickly.

The rearmost of the three Capitalist Corporations’ vans threw open its back double doors, revealing what lay within.

“Dammit!! Another powered suit!?”

The humanoid composite armor was sitting with its knees up to fit in the limited space.

An autocannon that resembled a steel spear passed between its legs and straight backwards.

“There’s nothing funny about a robot spreading its legs for you! What’s it targeting!?”

Heivia clicked his tongue and made a quick turn. He burst into the oncoming lane, putting an angle between them instead of distance, and entered their blind spot.

The powered suit fired almost immediately afterwards.

The repetitive explosive sounds were far too deep and the Information Alliance’s bulletproof SUVs and the asphalt they drove on were filled with holes as easily as a paper box. There were no screams or shouts. The road was simply blocked by flames and smoke.

Heivia observed that filthy gravestone in the rearview mirror and spat out a comment.

“They’re already all dead? Talk about useless!!”

“As I hope you know, our real target here is the Capitalist Corporations. Unless we take out that armored van, they’ll still have ‘that’ and we’ll have lost our chance to continue the operation.” Millia Newburg gave that coolheaded clarification over the radio, so she may have been observing them using the UAV overhead. “And if you take too long, you’ll be cut off by the Great Fence…the no-entry zone. Three kilometers north of the Object construction and maintenance facility on the southern cape is a double fence with machinegun-equipped guard towers. Nothing good will come of getting close to that, so hurry up and finish this.”

Heivia clicked his tongue.

“You heard her, student! Now order the Short Bow to blow away those escort vans!!”

“The phone’s antenna icon just died, so can I even use that anymore?’

“They’re jamming us now!?”

Heivia weaved in between the oncoming traffic that shot their way like arrows.

The rearmost of the windowless vans kept its back door open and tried to target them with the autocannon sticking lengthwise down the vehicle. Unlike a normal gun turret, it could not turn the barrel, but it was possible the van could swing its back end toward the motorcycle and put the two boys in the weapon’s line of fire.

They were going to fail at this rate.

They could not escape the enemy’s line of fire forever and focusing too much on that could easily lead to a collision with a completely unrelated car.

“Return to the original lane!” shouted Quenser. “Approach the van from the right!”

“Are you stupid!? We’ll be torn to pieces the instant we enter that thing’s line of fire!!”

“Just do it before we reach the next curve!! This is our first and last chance!!”

Heivia clicked his tongue and did as he was told, half out of desperation.

Naturally, the powered suit in the van reacted as soon as they entered its line of fire. The autocannon spewed 30mm bullets at frightening speed and the recoil was too powerful for a flesh-and-blood human to hope to contain.

But…

“What?”

A high-pitched screech rang out.

By the time Heivia realized it was the van’s tires sliding to the side, the situation was already past the point of no return. The van completely lost its balance and toppled over. The sounds of bending metal and breaking glass followed.

“They kept firing that autocannon with its ridiculous recoil and the powered suit had already shifted the van’s center of gravity, so of course it was going to knock itself over if it fired during that sharp turn!”

“More importantly, watch out! It’s coming this way!!”

The large motorcycle just barely swerved out of the way of the approaching van and continued pursuit of the others.

Quenser looked down at this cellphone.

The antenna icon had recovered, so that rearmost van must have been the one jamming them.

The student immediately held up the phone and an air-to-surface missile dropped from the heavens three seconds later.

Like a large tree struck by lightning, the lead escort van was split in two.

The main armored van lost control after crashing into the exploding and burning escort van. It plowed into the sidewalk, collided with the traffic light pole, and bent in a V all the way up to the driver’s seat.

The large motorcycle’s engine roared wildly as it circled around and Heivia stepped down to peer in to the driver’s seat.

He raised his submachinegun in one hand and mercilessly fired inside the van.

The windshield quickly filled with white cracks, but there was no sign of the bullets getting through.

However, that was fine.

Heivia gave a shout to whoever was beyond the bulletproof glass.

“Get out, now!! We’re professionals! If you get that you can’t win this, then do what we say!”

“Heivia, what do we do now?”

“They’re with the Capitalist Corporations, so we’ll do what they’ll like least,” said Heivia. “We’ll blow away all the money in here with a missile! Pass this message on to Mustard Cowboy’s boss: ‘If we don’t get ‘that’ back unharmed, then we’ll keep doing this for as long as it takes. How about we wreck all of your luxury cars next time? Or would you prefer we soak your lovely golf course in weed killer? Your luck ran out when you interfered with our work to earn a little extra cash!’ And don’t get a word or letter of that wrong!!”

Quenser sighed when he heard that and then whispered to the other boy.

“(If we’re gonna burn it all, no one would know if we swiped a stack or two, right?)”

“(That’s already part of the plan. But don’t get greedy. Stuff too much below your clothes and you’ll look like you’re wearing a conspicuous bulletproof vest.)”