X20: Pinned Counterattack

Injecting himself, he reloaded his SMG, replacing the plasma cartridge and bolt magazine. The overflow of morphine, adrenaline and cocktails spiked his system as he felt his exospine heat up. But that didn't matter, he leapt out from cover, sliding over the destroyed hood and activating his deflector shield. He rushed forward, firing his SMG with one hand whilst attracting the Loyalists' attention. He went from cover to cover, taking out Loyalists easily with simple headshots. Any bullets meeting his shield caused it to flicker - it still hadn't fully recharged. But time was blood. And he's running out of both.

As he ran out of bolts, the Loyalists wielding launchers came into view, cowering . The impacts crackled into his body. Ramping up his ANCHOR, he teleported directly onto the launchers. As he apparated, he lobbed his SMG at the first of three. The other two twisted around towards him.

The gun slammed into them. He side-stepped out of a blind mag-dump, unsheathing a black dagger. In a single motion, he slashed their neck in two.

One fired point blank with a shotgun, but Kazuki was just able to block the attack with his shield, energy slowly tittering out. He pushed forward as the Loyalist tried to fire more and more plasma-shot into his shield. But with each passing plasma pellet, his shield's strength slowly weakened. The second one fired his pistol at him, deflecting off his back-armour, clipping the dark-gold trim markings. Kazuki twisted his body and threw his throwing knife directly into the chest of the Loyalist, staggering them.

Looking up, he could see the shuttles cycling in and picking up the operatives grounded near the destroyed shuttles. Archius spoke up, 'Get back, you've bought enough time.'

'There's not enough time.' stated Kazuki, seeing even more rockets thrown their way as more Loyalists streamed to this location, 'I'll handle things here. All it takes is one launcher…'

He pressed his shield against the shotgun's muzzle, dragging his railgun out from his holster. Firing it directly into the lower torso of the Loyalist before he twisted around to the Loyalist with a knife stuck in them. He loaded another shell into the railgun's break-action, then completely removed their head.

More bullets rained towards him as the Loyalists tried to eliminate the isolated Contract-Breaker. He ran over to the now dead Loyalist, grabbing his knife back before sliding behind one of the vehicles. Steam started to exit out from his mouth once again. The hot vapours stung at his gums and teeth. He slid his railgun back into its holster, taking out his backup pistol.

'Kaz! Don't be silly… you have to get out. You won't last a minute…' Eliza's worry seeped into her voice as it quivered.

Archius sighed as he followed through with his friend's orders. 'Shuttles. As soon as the last agents are on the shuttles, haul your asses and RTB.'

Kazuki looked towards the LZ, seeing a litany of plasma and bullets flying about as the gunners and drones were helping the exfiltration, firing down laser bolts at the Loyalists that dared show themselves out of cover.

'Archius!' shouted Eliza, stress and worry continued to break her down. Ugh... annoying, Kazuki thought.

'Dammit…' Lilly said, 'Focus. Arbiter will survive, don't worry about him.'

'I'll find another way out.' said Kazuki, popping his head out from cover and swiftly killing any Loyalist approaching him. From his memory, he had fired 86% of his munitions, not good.. 'Just get out. Now.'

'I…' Eliza trailed off as she fell silent. Good, Kazuki thought. Now he can finally think.

'Last one out! RTB.' said Karl, the shuttles now leaving. Escort drones shot down any missile or rocket sent their way as Kazuki was now left stranded. They streamed by overhead, disappearing over the buildings and slums.

'Gambit. Status report.' Kazuki said, calmly. He needed to know whether he should buy more time.

'We've slicked off into the alleys, Arbiter. Fuckers got some of us but we're good.' reported Riharia, her hot-headedness now seemingly cooled.

This was a mess. More bullets smacked into the hood of the hover-car he was hiding behind. He took in a deep breath, wretching a thermobaric grenade out from his belt. He activated it, lobbing it over. Its explosion sent a shockwave of vacuum heat and smoke all over. Smoke engulfed the area and he stood up.

'Good. RTB,' he said, escaping into the alleys amongst flame and fog.