บท 84: Police Chase

"GET THE FUCK OUTTA THE WAY!" Rebecca roars, firing one shot before jumping onto the stairs and sliding down the railing on her butt. The first shot had forced the officers into cover, but she was already on top of them when they attempted to return fire.

*BANG!*

One guy's body literally evaporates, and she slams the next in the face with Guts as if it were a baseball bat. Another attempts to shoot her but screams when Sasha hacks his system, causing him to fire off his weapon randomly.

Ori sprints down, ignoring the discomfort of his injuries and the lead still in him, and slamming his shoulder into a female officer. She goes down, and he drops his foot on her face as she scrambles to point her gun at him. She struggles to force him off but that ends when he fires a burst from his weapon into her chest.

"Get off of her you fucking psycho!" her enraged colleague roars, firing off a flurry of bullets which all miss and strike the wall next to Ori.

Six decommissions the guy with two shots to his head, then destroys three police drones that attempt to intercept them.

"Quick!" Ori grunts, ramming through the nearby maintenance door which led down to the highway. The other follows as he steps out, spotting the Delamain cab that'd abruptly stopped in the middle of the road.

He almost falls into the backseat as Rebecca and Sasha follow, Six jumping into the passenger seat.

"Hello and welcome to Delamin services, if you would all put on your seatbel-" the AI in the car starts, only to stop as Rebecca shouts at it. "WILL YOU JUST DRIVE ALREADY!?"

"As you wish."

*SCCCRRRRRREEE!!!*

The tires squeal as Delamain races off, police drones and cameras had obviously tracked where they'd gone, and the sirens behind the car made the group well aware that the fight wasn't over quite yet.

"Ori! You alright!?" Rebecca hurriedly questions as she leans over him, ignoring the bombastic police chase around her as she tears open his jacket and shirt.

"I told you I'm good, just get us outta here." he says, feeling the wriggling sensation of bullets being pushed out of his skin, like maggots or tapeworms.

She forcefully turns his face to check his head, noticing a large patch of missing hair that'd been obscured by the coagulated blood. "Y-you got shot in the head!? With no armour! How the fuck are you still awake!?"

"Or alive..." Sasha mutters while feeling somewhat responsible for his injuries.

"I heal fast and I've got a thick skull, let's concentrate on not dying first, we can argue later!" he exclaims, and as if to emphasize his point a bullet smashes against the reinforced back window, cracking and splintering it.

[I'm cutting off comms, Corpo runners are trying to track my systems.] - Kiwi

[Kiwi Disconnected]

[Judy, we're headed down Peel's Street, how're we lookin'?] - Six

[There are two cars headed down that way, the rest are following you behind!] - Judy

Delamain speeds down the road, ducking and weaving through confused traffic as he approaches the intersection, sirens blaring behind them.

"Do try to hold on." the AI asks as it hits the handbrake and enters a drift, coasting past the intersection and barely missing an NCPD car that attempts to slam into them from the opposite side of the road.

Instead of headed south towards Little China and the main Police HQ, Delamain drives south through Downtown Central. Automatic turrets attempt to fire at them but the car's simply moving too quickly, and too close to civilians to get a clear shot. Any bullets that do make it through can't breach Delamain's armour.

[They're setting up spike strips at Market Street intersection!] - Judy

"Appreciate the candour, Miss." Delamain thanks as the wheel abruptly spins, sending the group down a side street as the police cars behind them accidentally speed past on the main road.

Delamain smashes straight through a lampost as it approaches a completely blocked right, driving onto the pavement and barely missing the people on it. They turn onto another road but encounter a police car, the officers stop in the middle of the road and get out to shoot them, but quickly realise what Delamain intended.

They throw themselves out of the way as Delamain slams into the car, its body warping against Delamain's seemingly impenetrable bumper. The whiplash of the impact almost sends Delamain's passengers through the windscreen, thankfully they managed to endure it without injury, aside from maybe a headache.

"This freaking AI is crazy!" Rebecca mutters with her legs forced against the front seats to keep her stable in the back, clutching Ori who'd headbutted Six's headrest...

Sasha just clutches her bloody nose and nods in agreement, "Wouldn't we be safer on foot? Let the police chase the car..."

"Not with all those drones tracking us." Six states, gesturing at the small fleet of NCPD drones that were hovering above the car nearby.

With the police cruiser handled, Delamain accelerates again, seventy MPH West down Palms View Way, then South towards Pacifica.

[You need to shoot the drones down if you wanna get away today, they've got a live feed on you!] Judy tells the group.

Six growls, opening the window and leaning out of the to start shooting. Bullets from the drones ping off of the car and his armour, but he grunts through it and steadily whittles down their numbers.

Sasha hacks the rest, disabling them and sending them skittering across the road behind them. They make it to Pacifica over the bridge and continue driving down central, then skidding into a car park where another vehicle was already there waiting for them.

"I hope you enjoyed Delamain services, if you could, please send us a good review. Five stars is always appreciated, and we will be willing to gift you a discount on your next pur-"

Ori gets out and vomits onto the floor, motion sickness, mixed with his concussion forcing him to void his stomach. Rebecca pats his back, "There, there Ori, better out than in..."

"Uughh... What does that saying even mean... I'd rather eat than vomit..." he says before spewing another load.

"I always thought it meant better to throw up vomit than to eat it..." she shrugs, "Now let's get you to a doc, you're paler than I am!"