Chapter 5: Speed Freak
Yarameh and Maytak have reached the grouping of mysterious people at the floor of the stadium. The pale-brown figure and the figure with mostly-purple hair were running along the ground. The angelic boy with large hair was flying along side with Blue on his back. Yarameh was dashing with Maytak on his back to catch up with them. The stadium has been mostly cleared out at this point. Gassuk, bloody and bruised, was slowly working to a stand at the end of a staircase.
Maytak watched the pack run through the plain, black ground to the stadium's edge. She watched in curiosity as they all headed to a wall with no doors, yet everyone was working and running hard to get there.
As he ran, the pale-brown-haired figure pulled a radio from his belt. He raised it to his mouth and gave an order.
"Zugal! Go!"
The radio buzzed back. "Got it, Omni!" Maytak was watching him as the brown-haired figure gave that order. She averted her gaze to the wall ahead when she heard a loud thumping on the wall from the other side. As she looked at the wall, the thumping stopped. Then a large section of the wall grew an odd shade of light-blue. Eventually, it burst into pieces in midair and crumbled to the ground.
When the rubble hit the ground, another odd figure stood before her, this one a female. Her hands were slightly larger than normal and appeared to be covered in a type of stone. Her hair was a brown and in a pony-tail.
She waved at the others in front of her. "C'mon! Get your asses over here!"
The others were running closer and closer when Zugal turned to yell at a Virus Empire pattywagon behind her.
"AJ! Start 'er up!"
This pattywagon, a craft with a small cab and a large cargo area, rested on the ground with a rubber ring surrounding its base. Once Zugal gave the word, the craft bubbled to life and lifted up with the rubber base slightly into the air. The craft hovered about three feet above the ground as it waited for everyone.
As the crew inside the dome were about to make their exit, a bunch of virus soldiers showed themselves up from the stands. Rifles were raised and fired at the group with green laser shots, making high-pitched puh-too noises every time the trigger was pulled.
Seeing the lasers hit the ground next to him, Omniscott blindly raised his TMP with one hand to point at the viruses behind them. Green blasts were hitting dangerously close to the fleeing group, but most of them were missing.
As he ran, one shot knocked Omniscott in the shoulder not attached to his gun-wielding arm. Omniscott stumbled as the shot spun him around like a top. He worked his way to running normally to the paddywagon outside. The viruses took the exits in the stands to get themselves outside once the group left.
*****
Outside, a paddywagon has lifted itself up in the air with the engine bubbling with life. Pedestrians were either running from the scene of the stadium or watching the wagon in wonder. The vast amounts of viruses running away started to cause chaos in the streets as they flooded the sidewalks and roads, blocking cars trying to hover past.
Zugal ran to the back to open the door. She stood next to the door to wave at the other group to get to the back. First to reach the door was the purple-haired figure. Following him was the angelic boy, who has fluttered down to the ground and covered up Blue as he ran. Yarameh and Maytak were close behind him while Omniscott came running up while gripping his shoulder. As Zugal paced to the interior while grabbing the door, they all could hear the irregular sirens of virus police vehicles blaring towards the paddywagon.
Maytak was put down next to Yarameh's seat. Omniscott and Zugal were sitting closest to the doors. Up in the driver's seat, there was another girl. Her hair was very short, almost to a buzzcut. Her clothes were mostly grey and her skin was a little paler than normal. She was looking back, leaning with her head turned, to see everyone make their way inside. Once everyone was accounted for, she slammed her right foot on the gas button and the paddywagon did a jack-rabbit start to half its full speed.
Everyone held on to the interior walls as AJ rocketed the paddywagon across the road. Sirens were growing closer to the speeding paddywagon, but now sirens were softly sounding from ahead as well.
Yarameh jerked his head in realization and looked at Maytak.
"Oh, how rude. Uh, you know my name. This is Omniscott, Zugal, Scondie, McJunior, Blue, and Anna-Jesus," he told her while pointing at Omniscott, Zugal, the purple-haired figure, the angelic boy, Blue, and the driver respectively.
Omniscott winced as the paddywagon bumped in the air and he felt his shoulder throb. "How about we mess with the introductions later, Yarameh?"
"Fine! Fine! Just makin' sure..."
Blue was panting and sat with his arms resting between his knees. He looked up at Maytak and asked her a sarcastic question.
"So, do you believe me, now?"
Some of the passengers looked at Maytak, wondering what Blue meant. Maytak stared around and looked at the inside of the paddywagon and at the people now surrounding her.
"Yeah, I'd say so."
Something noisily hit the back of the paddywagon, causing it to lurch forward. Zugal got up and opened a small slot in the door just big enough for her to see through. She saw a hovering craft that had a rope extended to the paddywagon's back of its base.
Yarameh approached the door while Zugal still looked through her slot.
"I got it," he said.
Zugal sat down as Yarameh cracked the door open. Carefully, he pulled his katana out of its casing and slid it outside. A swift downward motion sliced off a rope that has been anchored to the back of the paddywagon. As the rope slithered across the ground, the paddywagon sped faster and the cars behind them were backing into the distance. Yarameh shut the door and took his seat next to Maytak.
Maytak was still basically clueless about what was happening here. Who were these people? Why did they decide to help the beggar? And if the beggar's right, what's that say about her?
One question, she asked to the driver.
"Where are we going, anyways?!"
The driver answered back in a voice with a small hint of a British accent. "Well, we've got to get to the Cavern. There, we got a- SHIT!!!"
In front of the paddywagon, there were a handfull of viruses setting up a metal strip across the ground. The driver sharply turned the wagon with enough speed to have it momentarily driving as it leaned to the side. Right when the paddywagon cleared the corner, the strip shot out a line of spears almost six feet into the air. Most of the cars managed to make their way around the corner, too, but one couldn't help destroying its front end by slamming head-on into the elongated spears.
The passengers flew up in the air from the impact the paddywagon made to get back to riding parallel to the ground.
AJ sighed with relief. She didn't dare take her eyes off of the road. "Whew... anyway, we've got a base camp in the cavern in the Void. Once we get there, we should be good. And don't listen to those stories, either. The Void is nothing like that!"
Maytak was curious about the void tidbit. As a child, she was told that the Void was a dangerous place where the numerous creatures and monsters living there made life impossible. Parents and guardians were always telling stories to keep the young ones in fear of the place. Children in her orphanage saw just taking a step in the Void was the bravest thing anyone could do.
The paddywagon sped forward. McJunior, taking note of the sirens outside, stood and placed his hand flat on the paddywagon's ceiling. A small explosion smoked from his hand to create a man-sized hole. Using his wings, McJunior flew a bit upwards so his torso would be exposed outside and braced himself on the edges with his elbows.
Behind the paddywagon, there was a legion of cars chasing it. Above, a news hoverjet (a smooth, black craft shaped like a greatly-dulled arrowhead) was recording the spectacle on the ground. McJunior raised his hand to point it at the hoverjet and shot a small red fireball.
The fireball rushed through the air and smacked the hoverjet on its belly. Another, gigantic fireball flashed and tore a chunk into the hoverjet's bottom. It fell to the ground and smashed on top of the chasing cars, slicing the force in half. The other cars swerved around and managed to keep going.
Omniscott used his un-injured arm to stick the TMP's small barrel through one of the eyeslots in the paddywagon door. Blindly, he fired at the cars behind them. Though they couldn't see anything, they could hear a car screeching and smashing into something on the road.
"Oh, snap..." McJunior called from above. "Nice shot!"
Another one of the odd-sounding "puh-too" noises rang from above the paddywagon. McJunior's legs twitched and he fell flat on his back to inside the wagon. He clutched at one of his sides and gritted his teeth.
"Oh, son of a... that hurt like a mother!" he said.
Zugal had decided to kneel down to the injured fighter and started to press her hands onto the wound, giving it a good amount of pressure. Omniscott stood and worked his way over McJunior and looked up to the hole.
"Scondie! Help me out, would ya?"
Scondie agreed and flexed his two stingers so they would lift up Omniscott by his feet through the hole. Omniscott was able to brace himself up with his elbows as McJunior did, and brought his TMP through the hole.
Using his armpit to brace it, Omniscott fired the TMP at the cars behind the paddywagon. A few bullets made contact with a car's engine, causing it to explode. The car's hood burst into flames and careened to a stop, blocking off cars as a flaming roadblock. Two of the cars were forced to stop, but the remaining three were somehow able to squeeze their way around the wreckage.
"Hang tight!" AJ called to the back.
She swiveled wildly to the right to clear a corner and avoid another spear strip. Again, the cars followed. The speed of the turn forced Omniscott to fall back into the paddywagon. Inside, he was the only one on the floor. Zugal and McJunior were back on the benches to the side, Zugal still checking on McJunior's wound now and then.
The paddywagon was still being chased by three of the police cars. Even though the odd sirens were still blazing, things seemed more quiet than they should be. Omniscott was thinking.
We've taken a soon-to-be executed fugitive right in front of them. Shouldn't there be more police than this???The paddywagon was coming to pass an intersection. Another oddity happened. The police cars turned in the intersections to get off the road on which the pattywagon sped.
Zugal was looking back through the door's eyeslot.
"Something screwy is going on, guys..."
Omniscott looked at her. "Yeah, I know." He looked at AJ.
"Hey! We should get off this road."
"Thank you, Captain Obvious," AJ snapped.
The paddywagon started to swerve on a corner, but was cut off by police cars clogging the road. AJ swore and swerved back to the road they were on earlier. It swerved a bit, but was able to continue straight forward.
"Argh..." AJ snarled. "They've got the road blocked off!"
"Well, then take the next one!" Omniscott angrily snapped.
AJ was driving down the road and looked at every single turn. Every time a new road came into view, she looked down it. She would've turned in, but every road was still clogged with virus squad cars hovering in front of the road's entrance.
"Crap! They got all the corners blocked off!" AJ said.
The paddywagon had no choice but to keep going forward down the road littered on the sides with the same smooth, black buildings blazing past. The roadway seemed clear for a while.
A group of viruses wheeled something in front of the paddywagon. As they placed it in the open, AJ was able to make it out. It was an oversized gatling gun, something as big as six trucking trailers bundled together. It had eight barrels, each about as thick as a full-grown oak tree, pointing directly at the paddywagon.
AJ looked on with shock.
"Fuck."
Blue decided to lean forward and see what was concerning the driver. His eyes widened when he saw the huge gun up ahead, but his shock turned into a sinister grin.
Blue walked under the hole in the paddywagon and jumped to pull himself through it. The people below him stared at what he was doing.
"Blue!" Maytak called to him. "What are you doing?!"
Blue grunted a little as he worked his way to the top of the paddywagon.
"Relax. I got this one."
Blue was gripping on the top of the paddywagon's roof. He worked his way from his hands and his knees to a wobley standing position. Suddenly, two stingers rose from the inside and steadied Blue at his waist. Blue's look quickly shifted in shock to below his feet, but he was grateful once he realized what it was.
Now standing on the top of the paddywagon with ease, Blue raised a hand above his waist. The others watched from below as the ragged Blue had sparks emitting from his right hand. Up ahead, the gatling gun was slowly starting to turn the barrels. Blue's hand was creating a peculiar shape. It looked as though he were holding a toy sheep in his hand, but it slowly grew as sparks flew to it.
Blue was eying the gatling gun as the barrels started to spin faster.
McJunior called up to him. "Any time would be fantastic, buddy!"
"I'm almost there...." Blue grunted.
Ahead, the gatling gun was spinning faster. A whurring noise could be heard from it as the speed continued picking up. The people shifted glances from ahead to Blue. AJ started to slow down, but Blue yelled to keep going.
Above, Blue was holding that same sheep shape, only it was now as big as a basketball. The noise from the gatling gun was growing louder and the barrels spun faster as it charged up force. Blue took the large sheep shape and walked to the back of the paddywagon's top.
The gun whirred louder. Blue started to run forward. The gun was whirring even louder. Blue raised his sheep up and behind him. He jumped in the air as the gatling gun started to warm the first shot. Blue chucked the sheep as far as he could as he jumped at the gun.
The sheep-like object flew through the air and at the gatling gun. The gun fired its first two shots. The first grazed the side of the paddywagon. The second shot the sheep-like object.
The sheep exploded in a blue-and-white flame that engulfed that entire section of street. Blue smiled confidently at his work. Blue lifted his hands and threw them away from each other in a chopping motion. Immediately afterward, the smoke created ahead lowered and split off to the sides to reveal the gatling gun tattered into pieces (along with a few chips of the surrounding buildings).
"Damn straight!" Scondie called up. "Alright, old-timer!!!"
Blue jumped back in the hole as the stingers unwrapped themselves from the fugitive.
"Ha, ha. You're a funny guy."
The paddywagon continued forward. Viruses started to line up in the road ahead while raising their weapons at the paddywagon.
AJ ducked under the wheel and kept driving.
"All of you! Get down!"
Not questioning it, the passengers ducked down and covered the back of their necks. Right afterwards, the green rifle shots blasted through the paddywagon's windshield. Glass shattered and rained to the ground in the front and on top of AJ's head. Nevertheless, the paddywagon kept going. Viruses kept going, but weren't penetrating the paddywagon's tough armor plating.
Viruses started to scatter while still shooting at the paddywagon. A few viruses were too slow and the paddywagon knocked them into the air. One virus flew up and had his body hooked onto the hole in the wagon's ceiling and it then plopped in front of the group, still holding its weapon. The virus groaned in pain, but opened its eyes just as Zugal brought a fist into its head.
Omniscott leaned over and picked up the virus's rifle. It was mostly green, but it had a couple spots in a neon-green. The barrel of the rile was a point with green lights glowing on it. Towards the front, the bottom of the gun had a claw-like bayonette.
Omniscott tossed it to Maytak, who fubbled with it before latching on to it.
"Here, sis. You might want that later."
Maytak looked on in a mix of shock and curiousity.
"Uh... did you call me 'sis'?"
"Oh, yeah," Blue butted in. "Grimpresence, this is your brother, Omniscott."
Grimpresence shifted her look to Blue. "I have a brother?! When did this happen?!"
"A while ago," Blue answered. "He's like... what are you? A year younger?"
"Yeah," Omniscott said. "We'll have to explain everything to you once we get back home. Hey, AJ! Are we turning up here, soon?"
"We can," she told him.
"Alright. McJunior, could you be a doll and blind them a bit?"
McJunior used his wings to work his way up the hole.
"Gladly."
McJunior braced himself on the hole's edge again to look at the recovering virus police starting to start a chase again. McJunior charged up a larger fireball and threw it behind the speeding paddywagon. The fireball hit the ground and exploded, blocking the paddywagon out of the viruses' view. Immediately after the explosion sounded, the paddywagon swerved off to a corner behind a line of buildings.
The viruses shielded themselves from the explosion's heat. It brightly showed while damaging surrounding buildings, and eventually cleared.
Once the smoked cleared, the viruses looked at an empty street, the paddywagon nowhere in sight.