Fan Fiction ❯ MERC-6 ❯ INTRO: Chapter 1-Deus Ex Machina ( Chapter 1 )

In any other situation, Sonny Conklin might've been humiliated at his position. Seeing as the moment didn't currently fall under any of those circumstances, he was somewhat content with having soiled himself.

 

“Shhh... Your way too loud, Sonny...”

Whap!

“AAH!”

 

Sonny cried out as a pistol barrel tore across the rear of his skull. Despite the agony, he felt some semblance of remorse at the familiarity of the situation; though as it stood, he had never before been on this end of the pistol.

 

“Now... You know why I'm here, don't you?” The assailant questioned tiredly.

 

Sonny let out a whimper.

 

“...Don't you?!” the statement was punctuated with a rough snatch at Sonny's bloody forelocks, snapping his head around to face his aggressor. The helpless man dangled from the fierce grip, his bound limbs struggling weakly to set his body upon the floor again.

 

“I'm here because somebody... Somebody, wants you dead, Sonny.”

 

The smaller man winced and let a trail of blood and spittle trickle down his lips.

 

“And I'd bet my own mother that you have no idea who, do ya?” The figure watched another tear flow down Sonny's cheek, and his eyes thinned.

 

“I wonder why...” the man hissed, the words barely registering through his lips. The man in his grasp shuddered a little, inadvertently shaking a foul breed of saliva onto the larger figure's face. The man's sneer turned into a frown... that turned into a snarl.

 

With one hand, he shoved Sonny Conklin's trembling form reeling back and crashing over the top of the desk behind him, scattering papers and debris everywhere.

 

“Chrisssst!” Sonny wheezed out. He chanced a look through the suffocating mess, and the unmistakable image of a gun barrel leered back at him.

 

Click.

 

“Now... Quiet.”

 

 

Myra Riggs woke with a start.

 

The house across the street had just emitted a rather loud bang, accompanied by an intense flash of light. The elderly woman rose to her feet from her worn position on the couch, and with some protest from her legs, made her way over to the living room window.

 

“Well lord be... Must've been that Conklin boy again.” Myra stated matter-of-factly, letting the curtain she had been holding fall back to its original position.

 

“Honestly, the boy has no sense at all. He's gonna wind up in prison one of the days, no doubt about it.” The woman raised her eyebrows with an air of wisdom, shaking her head a little as she turned to head back to the sofa.

 

She stopped.

 

Swiftly, she turned back around and threw back the curtains. A shadow had just passed by, and it had definitely been moving fast. Turning her head to one side, and craning her neck a little, Myra was just able to make out the receding form of a man... A rather tall man, at that.

 

Darlin' looks like he just killed a man...

 

 

He walked quickly, knowing it would be just a matter of time before the cops arrived on the scene. Turning to face back over his shoulder, he checked to make sure none of the surrounding houses had turned their lights on. Surprisingly, it had remained dark. Maybe this was going to be an easy night for once.

 

Brushing the thought from his mind, he took a detour down a small side street, and into the relative safety of the shadows. The darkness was perfect, and with that in mind, he produced a small device out of a coat-pocket and placed it up against his ear. He pressed a button against the side, and the phone sprang to life.

 

A pause... A voice.

 

“Ribbons here.”

“Hey, it's me.”

 

Another pause.

 

“How'd it go?”

“Without a hitch, just like always...” He sighed. “Look, I took a little longer than I meant to-”

“I see that.”

 

Waving the comment off with a frown, the man continued.

 

“I took a little longer than I meant to, and I may not be able to get back in time without a ride.”

“... Well, I'm sort of busy right now. How about I send Mina to come pick you up?”

“Great, just get someone here.”

“And where's `here,' exactly?”

 

The figure pressed a knuckle to his temple.

 

“Um... A turnoff, I think. A little ways away from the target, southwards.”

“... She'll be there in fifteen.”

“Good... Bye.”

 

Beep.

 

The phone in his hand went dead, and the man stuffed it back into his jacket. Feeling around in the darkness, he slumped down against a discarded armchair and waited... silent.

 

 

“Get a light in here.”

Flash!

 

The room was suddenly illuminated before Detective Solomon Rhodes, and it looked as though the maid hadn't been in an a while.

 

“Dammit.” He breathed, taking in the murder before him.

“S-sir?” Solomon turned his attention to the young deputy that had crept up alongside him, and raised an eyebrow lightly.

 

“Uh, you see, sir, we just got word.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, there was a woman that phoned into the station, not ten minutes ago, saying she'd heard a gunshot out of the crime scene, and a person passing in front of her window about a minute later.”

 

The detective's eyes lit up.

 

“Where'd she call from?”

“Uh, the house just across the street, s-sir.” the deputy pointed nervously. Solomon followed his finger to the one-story apartment of Ms. Riggs, squinted, and in half-a-second, had a radio against his ear.

 

“This is Detective Solomon Rhodes... I want all units currently en route to the Baker's Street hot point to ignore previous order, and establish a patrol on a radius of...” The detective pressed a hand over the receiver, and turned to the deputy.

 

“Six blocks?”

 

The deputy stared blankly for a moment, then nodded dumbly.

 

“... Six blocks. Be on the lookout for possible suspect, will most likely be armed with high-caliber handgun. Over and out.”

 

“And that takes care of that,” Solomon directed to the young man, depositing the radio back into his coat.

 

Fzzzztt.

Crackle.

 

“-high-caliber handgun. Over and out.” The squad car radio blared, and then switched off.

 

“High-caliber huh? How big do y'think the hole was?”

“What hole?”

“The hole in that shit-stain's forehead when the slug blew his brains out.”

“Heheheh.”

 

The two officers bantered back and forth as they cruised the length of Baker's Street, keeping an eye out for their runaway perp. According to dispatch, the woman calling, Ms. Biggs or something, had quoted the suspect as heading south a ways of the crime scene. They weren't entirely wary of their surroundings, as both were somewhat dazed at having been called out so late. It wasn't that it was unusual; it's just that most late-night occurrences were simply ignored. Subsequent to say, it was a stroke of luck that one managed to catch the darting shadow out of the corner of his eye.

 

“H-hey!”

“What?”

“Look, over there! I just saw something!” The car came to a halt, and the officer nearest the alleyway rolled down his window, and shone a flashlight out.

 

“Y'sure? I don't see-”

“Shhh! Just hold on!” He swept the beam of light over the street once more.

 

A shadow.

 

“There!”

 

Both officers burst out of the car and drew their guns.

 

“HEY! FREEZE!”

 

The man in the shadows responded with a full-out sprint in the opposite direction.

“Goddammit,” the first officer breathed, and pulled out his two-way. “This is Holmes. Derricks and I have a runner on... SW Hunter's Lane, south alongside Baker's Street. Now giving chase.”

 

“STOP!”

 

 

“-Saw something!”

 

Shit. The man had been quiet, but apparently not out of sight. He held his breath again, and slowly his hand crept for his pistol.

 

“There!”

 

SHIT! With that in mind, the figure leapt to his feet and took off running down the back street.

 

“STOP!”

 

Of course, the runner was about to do no such thing. He dashed away with a hand stretched out in front of him, feeling the air in the blackness of the alleyway.

 

His palm passed over the edge of a chain-link running perpendicular to himself. Placing one hand on the railing, and aiming his pistol back towards his pursuers with the other, he simultaneously vaulted over the fence and fired off a round.

 

BLAM!

 

answered by a...

 

PING!

 

Apparently the officers had had the same idea.

Not a moment later, a second bullet bit at the pavement behind his heels. With a sharp intake of breath, the fleeing shadow quickened his pace, and tore out the other side of the alley and into the open street beyond.

 

His footfalls came heavy on the rushing asphalt beneath him, and he was beginning to run out of breath.

 

PFFFTT!

PFFT!

 

The sound of bullets whizzing by him spurred him on.

 

God... Damn... Cops... He thought to himself. Acting on an instinct, he hurdled high just as the open manhole in front of him threatened to swallow him up. In mid-air, he twisted his body around to face behind him and let another round fly.

 

BLAM!

“SHIT!”

 

a dud...

 

DAMMIT! He stumbled a little as he finished twirling and took off again. He had missed twice already. He figured his bad luck would only hold out so long.

 

 

 

“Look! I think that's them, over there!” The driver relayed to his partner as the squad car sped up to the scene of the chase.

 

“No doubt. Let's give those guys a hand, huh?”

“Right.” With that, the vehicle pulled to a screeching stop near the runner, while the officers inside readied their pistols.

 

The car doors flew open, and the men inside barreled out and joined the chase on foot. One of the cops already in pursuit threw a look of acknowledgement over to the newcomers, which was returned with a knowing grimace. The officer in the lead pointed his pistol out into the air, and fired another round.

 

“STOP! LAST CHANCE!!” He shouted, his hat flying off his head as he did so.

 

The escaping man ignored the warning, and turned another corner. The leader skidded after him, and nearly toppled over the trashcan that had been capsized in the perp's wake.

 

Reacting quickly, and with a touch of finesse uncommon even to a trained cop, the leader threw a hand down onto the side of the can and turned his potential spill into a rather graceful vault over the top of the barrel.

 

“OOMPH!” he landed, and returning the surprised stares of the other officers with an impatient glare, motioned them along.

 

 

What the hell!? The runner thought, Wannabe supercops! He panted and fumbled inside his jacket for the cell phone. Finding it promptly, he ripped it out of his coat and punched in a number with lightning-accuracy.

 

“This is Blitz.”

“Mina!” The man rasped desperately. “There's been a change of plans!”

“Like what?” The voice questioned. “What hap- What's going on?”

“Just follow the gunshots...” The man spoke unevenly. He removed the phone from his ear for a second as he maneuvered his way around a bent street sign.

 

“-it. I'll be there as soon as I can. I'm out.”

Beep.

 

The figure weaved through a set of dumpsters down the alleyway, struggling to replace his phone into his jacket. Finding it to be more trouble than he could manage, he hurled it against a building side with a shout of frustration.

 

As he ran, he took notice a nearby fire escape that had been opened due to recent use.

 

Spiraling his neck back towards the officers, he quickly gauged their position, and with a look of concentration, launched his body several yards and onto the metal ladder.

 

 

“Shit! He's not actually gonna pull that, is he?!” An incredulous officer looked onward.

 

 

He did. With frantic determination, the escapee pulled himself quickly onto the first landing, and proceeded to follow the winding staircases up to the building's rooftop.

 

PHHS-PING!

 

A wayward bullet streamed up through the grating, narrowly missing his ankles as he raced up the final flight.

 

“UuagHH!” Grunting, he grasped the crossbar of the topmost railing and swung his body up to the rooftop ledge, feeling the strain in his muscles as he did so.

 

Landing hard, he lost his balance when his feet connected to the gravel surface, and his upper body lurched forward as he attempted to right himself. No such luck.

 

“DAMMIT!” The runner cried out as his knees fell heavily against the rocks, and in half-a-second cocked his ear to the clanking sounds as the cops rushed their way up after him.

 

He grit his teeth and pushed himself to his feet, and took off towards the opposite edge of the roof.

 

The perp could sense the edge flying up to meet him before he was within ten feet of it, and he realized that he needed to make his decision quickly, and wisely.

 

He opted for one over the other.

 

With a tremendous effort on the part of his legs, he flung his body out and over the gap between the two adjacent buildings, and instead of grabbing for the edge, braced himself against the opposite wall on hands and knees and let himself fall slightly, the inertia taking some of the edge off the gravity.

 

still...

 

CLANGGGRUNCH!!!

 

The lid of the dumpster caved in as he hit it full-force on his back, sending a wave of pain shooting up his spine.

 

“AAH!!!!” He barked out. He winced, and then focusing himself, rolled sideways off of the steel surface.

 

“Jesus CHRIST!! Did he just do that!?!” He could hear the officers as they gawked at him from above.

 

He hit the tarmac on all fours, a cloud of dust erupting underfoot. He turned his head towards the officers and offered up and arrogant smirk... that was returned with another gun blast... that was returned with the man's renewed vigor to put as much distance between his-self and the cops as possible.

 

 

He staggered out of the alley, out of breath and gasping for air.

 

Too slow, pig bastards... He grinned... and before the first light flashed on, he mentally kicked himself in the rear for being so stupid.

 

F-FLASH!

FLASH!

 

“FREEZE!”

 

And the sound of sixteen individual .45 Colt magnums locking into place sent a flood of despair through his aching body...

 

“DOWN ON THE GROUND!... NOW! GET. DOWN!”

 

And with nothing else to do, he complied and sank to his knees, the hard asphalt grating his skin through the worn pants. He sighed to himself, and put his hands behind the nape of his neck, knowing the protocol without needing to be told.

 

Goddammit... Couldn't you have just been a little... faster... MINA?! His head snapped up as the sound of squealing tires resounded against his eardrums.

 

The vehicle flew down the street sideways on a collision course with the ring of squad cars that had blockaded the man in their center.

 

SCREEEEECHHHH-CRASHHH!!!!

 

The metal twisted and flew apart as the car upended and slammed into the first squad car, sending it tumbling end over end, and passing directly over the sprawled form of the tall figure in the middle of the standoff.

 

WHOOOOSHHH... The man could hear his own heartbeat as the airborne enforcer passed only inches above his head. He closed his eyes tight and gnashed his teeth in the split-second it took for the vehicle to sail over him... turn back onto its side... and roll straight into a line of shocked officers.

 

WHUMP-WHAM!!!

 

crushed...

 

The car gave one last attempt to roll onwards, but eventually settled against the collapsed frames of the vehicles beneath it.

 

Everyone paused a second to catch his or her breath... until...

 

THUMP.

 

The officers swiveled their heads back around just in time to catch the landing of the woman against the hood of a squad car. She turned to face them and smiled.

 

“Hï.” And before they had a chance to blink, her arms flew to the back of her crouching form and retrieved the twin AK-47's that had been strapped to her back.

 

The cops finished blinking.

 

And the girl started firing.

 

RAT-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!!!

 

“YAHHHHHH!!!!!!!”

 

The officers were frozen in place as the barrage of bullets riddled their bodies and forced them into some grisly dance. The oversized shells passed through the standing corpses and plowed into the cars, sending glass and warped metal flying out in all directions.

 

The man on the ground bared his teeth and prayed as the bullets splashed into the concrete surrounding him, the deafening impacts echoing harshly in his mind.

 

Please God.. I-SHIT!!! God, please prese-CHRIST!! -erve-DAMMIT!!

 

And he held his eyes clenched shut through the firestorm... until just as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

 

He picked his head up off the ground a bit, and was startled by the sound of a pair of feet impacting on the surface next to him.

 

“SHIT!” He jerked his body to face the figure.

“Hmm. Need a hand?” The girl standing next to him asked as she reached down and seized his forearm, and pulled him roughly to his feet.

 

“GodDAMMIT, Mina.” His gaze brushed over the remains of the blockade surrounding them.

 

The girl simply chuckled to herself.

 

“Good to see you, too. Now, let's get out of here.” The man beside her simply shook his head as followed the girl to one of the few remaining squad cars, and clambered in after her.

 

 

SLAM!-Crinkle-Whap.

 

The car door fell off its hinges and hit the ground, the window shattering over the pavement.

 

The man could only stare at it in disbelief.

 

“Hmmm. Guess you should buckle up then, huh?” He slowly turned back around to face the girl, his jaw slack.

 

“Right...”

 

Ch-chink.

Click.

VROOOooommmmm...

 

The vehicle idled to life, and the girl, having taken up the driver's seat, floored it in reverse and spun it around sharply before accelerating away from the smoldering remains of the encirclement.

 

“So. Ribbons said you got the job done...”

“Yeah...”

 

A pause.

 

“Why... did it take so long?” The girl asked cautiously, not wanting to stir up any aggression in the man beside her.

 

Silence.

 

Then... “I spoke with him a bit.”

 

“You... `spoke,' with him...” The man snapped his head around to face her.

 

“Yeah. I talked to him. Something wrong?” He asked with more than a hint of indignity. The girl winced and shook her head quickly.

 

“N-no, it's just that I wanted to s-”

 

She was cut off abruptly by the sound of sirens closing in from behind. The girl turned to look over her shoulder and swore loudly. Her partner simply stared ahead as she slammed her foot on the gas and the car took off.

 

“Damn! How many of them were there!?” She swore.

“I have no idea.” The girl threw another anxious glance behind her.

“You think they-”

“MINA!!”

“Wha—ssHIT!!!” The girl swerved the car left quickly as it just missed rear-ending the delivery truck in front of them.

 

The cops behind them followed suit, and were soon tailing them by less than a hundred feet.

 

“Damndamndamn...” the girl repeated rapid-fire as she veered in and out of traffic, the sirens blaring behind her as she struggled to concentrate.

She gazed quickly at her passenger, and if the situation hadn't been so dire, she might've been amused at just how tight he was gripping the dashboard.

 

As she returned her focus to the front, her eyes went wide and she cut a quick right, slightly sideswiping the sedan next to her.

 

Another set of lights came to life behind her.

 

Don't you ever give up!?! She thought to herself as her eyes scanned the road, searching for an escape.

 

intersection...

 

The girl mashed the handbrake and sent the car on a power-slide into the cross-traffic before releasing the break and gunning the accelerator, speeding down the street to the right.

 

HA! Try that, you stuffed shirrrrtts... DAMMIT!!

 

She realized her mistake a moment too late as the one-way traffic closed in on them.

 

“Mina! What are y-”

“QUIET!” She hissed angrily, “THIS...(SCREECHH)...IS(HONK)...A SHORTCUT!!!”

 

The girl smashed the gas pedal and thread-the-needle between the thinning gap of the adjacent trucks in front of her.

 

SCRAAAAAPPE!

 

The truck drivers stared at the cop car between them in shock, just as two more came speeding towards them and passed along either side.

 

She snarled at the rear-view mirror as the caravan was joined by yet another car coming off the on-ramp.

 

on-ramp?

 

Her eyes darted quickly in front of her in time to catch the advancing access-way to her left.

 

Reacting quickly, she swung the car across two lanes of oncoming traffic and onto the narrow incline. As she looked behind her, she noted that only one of the police cars had had the nerve to follow-up the dangerous stunt.

 

Maybe this won't be so hard after all... She smirked to herself.

 

The car flew up off the front wheels a little as it joined the highway, fishtailing for a moment before the burst of speed set in and rocketed the car down the pavement.

 

The driver cut across a few more lanes before finally reasserting her place in the same-direction flow, relieved to be out of harms way. The car sped up again, and she watched as the trailing cops faded quickly out of view.

 

90...95...

 

She flew between traffic with expertise unregistered by her company...

 

Hehehe...110...

The world became a blur as her peripheral vision decided to throw in the towel.

 

...125...

 

A somewhat unsettling grin crept over her features...

 

130...

 

“Mina?” Her head jerked to the passenger.

“What?!”

 

The man took a deep breath... “Behind you...”

 

The girl's raced over her mirrors and froze in shock.

 

A battalion of squad cars was tailing them on the now seemingly deserted highway.

 

“No...”

 

 

“This is Bravo 8, we have a lock on target, awaiting orders from dispatch.” The officer spoke into his radio.

 

“This is dispatch. Copy. Attempt Box and PIT maneuver.” the voice crackled.

 

“Roger that. Over and out.” He placed the radio back into the stand and chanced a look at the man beside him. Solomon Rhode's gaze burned a hole into the speeding vehicle ahead of him... His face an expression of ice.

 

“Now.”

 

 

“C'mon... c'mon...”

“What are you looking for?” The girl frowned a little at the interruption of her search, though she quickly picked up where she had left off.

 

“Nitro... C'MONNnn...” She said as her hands grazed over the numerous dials and switches on the dash.

 

“The steering column.” The girl looked up from what she was doing.

“What?”

“Nitro's usually to the left of the steering column.” He motioned.

 

She looked over at the space between the door and the wheel, and sure enough, a rather large switch marked NO2 stared back at her.

 

not even going to ask...

 

Flick.

 

 

“Just a little closer...” Solomon whispered as the perps' rear bumper now loomed only ten feet in front of them.

 

C'mon...

 

PHWOOOOOOOSSHHH!!!

 

Solomon was nearly blinded as the nitrous in the car ahead of them kicked on, throwing him back into his seat while his hands clutched tightly over his wounded eyes.

 

“ARRGHHHH!!!” He grunted as his vision slowly came back to him. The car they had been only a stone's throw away from was now vanishing rapidly nearly four miles down the highway...

 

 

The air that had been torrenting in through the absent door was now a veritable whirlwind, threatening to send the passengers inside screaming out onto the deadly rush of asphalt as the car topped out at 185 miles per hour.

 

The girl's breath was rapid and her eyes strained to keep open in the pounding wind. Centering the vehicle as best she could into the easternmost lane, she prepared to exit off of the highway...

 

The off-ramp hurtled closer...

 

She bit her lip... and...

 

Her stomach leapt up into her throat as the ground gave way to nothing save air, and the car soared out and over the sloping street beneath them. Time slowed to a crawl as the nose of the vehicle began to pitch down, and the terrifying image of a packed city boulevard saturated her vision.

 

Another second...

 

WHAMmmmsccREEEEECHHHHH!!!!

 

The wheels sought desperately to find a handle on the slick asphalt, swinging the rear into a suicidal fishtail as the driver struggled to align the car between two lanes of horrified motorists.

 

The girl strained the wheel to the right as it promptly began to burnout to the left, spinning the car full circle as it's forward momentum rapidly deteriorated, leaving only burning rubber and foul-smelling smoke in its wake.

 

“NNnnnnaAGGGHHH!!” She heaved out, as she finally managed to correct their course, and resumed their flight forward at a considerably safer speed. A glance in her rear-view revealed the pileup on the exit-way as the cops came to a squealing halt in the aftermath of the chaotic maneuver. With an alleviated sigh, she veered the car quickly into the back roads and was soon out of sight of the fuming police officers.

 

 

later...

 

The mutilated squad car rolled to a halt on the gravel driveway of a dilapidated hostel. The driver's side door hesitated a little, and then finally flew open with a sharp kick from the woman within. She stepped shakily onto the ground, and ran a set of fingers through her forelocks before turning her attention back to the automobile.

 

“Are you going to get out?” She raised quizzically. No response came.

 

With a curious frown, she ducked her head back through the doorframe, a hand supporting her on either side as she searched out her companion.

 

“Hey? You all right?” She uttered somewhat quietly as she surveyed the exhausted and above all, petrified form of the man still strapped tightly into his seat.

 

“J-Jack?”