Chapter 266: Terms and Conditions Apply to Siege

Rusk had chosen a bus full of civilians as her next target, which made me regret not charging extra for the gala’s live entertainment. I dropped between the gun mount and the road, landing beside a heavy steel service gate before the next burst could cross the passengers.

I activated Nuh-Uh and braced my dense coils against the gate’s lower frame. My body sank into the concrete while the steel panel tilted upright, making a shield the bus could pass behind instead of requiring every bullet to find the narrow strip occupied by me.

[System: Fifteen seconds, mate, so keep the bus moving; your arse is excellent cover until it isn’t, and the passengers didn’t buy tickets to watch a fucking magic trick.]

I’ll shout the directions, and you keep counting without adding another joke about the size of my insurance premium. I shouted for Pike to keep moving while the first rounds struck the gate and flattened against the coils holding it in place.

Every direct hit produced a metallic PAN-THUNK loud enough to turn the service yard into a kitchen nobody should work in. The impacts couldn’t hurt me during the stance, but the noise made it difficult to hear Lukas directing the recovery truck around the bend.

Bridget had stopped our utility vehicle behind the gatepost and was speaking into her phone with a calmness I intended to admire later. Adrian’s office had suspended the sponsor’s clearance, and she was reading the reference to the armoured truck’s second crewman over the local emergency channel.

Rusk shouted that her command remained valid, but the crewman hesitated before reloading. Hollis used the gap to order him to verify the suspension through the frontier liaison, giving the man an official reason to stop doing something he should already have disliked.

"Take your time checking the spelling, because I hear errors can be terribly expensive when the passengers survive," I called. Another burst hit my side, producing three rapid PAN-THUNK notes that made a boy inside the bus cover his ears and ask whether I’d become a drum.

Lukas reached the bend beside the last vehicle and fastened a web-line from the service gate to an old anchor ring. He had the recovery truck take the other end, using its slow movement to pull the panel across the gun’s view without relying on me to remain heavy forever.

[System: Three seconds left, champ, and the spider’s given you an exit. Try using it before this becomes a sentimental story he tells at your very small funeral.]

I’d like him to mention the catering if it comes to that, because most of my recent suffering has started near dinner. The last truck cleared the bend as the stance ended, leaving me suddenly light and painfully aware of every scrape I’d been ignoring.

Eight minutes began counting down before I could use the defence again. I fired the jets behind my fins and rose along the sheltered side of the gate, keeping the steel between me and the truck until the embankment cut off its line of sight.

Bridget caught up in our vehicle while Hollis stayed behind the convoy with the soldiers who’d refused Rusk’s clearance order. Their presence didn’t make the road safe, but it stopped the captain describing every person resisting her as a lone criminal she’d found by accident.

The ridge shelter’s gate opened before the bus arrived, with Iona and Niall directing vehicles into the covered loading bay. The injured people went inside first, followed by families carrying bags and blankets while the nurse checked names against the camp runner’s list.

I hovered beside the gate until the final resident was counted, then watched Hollis arrive with the last escort vehicle. The camp stood empty behind us, and we still had time before the threatened strike, which finally gave Old Mate something pleasant to say about transport.

[System: Keep the Gate Open completed, and everybody on the evacuation list has reached the shelter. Three thousand EXP brings you to fifteen thousand two hundred and fifty, with fifteen IP making a hundred and sixty.]

I’m accepting payment before somebody discovers a second bus in a cupboard. I settled along the wall beside Bridget and allowed myself to enjoy the fact that nobody was currently shouting my name in the tone usually followed by machinery breaking.

The bus owner checked the damaged window, found everyone beyond it still breathing and asked whether my offer to cover repairs remained open. I told him to send the bill without adding a bravery surcharge, because I refused to be robbed by two transport companies in one afternoon.

Lukas protested from his crate when Iona banned further lifting, and Old Mate added, [System: Tell him the chair’s a promotion, mate; management gets to stay seated while everybody else suffers.] She pointed out that directing people from the ground had worked, which deprived him of the argument he’d apparently prepared on the drive.

Bridget’s sleeve was torn near the wrist, and I brushed the loose thread aside with my tail before asking whether she’d been hit. "It caught on the door, Matt, but you can keep checking if it’s helping you calm down," she said. I left my tail beside her wrist, suddenly less interested in pretending I hadn’t been worried.

Hollis received confirmation that the artillery clearance had been suspended pending review. One crew had acknowledged the order, and the other was being contacted directly, making the ridge feel like somewhere we could remain long enough to finish a conversation.

Then Pike called from the lookout and told us to come above the loading roof. Beyond the empty camp, Rusk’s armoured truck stood beside a reinforced livestock trailer, and the captain was releasing its restraints while her own soldiers backed away from the ramp.

The animal unfolding from it carried hooked plates along a body large enough to climb over the service gate we’d used as cover. A fresh bait charge landed on the road below our shelter, and the creature turned towards the ridge while Rusk closed the retreat lane behind her nearest crew.