Chapter 76: Harrier Fall

A bomb dropped from Harrier’s glider as he banked over the academy, broadcasting his laugh across the walkway below.

"The heir paid for your head, Ghost, but I threw in the fireworks myself!"

Leo pulled his sister beneath the colonnade as the canister struck the courtyard, driving fragments against the pillar beside them.

"Stay behind this until we’ve got him off the glider."

"There are students in the walkway, and he’s coming around again!"

He drew his sword while the sheath vented heat, keeping his body between her and the opening toward the courtyard.

"Get them behind the pillars if they can reach you, but don’t cross the open ground."

The mercenary swept between the towers and fired at a pedestrian bridge, breaking its support above the fleeing students.

Bekka drove wind beneath the falling blocks and pushed them into the plaza, leaving the students room to run.

"Keep moving, and stop looking up unless you want to meet him!"

She climbed on the updraft from the cooling towers, checking her gauntlets when an alarm flashed across her wrist.

"I’m forcing him toward the roofs, but I can’t keep chasing him over the district."

"Bring him across the administration hall and I’ll meet you there."

Wind struck the steering foil, sending the glider toward a row of stalls as the pilot fought the controls.

Below him, Ren pulled two children into his repair shop and shoved the door against them as another canister dropped.

"There’s a bomb over the stalls!"

The swordsman climbed onto the terminal roof and formed a gravity well, pulling the canister away from the doorway.

He held it long enough to drag the fall toward the basin, releasing it as the blast threw water above the bank.

"Keep those children inside until we get him past you!"

The shopkeeper waved through the doorway before pulling it shut, leaving the street clear as the glider came back.

’One bomb moved, and he’s still got a rack full of them.’

His partner caught his collar during her descent, lifting him toward the administration roof before releasing him over the ledge.

He landed behind the parapet as plasma struck along its top, burning through the place where he’d raised his head.

"That was your warning shot, and I’m charging extra for the next one!"

"Your aim’s terrible for someone billing by the corpse!"

He watched the cannon turn before leaving cover, setting his blade against the next shot’s approach instead of chasing its light.

The Phase-Edge broke the bolt on contact, but heat burned through his sleeve as the shock numbed his fingers.

"Shit, that still gets through!"

’Watch the muzzle, set the edge, then move before he corrects.’

He ducked behind a housing as the next burst crossed the roof, opening his hand before forcing it around the hilt.

’Level thirty-five doesn’t make my chest a place to test plasma.’

"Can you turn him again before he gets both guns onto me?"

"Duck when I push him, and don’t try to catch the whole burst!"

Wind rolled the glider as he rose from cover, sending a void arc through the heat sink beneath one cannon.

The weapon spat sparks and stopped firing, leaving the pilot hammering at his controls while his remaining gun swung away.

"You know what that repair costs?"

"Put it on the heir’s bill."

A wing pod opened and released missiles, their trails bending toward the roof where he’d stopped beside the housing.

’They’re correcting toward the same place, and they’ll bunch before they reach it.’

He waited behind the parapet until they converged above the roof, then cut through the leading warhead with a void arc.

Its blast caught the missiles following it, driving him onto one knee as fragments struck the housing behind his back.

"Kh-!"

He folded over his ribs and dragged in a breath, keeping his head down until the fragments stopped hitting around him.

"Tell me you’re still on the roof!"

"I’m here, but don’t ask me to do that twice!"

The glider passed over the housing while he stood, exposing the rack beneath its belly as the pilot tried to climb.

He vaulted across the casing and cut the mountings, dropping the bomb rack into the alley beneath the administration wall.

"Keep everyone out of that alley, and tell the guards there’s ordnance under the roof!"

His partner relayed the warning while the pilot tried to bank toward the bridges, pulling the glider away from the hall.

She descended onto its engine housing and drove her heel through it, jumping clear as lubricant sprayed across the roof.

The turbine stalled while he caught the ledge and cut the steering stabilizer, leaving the craft skidding toward the parapet.

It struck the wall and stopped with its wing folded underneath, throwing the pilot against the side of his cockpit.

The mercenary kicked the canopy loose and reached for a pistol, lifting it while his other arm hung beside the seat.

"Too late to stop the broadcast, even if you do get me off this thing."

The swordsman cut through the pistol and drove him onto his back, planting a foot against his shoulder as he reached again.

"Leave the backup where it is and tell me what you sent."

The man cried out as his collarbone gave, clawing at the foot until the pressure eased enough for him to speak.

"Julian’s file, with your name and face, sent to the director while you were playing rescue crew."

"The academy brat hired you?"

"His family’s security money spends fine, and your family name was worth another payment."

The mercenary nodded toward the relay tower beyond the roofs, coughing when he tried to laugh through his answer.

"Gruber doesn’t have to guess who’s under the mask anymore."

He took the man’s backup blades and set them beyond reach, keeping his foot in place until his partner landed.

"Then he’ll know where to find me."

She secured the mercenary’s wrist to the glider frame and kicked the pistol pieces away before checking the restraint.

"Get your foot off him before we have to carry a corpse down those stairs."

Tessa emerged from the stairwell with a medic following her, holding her folio against her chest as she approached the wreck.

"Move aside and let him check the bleeding."

Her brother stepped back while she knelt beside the pilot, keeping the folio away from the blood beneath his shoulder.

"Breathing, pulse irregular, and his collarbone looks broken."

The medic hesitated beside her until she pointed at the blood gathering under the man, then opened his kit.

"He needs a hospital with a guard, and that restraint stays where it is until you can replace it."

"He tried to bomb you."

"I remember, and you can give your statement while someone stops him bleeding."

Her brother looked across the courtyard while the medic worked, watching students carry a classmate away from the broken windows.

Below the terminal, the shopkeeper brought the children to his doorway and raised a hand toward the people on the roof.

’They’ll be telling families about this while we’re still trying to get home.’

"The children made it, and the guards are keeping people out of the alley."

The liaison checked her communicator before turning toward the stairwell, holding its screen where both siblings could see the rail notices.

"We leave before they seal the bridges, and we use the freight service."

"I’ve still got my notes, but we didn’t get anything else out of this trip."

"You got yourself out, and the clinic needs you more than it needs those shelves."

Leo boarded the freight car behind his sister, waiting for their partner to climb in before pulling the door toward its stop.

She laid her notes across a crate and held them down while the train moved, checking the ratios beside her annotations.

"Don’t lean on those, and give me the bandage before you bleed on them."

He passed it over and sat where she pointed, watching the academy roofs disappear beyond the doorway as she wrapped his arm.

"How much time have we lost?"

"We’re still living under the original seventy-two-hour ultimatum, and this trip hasn’t bought us another minute."

His partner wiped grease from her gauntlet while his sister secured the dressing, leaving him room to flex his fingers.

"That file puts more than your mask in danger."

He looked down at the notes on the crate, then toward the clinic’s district as its cranes came into view.

"He’s got the name of everyone in our home."