FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Valeria found Akos limping out of an alley about a half-block away. He stopped, leaned on a lamppost, and panted. Val took a moment to catch her breath and then sprinted toward him. Gotcha, you sonofabitch!

He finally noticed her footsteps just before she reached the alley. He spun around, his eyes locked onto her, and his mouth flopped open and his mandibles quivered. He whimpered, staggered backward, and bumped into a woman pushing a baby carriage.

"Hey!" The woman tried to push him away and he tripped on the carriage, tumbled over it, and landed on his back, almost tipping the carriage over. The mother pulled it back upright before it could topple over and leaned in to check on her baby.

Akos picked himself up, stared at Valeria, glanced at the woman, and turned back to Val.

No. Oh, no. Valeria's heart pounded and she waved her off. "Get away from him!"

Akos lunged at the woman, yanked a knife from his belt, and held it up to her throat. She froze, mouth open and eyes wide in disbelief. Valeria held both hands up but didn't take another step forward.

"Akos, don't! She has a baby. This is low even for you."

"Shut up! I'm getting out of here no matter what it takes -- and you're not following me." He grabbed a handful of the woman's hair and backed away, dragging her with him, keeping his blade at her throat.

"Akos, let her go. If you hurt her, I'll break every bone in your fucking body and roast you slowly over an open fire. Do you understand? Slowly."

"One more step and I'll cut her fucking throat! Do you understand?"

The woman glanced at something past Valeria and let go of the carriage handles. Val noticed an engine approaching, flicked a quick glance to the left, and found a bus rolling down the street.

Come on, don't do something stupid.

The woman waited a few more seconds -- then she lunged backward, shoving Akos into the path of the bus.

Oh, shit!

Akos glanced off the front passenger-side corner with a scream and a snap that made Valeria wince. He bounced away, pulling the woman toward him before losing his grip. She staggered away from him, collapsed, picked herself up, and stumbled over to the carriage. Valeria rushed over to her as the mother leaned over the carriage to comfort her crying baby.

"Are you …?"

"I'm okay, I think." The woman sucked in a few more deep breaths and tried to smile at her baby. "It's okay, everything's gonna be okay."

"Wait here for an ambulance, just in case. Quick thinking, by the way. Nicely done." Hell of a risk, but better than letting him drag you off somewhere and kill you. Valeria woke her Omni-Tool, requested a medical team to the woman's location, and strode toward Akos. The bus had stopped a few meters past where he'd fallen and the driver stuck his head out the door, his face pale and his eyes wide.

Akos managed to push himself to his feet and turned to find Valeria almost on him. Blood seeped from a long crack on the left side of his chest.

"Hhhhhhhh!" He pressed his hand against his carapace and limped away from her -- then he lunged at the bus driver, shoved him back into his seat, and dropped behind him. He waved his knife in the man's face and snarled something. The driver closed the door and accelerated away.

Oh, no, you don't! Valeria sprinted after the bus, grabbed a handhold, and braced her feet on the rear bumper. She ducked out of sight and waited a few seconds before peeking through the rear window. The driver gripped the wheel so hard his knuckles had turned white, Akos had the tip of his blade almost touching the guy's neck, and the passengers stared at them in varying degrees of fear.

Then Valeria noticed the pair of grenades still clipped to Akos's belt and she had to hold in a groan. Why couldn't those things have fallen off his belt when the bus hit him?

Wonderful. If I stay out here, Akos could injure or kill him, maybe one or two others. If I go in and he panics, he could kill everyone on the bus. She ducked below the window and sighed. It would probably be best to wait and see where the bus took Akos and hope he was trying to get to someplace isolated so he could hide. If he started to think he'd lost her, he might let his guard down, then she could finish him off once she'd gotten him away from everyone.

You're not getting rid of me that easily, you bitch.

---

"Jesus," Irving whispered. He'd linked his Omni-Tool up to the local news networks to see if he could get any info on Valeria's situation. What he'd found was a series of reports on a shooting in downtown Polchinski Valley that had left several innocent bystanders dead and numerous others injured.

Valeria's parents and siblings rushed over for a closer look at the images on his Tool's interface. All of them sighed with relief when they didn't see her among the wounded or dead. One of the images caught Irving's attention and he covered his mouth with his hand.

"That twisted bastard shot a kid."

Lithia pointed at another. "He appears to have a wound in one leg, but he's moving around."

Irving noticed the kid had sat up and was clutching at his leg and screaming. He nodded at Lithia and let a relieved breath rush out as someone in the video feed rushed over to the kid with a medical kit.

Another report came in and Irving tapped the link. A traffic camera had caught Akos holding a knife to a woman's throat before she backed him into an oncoming bus. Irving watched him force his way onto the bus and then saw Valeria grab onto the back and ride it to wherever the hell it was going.

Irving kept checking for a few more minutes, but no new reports came in. He sighed, glanced around the waiting area, and noticed the nervous stares everyone was aiming at Weyland and Yutani. The attack on Eden Prime by Sovereign and its army of Heretic geth was still fresh in people's minds, Irving figured, and most of them were unaware that the main geth population wasn't hostile.

The two units seemed to notice the attention they were getting, found a pair of vacant seats, and sat down, presumably to appear less threatening. A human in the adjacent seat stood abruptly, his eyes wide, and rushed to find another chair on the far side of the room. Lia stared at him, took the seat he'd just vacated, and held his gaze for a moment longer as if to drive home the significance of a quarian willingly sitting beside her people's former enemies.

Irving managed a slight smile, returned to the Sulaco crew members who'd been keeping him company, and sat.

"She'll be okay." Chula gave his shoulder a pat. "Whether it's determination or just rage, she'll run that bastard down and be back in time for dinner."

"I hope so." Irving managed a shaky smile. "Thanks."

Lia poked at her Omni-Tool and glanced up at Irving before returning her eyes to the images and text scrolling across the holographic interface around her left arm.

"I'm trying to track the bus Valeria and Akos are on. I can't access any traffic cameras here, but between the news crews and random people in the area taking videos and blogging from their Tools, maybe I can find some new info."

"Thanks for trying."

"Happy to help in whatever way I can." Lia cocked her head as she continued searching. "I'm a little curious as to why there's public transportation on Bekenstein. I was under the impression that most of the people here were rich enough not to need it."

"I didn't get a look at the logo on the side of the bus, but it may have been a novelty tour kind of thing. Showing people a glimpse into how things worked in the past, maybe. Or the people riding it just don't want to drive their own vehicles around and opted for this instead of a limo and a chauffeur." Irving shrugged.

He noticed the merc they'd given a ride to the hospital sitting in the far corner, cradling her broken arm and staring at the floor as she waited to be let in. An orderly had just walked over to her and whispered something about a sudden flood of people with severe injuries.

Must be the people Akos shot a few minutes ago.

The merc nodded. "They're hurt worse than I am. Take care of them first."

Irving caught himself wringing his hands, sat up straight, and took a slow breath. He couldn't help wondering how many more people would get caught in the crossfire before Valeria put that bastard down.

Well, if she wasn't determined to kill him before that happened, she definitely is now. She'll stop at nothing to prevent him from hurting anyone else. He brushed his hands on his pants to wipe the sweat off his palms. I just hope she'll come back in one piece after it's over.

---

Are we there yet? Valeria sighed and checked the time on her Omni-Tool. At first, the bus had been tearing through the city for quite a while, but eventually the driver had slowed down to a reasonable speed. Val wondered whether the driver had insisted on it or Akos had the presence of mind to realize driving too fast would draw too much attention. Not that it mattered. All she cared about was catching Akos in a place where no one else could be injured or used as a meat shield. The bus had been cruising around for almost an hour, but Valeria would wait him out no matter how long it took.

At least the long drive had given her time to rest, though her mind hadn't stopped racing and her legs had cramped up long ago from clinging to the back of the bus and crouching on the rear bumper. She hoped she'd be able to walk once Akos got wherever the hell he was going.

She raised herself up for another quick peek through the rear window and found him still crouching behind the driver, keeping his knife near the man's throat. From the way Akos moved his head, he appeared to be trying not to nod off, no doubt the result of his wounds combined with fatigue.

Another movement caught her attention and she zeroed in on a human male seated on the right. He leaned forward slowly, staring at Akos, and licked his dry lips. He pushed himself to his feet inch by inch and slid his right hand under his vest.

Oh, no. Don't try anything. Sit your ass back down before you get someone killed.

He eased a heavy pistol out of the holster under his vest. It looked like an M-6 Carnifex, a powerful and expensive hand cannon she'd seen lots of high-ranking mercs using. But this guy didn't look like a merc. He didn't have that hard-edged "merc" expression -- the look of someone who'd seen so much death that he thought absolutely nothing about ending a thousand lives for a paycheck. This guy's wide-eyed and terrified expression told Valeria that he'd barely seen any action despite appearing to be around middle age for a human.

And here he was, trying to be a hero when the twenty people around him could all too easily pay the price for his mistake.

Don't do it, you stupid motherfucker! Just sit back down and don't draw his attention. Leave it to the professionals.

A man seated across from the dumbass with the gun shook his head frantically and mouthed the word, "No," over and over. The other guy ignored him and pointed his cannon at Akos. His hand trembled and he had to grip the gun in both hands to steady his aim.

Valeria considered calling the police, but rejected it almost immediately. They'd try to surround the bus and it would become a hostage situation. If she could just find a way to isolate Akos …

She glanced around at her surroundings. The bus had reached the outskirts of Polchinski Valley, judging by the amount of empty land. Buildings were more spread apart here, most of them large warehouses, cargo storage sites, salvage yards, repair shops, and … hangars.

So, that's his play. He must have a shuttle stashed here, or he's planning to steal someone else's.

She peeked through the window again. The idiot still had his gun pointed at Akos but seemed to have no idea what to do next. Valeria wanted to scream.

If you're gonna do it, then just do it! Blow his fucking brains out before he sees you, panicks, and kills someone, then I can go back to my family and not have to worry about him ever again.

A slight bump in the road seemed to jolt Akos back to full wakefulness. He shook his head quickly, noticed the guy with the gun, and spun his head around to glare at him.

"D-don't move or --"

Akos thrust his left arm out and his Omni-Tool interface glowed for a fraction of a second. A neural-shock charge snapped from the device and drilled into the cowboy-wannabe. The man's body stiffened and he let out a scream through clenched teeth. His arms spasmed and his finger clamped down on the trigger. Val caught a glimpse of a muzzle flash and the side of a young woman's head ripped apart.

No! A cold surge rushed through Valeria's chest and she couldn't breathe for a moment. Everyone else on the bus screamed. Some of them tried to push themselves through the backs of their seats and others just burst into tears.

Akos lunged forward, wrenched the man's gun out of his hand, and jammed it against the bus driver's head as the gun's former owner collapsed.

"Keep going!" Akos pointed out the windshield. "There!"

Valeria leaned around the back of the bus for a look at where he was pointing. It appeared to be a storage site with dozens of crates and cargo containers forming a maze between the road and the office and warehouse beyond.

Huh. Maybe he has a few more associates waiting here. Or he's planning to lose himself in that maze before he tries to get to a hangar. She glanced at the dead woman and winced. Goddamn it. I swore I'd prevent more of this and it's happening anyway.

She activated her tactical cloak. Its power cell was running low, but she had to hope it would last long enough for what she had in mind. She climbed onto the roof and crawled up to the front end, then she fired an overload charge from her Tool into the engine. A burst of electric arcs shot out from the front end as the engine died.

Valeria stretched out on the roof and remained where she was, not moving a muscle, wincing at the pins-and-needles sensation of the circulation returning to her legs and hoping Akos wouldn't figure out what had just happened. If blood loss had affected his judgment, maybe he would assume the engine had just malfunctioned. Even if he suspected it was her, he would have to continue on foot and, hopefully, leave all the passengers here.

"What the fuck happened?" he finally bellowed, and the driver stammered a response.

"I-I-I don't know! The engine just, like, blew up! Jesus! Look, that place you're going is only a few dozen meters away! Just go!"

Akos released a frustrated snarl as the door opened. He stumbled out, dropped to his knees, and pushed himself back up. Valeria let him limp a good distance away before sliding off the roof and landing on the pavement. She turned back to the bus for a moment, disengaged her cloak, and raised her hands.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she said as everyone flinched and cried out. "I'm Valeria Terakkis, with Special Tactics and Reconnaissance." She pointed at the road leading back the way they'd come. "Get to a safe distance and call the police. If you contact them right here, you might get caught in the crossfire."

She turned without another word, reactivated her cloak, and stormed after Akos.

No more.

---

"We've found her," Scott Bailey's voice came through Chula's Omni-Tool.

"Scott?" She glanced around the waiting room and couldn't find him or his girlfriend. "Where the hell are you?"

"We're in the shuttle. Don't worry, we're still on the landing pad. Garusha had an idea about using the drones you guys deployed before Valeria started her rampage."

"I asked Yutani if I could borrow several of 'em," Sixpack cut in. "I sent 'em off in the direction that bus was last seen heading. They caught up with it just a few minutes ago. Akos ran into a cargo storage facility. Valeria engaged her tactical cloak, but I assume she followed him in. I'll send you the camera feeds."

Four camera streams came in and Chula set her Tool to project them into the air in front of her and the others. In the corner of her eye, Irving leaned forward and stared at the four holographic bubbles. Valeria's parents and siblings rose from their seats and stood behind him for a better view. One of the cameras zoomed in on Valeria crouching on top of a cargo container.

Valeria slumped forward, hung her head for a moment, and gasped for breath for a few seconds. She pushed herself slowly back to her feet and then leaned over and braced her hands on her knees.

"Oh, hell," Irving said softly. "She's exhausted."

"Yeah." The krogan merc who'd turned on Akos smiled grimly as she watched Valeria poke at her Omni-Tool interface. "But she's gonna finish this anyway."

"Yeah." Irving smiled at the image and whispered, "I love you, Val."

"Uh-oh." Lia leaned forward and pointed at one of the other holo-bubbles. "Looks like Akos has reinforcements."

Chula watched eight mercs entering the maze formed by the cargo containers while a medic tended to the wound in Akos's chest. Their armor caught her attention and she pointed.

"Hey, I thought Akos and his crew were independent. Those guys are wearing Blue Suns armor."

"He must know someone in the Suns, then," Valeria's father said. "Maybe someone who owed him a favor."

"Hmm." Lia tapped commands into her Omni-Tool. "I'll see if I can find anything."

In the other holo-bubble, Valeria prodded one last icon on her Tool interface and shuddered. She shook her head, sucked in several deep breaths, and her eyes opened wider and practically blazed with anger.

"What the hell?" Irving muttered.

"Looks like she took some stimulants," her mother said. "Probably from a medical subroutine built into her armor."

"Well, she needed it," Val's little brother said. "Maybe now she can kick that guy's ass without being hurt too badly, herself."

Both parents fired a disapproving glance at him and he rolled his eyes. Irving smirked and focused on the mercs searching for Val.

So did Chula. Most of them carried the usual assortment of shotguns, assault rifles, and pistols, but one of them appeared to have nothing but knives slotted into his armor and a sword in each hand.

That guy's either fucking stupid or incredibly dangerous.

Valeria cocked her head as if listening to something. Heard some of the approaching mercs' footsteps, Chula guessed. Valeria reactivated her tactical cloak and vanished. A few seconds later, she reappeared and flickered several times, and a surprised look crossed her face.

Ah, shit, the power cell must've run out.

Valeria reached for the merc's belt, pulled his knife out, and drilled it into his right ear. He slumped to the left and his finger clenched on the trigger, spraying a few dozen rounds into the ground and the shipping containers around him. Val drew her hand back and rammed her palm into the knife, driving it in to the hilt. He dropped like his strings had been cut and Valeria plucked the rifle from his limp hands and the pistol from his hip.

The other mercs heard the commotion and charged through the maze toward her. She glanced around, noting the direction their footsteps came from, and yanked a grenade from the dead guy's belt. She darted over to a corner formed by two shipping containers placed in an L shape, jumped up, braced her right foot on one, boosted herself, planted her other foot against the other container, and launched herself over the edge.

She armed the grenade and tossed it over her shoulder before sliding across the top of the container and dropping off the other side. Another merc came around a corner just in time to catch a glimpse of her before she dropped out of sight and ran after her. He got within range a split-second before the grande blasted him several meters back and out of the gene pool.

"Awesome," Val's little sister said. Her parents exchanged an uneasy glance and shook their heads, and Chula tried to hold in a laugh.

Valeria continued darting between the shipping containers and slipped up behind the dude with the swords. His head twitched slightly to the right, indicating he'd either heard her or sensed her presence. He raised the sword in his right hand and spun around, slicing it through the air at the proper height to lop her head off -- had she been within reach.

She hosed him down with the assault rifle and he turned and ran. She kept firing into his back until his kinetic barriers collapsed and he flinched as bullets began striking his armor. One of her shots found a weak point behind his right knee and his leg folded sideways and he toppled over. She advanced on him, still firing, and stayed out of his reach, keeping it up to prevent his shields from recharging. Finally, several rounds punched clean through his armor and he flopped over onto his back, his eyes staring blankly into the sky.

The five remaining mercs converged on her position. Valeria scanned her surroundings with her Omni-Tool, glanced at its display, and climbed up on top of another container. Two of them came around the corner to the left and the other three appeared from the right, closing in on the spot she'd been standing a few seconds ago.

Valeria glanced at the ammo display on her rifle and grimaced. She slid over to the edge as the mercs turned back the way the two on the left had come. She waited until all of them were facing away from her, gripped the rifle by its barrel, and swung it down toward the nearest guy. It spun through the air and struck his belt, and she slid back out of sight and clamped both hands to the sides of her head.

Grenades on his belt, Chula realized. She must've …

The blast from one of the poor bastard's grenades nearly ripped him in half and cooked off the other four, knocking the rest of the mercs flat and collapsing their shields. Valeria dropped to the ground, drew her pistol, and executed them with a single shot to each of their heads. She scanned the area again, walked back to the sword guy, stole a half-dozen of his knives, and held them between her left arm and side. Then she made her way out of the maze and toward the warehouse.

"Goddamn." The krogan who'd joined them stared at the images and shook her head slowly. "Yep, getting out of the business before I had to face her again was definitely the right call."

---

Gotta make this quick. The stimulants I took are going to start wearing off any time now. Valeria marched toward the warehouse's freight entrance, spotted the medic backing away slowly and noted the absence of Akos. The medic's hand almost moved toward his sidearm, but he glanced in the general direction of the mercs she'd taken out and raised his hands.

"He's inside." The medic nodded at the entrance and kept backing away. Valeria kept her glare on him until he jogged out to the road and headed back into town. She paused in the doorway and listened.

Breathing. Up and to the left. He's out of breath but struggling to keep quiet. She looked up, swept the stairways and catwalks near the ceiling, and caught a glimpse of him limping toward a structure in the far corner -- probably a loft office.

She squinted and couldn't find any weapons aside from an arm-length metal pipe he'd picked up somewhere inside. She charged up the stairs and along the catwalk. If she was wrong and he had a gun, her barriers would give her a few seconds to return fire.

He spun around, saw her, and let out a hoarse cry. He tripped over his own feet, staggered, regained his balance, and raised the pipe. His expression was crazed, probably from pain and maybe whatever the medic had given him to take the edge off.

"No," he grunted, backing away from her as she strode toward him. "Get back! Stay away from me!"

Valeria didn't bother replying. She grabbed one of the knives she'd taken, flicked it at Akos, and buried it in his chest. She followed up with another, then the third struck his shoulder handle-first and bounced off. She threw another and stuck it into the wound the medic had patched up.

Akos managed to deflect the next knife with the pipe, but Val drove the final blade into his forehead. He stumbled back, slumped against the handrail, and dropped. The rail caught under his armpit and held him up.

He let out a high-pitched moan as she walked up to him. She cocked her fist back and punched the knife, slamming it all the way in. His eyes crossed and he mumbled incoherently for a few seconds before his body turned limp and his head lolled to the side.

Just to be certain, Valeria drew her gun, jammed it under his chin, and emptied his skull. She returned the pistol to her hip and headed back down the stairs. About halfway down, her legs turned wobbly and she stumbled, barely managing to throw her arms out and catch the handrail to keep herself upright.

Fuck. She reached the ground, stumbled out the freight entrance, pulled the gun out, and slumped against the wall. She slid down until her ass hit the pavement and kept the gun in her hands, just in case any more reinforcements showed up. I hope the next mission is an artifact-hunt for Malcolm and Benny. Something nice and quiet and boring.

She activated her comlink and connected it to the Sulaco crew.

"Guys, it's done. I could use a ride back into town. I'm probably gonna turn into jelly when the stims finish wearing off."

"Scott's already on the way with the shuttle," Irving said. "He and Sixpack were watching the whole thing with a few of the drones we brought. They should be there any minute."

"Glad to hear that. I may or may not be conscious when they arrive. They can find me right next to the freight door." Valeria took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It would be an immense relief to just sit here and not move for a while.

"Okay, honey, sit tight. We'll bring you home."