“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.”
To Tank, the remaining hostages were moving far too slow. Starfleet had finally come through, stopped shooting at them and instead their shuttles were now assisting with the evacuation and yet things were still not moving fast enough.
And it wasn’t just the hostages. Nobody had ever drawn up a plan to try and load up a SAFVe or a Starfleet shuttle for that matter from a blown out window on the 74th floor of a skyscraper.
The first few minutes of the evacuation attempt had been spent in trial and error while trying to figure out how exactly this would work. It had been difficult enough with the SAFVe with its side-opening doors but the Starfleet shuttles were using a back hatch and the window frames had not been quite wide enough to allow the shuttle to actually land within the building.
Instead they had backed up, with their ramps lowered and fully extended until they reached into FedPlaza to create a plank of sorts to lead into the shuttle. There was just enough space for two crafts to dock side by side and allow the terrified hostages to board.
But the pilots found it difficult to keep their vessels entirely steady and most evacuees were far too scared to step onto the extended and seemingly unsecured hatch without assistance.
Tank and the rest of his team as well as the Starfleet officers on the shuttles did their best to prod the men and women along but when one of them slipped and nearly fell to her death, it was obvious that they had to slow things down.
< How much longer to clear the building? > asked Masamune who was watching events from the Starfleet command center far below.
< We’re moving as fast as we can, > responded Jackson Slade. < The Starfleet shuttles are almost filled and then we just need Hot Rod to come back around to pick us up and we’re out of here. Maybe another two minutes. How much time did Mech said we have? >
The chief didn’t respond to that right away and Jackson and everyone else who was listening in had a pretty good idea why. < Not enough. But she said she would try and get us some more if she can find a way to slow it down. >
< Chief, that was before we lost contact with her, > said Tank. < We don’t know what happened to her. I’ll go down myself and check out the situation. >
< Negative, > Masamune responded. < It’ll take you too long to get down there. I want you to evacuate with the hostages. >
< I can get down there in a few seconds if I use the elevator shaft, > he said and was already on his way.
“Damn it, Tank, I need you up here, that’s an order,” Slade shouted after him as he saw him heading out.
He took no notice of that. “You’ve got things under control. I need to find Mech.”
It wasn’t until he reached the blown off doors to the elevator that he stopped to look downwards into the ominous darkness of the shaft, considering the best way on how to get to the bottom.
He felt somebody grabbing hold of his arm and he turned around. It was Kara and her eyes were wide with fear and concern. “Please, don’t go.”
He looked at her. “You should be on one of those shuttles.”
She gave him a little smirk. “I’m scared of heights.”
He angrily shook his head. “I don’t care and we don’t have time for this,” he said and grabbed her by the arm, practically dragging her towards the windows.
But before he had even halfway reached the shuttles, he realized that they were already taking off.
“Ok, that’s it,” said Slade as he watched the two pearly-white Starfleet ships glide away from Fed Plaza to take the hostages to safety. < Hot Rod, now would be a good time for a pick-up. >
With all the hostages and most of the CCiD assault team gone, only Slade, Tank, Gavin, Sylvester and Katangai remained inside the seemingly doomed Fed Plaza.
Gavin and Sylvester had made a last, quick round of the upper floor and now came racing down the staircase. “We’re clear,” Gavin shouted, out of breath and fully aware that every second they remained in the building was brining him closer to the chance of never seeing his family again. “Let’s get out of here.”
Hot Rod brought the SAFVe up to the window and the remaining CCiD team quickly embarked.
Gavin felt enormous relief the moment he stepped out of Fed Plaza and onto the shuttle. However Tank and the woman with him were moving far too slowly as far as he was concerned. “Come on, boss, this isn’t a date, you know. Haul ass,” he said but couldn’t quite keep his lips from turn into a little smile.
The frown on Tanks’ face was priceless. “We are going to have a little conversation, once I get on that shuttle,” he hollered back, still dragging Katanagi along who clearly wasn’t too enthused about the idea of having to walk out of the 74th floor window.
That’s when Gavin noticed movement by the bar counter. Somebody was slowly getting up. “Damn it, we left somebody,” he said. “There is still somebody over there.”
Tank stopped and turned around towards the bar. “Son of a bitch,” he said. “Get down.” He pushed the surprised Kara onto the floor and flattened himself on top of her not a moment later, nearly crushing the comparatively tiny woman under his weight.
Gavin spotted his mistake. The man who had come into view was not one of the hostages. He wore a smart dinner jacket with a purple orchid attached to his breast pocket. There was little left of his face. It looked as if he had taken a bullet right through the side of his head, exposing much of the inner circuitry of his artificial brain. And yet, somehow, he had managed to get back onto his feet, holding two disruptor rifles.
“Hostile, hostile!” Gavin desperately tried to bring his own weapon to bear but already knew that he wasn’t going to be fast enough.
The android opened fire.
Thanks to Tank’s quick reaction, the bolts of green energy went straight over his head.
Hot Rod had spotted the danger from the corner of her eye and reacted quickly, jerking the SAFVe upwards.
Sylvester was hit in the leg and went down but with the shuttle now rapidly pulling away, the other rounds slammed into the hull instead of taking out the remaining CCiD agents who had not been able to bring their weapons up in time.
Tank cursed himself loudly for having discarded his assault rifle earlier and now being unarmed. A mistake which would cost him his and Kara Katanagi’s life, he was sure.
But surprisingly the android terrorist did not fire again.
Tank looked up and watched as he slowly rounded the bar counter, taking unsteady steps most likely due to the damage he had taken to his brain. But no matter the extent of his handicap, he kept a firm hold on those two rifles which remained pointed in his direction.
Very slowly, Tank picked himself off the floor. “Stand up,” he whispered to Kara. “Stand up and stay right behind me. Do it, do it now.”
The young woman didn’t hesitate to follow his instructions this time, even though he could tell from her soft sobs that she was incredibly scared. Only moment ago she had thought herself all but safe. All that had been left had been to overcome her vertigo and this nightmare would have finally come to an end. Now it seemed safety was all but an illusion.
Tank slowly tracked backwards, careful to ensure that Kara would follow his movements, while keeping his eyes on the terrorist with the two rifles. “What are you waiting for? What is it you want?” he screamed at him angrily. It wasn’t perhaps the smartest move to provoke the guy with the big guns, but his anger at being caught dead to rights was difficult to ignore.
The man didn’t talk, just stepped closer, taking one wobbly step after the other, almost as if he wanted to make absolutely certain that this time he wouldn’t miss.
< Tank, we’re coming back around in five seconds, get ready to find some cover, > said Hot Rod.
The full-body android dropped his rifles.
Kara peeked past Tanks massive built. “What … what is he doing?”
Tank wasn’t sure himself. The android continued to stumble forward while emanating a high-pitched whine which was quickly gaining intensity. His entire artificial body appeared to be vibrating now.
“Run.”
“What?”
Tank whipped around and once more grabbed hold of her arm. “Run!” he shouted from the top of his lungs and sprinted towards the only way he could.
“It’s a bomb, it’s a goddamn walking bomb!”
Kara ran but slowed down the moment she realized that their only escape was out of the windows.
When the SAFVe showed up again, dropping down suddenly from above, the distance between the shuttle and the building was far to great for Kara to jump.
With an ear-shattering noise, the man with the orchid exploded, ripping apart what remained of his broken body.
The force of the shockwave gripped both Tank and Kara and catapulted them through the air and out of the windows they had been sprinting towards even while they felt the enormous heat burn their skin and singe their hair.
Hot Rod, seeing the approaching fireball mere feet behind the escaping Tank and Kara had only a split-second to make a decision. This time she dropped the SAFVe and not a moment later she heard Tank and the woman smash onto the roof of the shuttle just before the 74th floor exploded outwards in an impressive display of fires and flames and lightning up the San Francisco night sky.
Tank had the wherewithal to hold on as soon as he landed on top of the SAFVe but Kara slid across the smooth surface and across the roof, right towards its edge and already out of Tank’s reach, bound to fall off the other side and plummet to her certain death.