Alpha Squad - Vecto: Voyage

Part 2.7

(Previously: A pirate named Mirth tells Erich and Feit that other pirates are in disguise and will fire on the guards and civilians. He them shoots at Erich's feet as Erich shots at his head.)

Mirth leaned forward and slammed into the ground headfirst.

Feit looked at Erich, surprised that he shot a man while Mirth hadn't aimed to kill.

Erich fell to his knees. He fell flat as something pulled him closer.

"The gravity ..." Erich gasped.

Gravity? Feit thought. A gravity gun? He reached in his tunic and tossed a button at Erich to find out. The button quickly descended and slammed into the floor.

Feit walked over to the gun in Mirth's hand and studied the weapon. He turned a dial and Erich gasped in pain. He then pushed it inward and Erich breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ugh. Took you long enough," Erich said, slowly getting to his knees.

"So this is some sort of gravity gun," Feit said. "Interesting." He shot at Mirth's body.

"Hey, you're going to kill him!"

"Didn't you already?"

"No, I used a tranquilizer."

"You're too kind, Erich," Feit said. "If you let him survive, he will find a way to come after you--and kill more innocent lives while he's at it."

"That's not justice," Erich said as he stood.

"There is no justice," Feit said, turning the dial up. "It's called life.

"Please."

Feit pressed the button to deactivate the gravity pull. "Very well, sir. He won't haunt me."

"Thank you. Now about the others--" Erich said.

He was stopped short as he heard an explosion. Erich stumbled but gained his balance. He rushed to the edge to look down, only to see gunfire and screaming citizens on the bottom floor.

"That must have been the signal," Feit said. "Let's go, Mr. Hero!" He rushed for the escalator and slid down its rail.

"Right in front of you!" Erich said and tapped a panel on his shoulder to activate his rocket boosters.

***

Meanwhile, down below, the remaining civilians ran for cover as the guards and pirates battled each other with gunfire.

Cutlass and Trip were among the ones caught in the line of fire.

"G-g-get behind me!" Trip yelled. He snatched a small rod from his pocket and formed a body shield with it.

"Arr, now that's the spirit!" Cutlass cheered as he ducked flying bullets and hid behind Trip. "These yellow-bellied pirates be shark bait!" he yelled, then bit off a grenade pin and threw the explosive at the pirates. It went off and several bodies went sailing over their comrades' heads.

"Lo-lo-look who-who's talking," Trip cut back, maintaining the shield as some pirates died but the others retaliated.

"No, me hearty, these be Blood Claw pirates," Cutlass said. "They pillage ships."

"No-no-now's not the time!" Trip yelled back.

"But where be Rob?" Cutlass asked, taking off his old torn shoe to grab a small tube from it.

"Wou-would you ju-just throw it already!" Trip yelled, moving the shield to block another shot.

Cutlass bit the top of the wax-like container off and threw the piece. It landed at a pirate's foot, releasing smoke from the small container as its chemicals mixed with oxygen.

"R-r-run!" Trip yelled, using the smoke diversion to seek cover. As he ran, he saw Erich lower into the Central Park Dome.

Erich launched several wires at the disguised pirates. But one guy was hidden behind a tree with his gun pointed at him.

"E-E-Erich!" Trip yelled to warn him.

(Does Erich have the energy to keep fighting? How many more pirates will he have to stop? Find out more in the next installment of Vecto: Voyage!)